That’s a dessert cup of strawberries from Benguet, against a sheet of red cartolina. I liked the lack of color contrast. It just screams “I am in season now”! These photos were taken a couple of weeks ago at the start of the peak of the strawberry season in the Mt. Province. I forgot to do a post then to give you a heads up, but you can still get strawberries at local groceries now. The season was a “late one,” I think, with the odd rains wreaking havoc on the crop, but the ones I have had so far are intensely flavored despite or because(?) of their diminutive size. I buy them in bulk (3 packages for P100) at the weekend markets and anything we don’t plan on consuming within two days is washed and frozen for low-fat milkshakes and other desserts in the future. Oh, and here’s a bit of strawberry trivia… those are the seeds on the outside surface of the skin. It’s one of the few fruits where the seeds are outside instead of safely ensconced inside the flesh of the fruit. Kasoy is another of those “inverted” seed type fruits…
Here are some previous posts on strawberries and what you might do with them:
Strawberries, my first post on the fruit…
Strawberry Smoothie a la Marketman
Giant Strawberries Flown in From California
Strawberries Dipped in Chocolate
Gorgeous Strawberry Tart at Escriba in Barcelona
Wild Strawberries – Fraise de Bois
Dried Strawberries
Strawberries in the Markets
Chocolate Pots de Creme with Strawberries
Rhubarb and Strawberries, Still Lifes
Strawberry and Rhubarb Pies (Superb!)
Strawberries and Chocolate Cake
Sterling Silver Strawberry Serving Spoon and Forks!
A mixed berry compote with liquer
30 Responses
strawberries my favorite fruit!!!
As the Japanese call it, Ichigo. ALways a favorite at the house. The strawberries on steroids that are sold at the manila intersections and in some groceries are not as good as the Benguet-grown ones. Excellent photogs MM!
I love strawberries too but I am buying it less often now because of pesticides issue. I’ve heard we have to get them organic now.
we’ll be going to a u-pick-em strawberry farm in longrove this spring.can’t wait.this adds to the excitement.the ones we have at the stores here right now are from california.they are not as delicious as summer strawberries picked fresh.i love them drizzled with balsamic vinegar.mmmmmm!
although they’re available here throughout the year, however, it’s still best to buy them when in season! I freeze them single-layered in a baking sheet, that way i have easy access when making strawberry-banana milkshake! just yesterday, i made some strawberry syrup, it’s really good to jazz up your plain old vanilla ice cream!
Strawberries!!! I just sprinkle sugar and freeze…Yum!
This is the time of the year when I make Strawberry Shortcake— 4 layers of classic sponge cake, soaked in strawberry syrup and slathered with freshly whipped cream and fresh strawberries. Ahhhhhh!!! I think I’m having this for breakfast (again) today!!!
great pics! the red cartolina background was a cool idea.
The red background has an electric glazey pop effect MM! Very cool.
You can also serve strawberries, naked but thinly sliced with pancakes and maple syrup. Not cooked with the pancake, but served alongside with the maple syrup. The strawberry complements the sweetness of the pancake and maple.
Yay! I’m going to buy some asap! :)
MM, which weekend market did you get this from? thanks. E
wow luv strawberries. the color is yummy! i got the chance to go to baguio and got it for Php80.00 a kilo at Hangar. when i checked here at the grocery it’s php290.00 for a kilo. yes catch it while in season tastes really sweet.
I love strawberries! Absolutely love them! Dipped in cream or rolled in brown sugar… *drools*
MM, you take really beautiful photos!
i also tried to make my own jam (as inspired by your mangosteen jam). glad it turned out superb! i placed a few orange peels in it and used plain white sugar.
benguet is in itself a province. mountain province is also another province with bontoc as its capital. but for trivia the old mountain province comprises of the subprovinces of benguet, abra, ifugao, kalinga apayao and bontoc. bontoc kept the name mountain province. most of the strawberries are grown around the valley of la trinidad in benguet. the rest of the vegetables are grown north of la trinidad in the northern part of benguet and in mountain province.
do visit strawberry farm in km. 6 in la trinidad for self picked strawberries plus cheaper local crafts and goods.
Isagada, thanks for that clarification. I used Mt. Province in its old version, to comprise the several sub-provinces, now I know better. :) Che, did you have to use added pectin? Strawberries don’t have much and typically require added pectin to gel properly… kasseopeia, strawberries and thick cream…heaven. Eileen, I bought these at the AANI weekend market at Taguig… but they have them at the fruit stalls at Market!Market!, Salcedo and Lung Center Markets as well… bambi, yes they are delicious with pancakes and waffles! Mila, the photo was taken in bright morning sunlight… yes, it worked well, I must say.
my FAVORITE fruit of all!! Too bad while I was in Sagada the strawberries there were tiny! But nevertheless it didn’t stop me from buying some.
Will try out your suggestions (where you got the strawberries) Thanks MarketMan!
Love fresh strawberry pie set in pastry cream and glazed with strawberry jam.
this sounds stupid… we normally remove the leaves and stems from strawberries before eating them… so, how come i once saw this talk show host popping an entire chocolate-dipped strawberry into his mouth, leaves and all? is this more common than i thought?
i think, with che adding orange peels, there would be enough pectin for the jam to gel…normally, i hear the use of citrus peels to low-pectin fruit, if pectin additive is not available. plus, the acidity adds to the overall taste of the resulting jam.
CARTOLINA – boy, that’s a word I haven’t heard in nearly 10 years!
MM, you sure have an eye for great pics!!!
Have your ever tried Tiptree’s Little Scarlet strawberry jam? It’s a gourmet jam that costs anywhere from $15 – $20 for a 12 oz jar. Yes, I got suckered into buying a jar. It was very very very good but I didn’t think it was worth that much. I have many other TipTree faves that are at normal prices.
The fruit itself is tiny – the size of a penny. The jam is packed with this tiny fruit. The price comes from the difficulty of harvesting and cleaning the fruit.
Gorgeous!!!
we were in Baguio last weekend and strawberries abound in prep for their straberry festival which will start Mar 14.MM, your pics look very professional!
I have been meaning to email you on how you get those backgrounds for pics. I thought from a software or whatever :)
This post gave me my pic and ate it too. Thank you.
solraya, yup, cartolina and bright sunlight… beth, I hope you indulged… DADD-F, thanks! Chi, the tiptree preserv es are probably made from the wild strawberries or frais de bois? in France… they are delicious fresh, so they must be good in a jam! Jacob’s Mom, you think pinoys are the only ones who use the word cartolina? I never knew what to call it in the States! kayenne, I have never seen anyone eat a strawberry with the leaves in it… your story reminds me of this silly guest we once had who popped pistachio nuts, shells and all into his mouth and crunched down, then he was so embarrassed to spit it out that he just kept crunching then swallowed, YIKES!
I was in Baguio last weekend and i bought tons of strawberries. . . . hmm. . . i should really check ur previous posts on strawberries, cause all i really do with it is fruit shake and jam. . . hehe
Cartolina a.k.a. Poster board
MM, Helo. I didn’t use pectin when I made my jam. I added the orange peels to fight the super sweetness of the sugar & give the jam an added boost of flavor, but not overshadowing the taste of strawberries. The orange peels were from the Sagada Oranges which I was just so in love with.
I was able to make the jam twice so far. MY first try, a soup bowl of strawberries + 1.5cup sugar + 3to4 orange peels… the jam consistency turned out just right. In a day or two it was gone. My brother and uncle loved it.
I couldn’t get enough of it too so I made some again :) a week after. This time, I made it at a friend’s house – coz I didn’t get to buy her some from Good Shephered and the one I got from the market was overwhelmingly sweet. I reduced the sugar to a cup and 2TBSP coz I was trying to cut down on sugar intake this time… it turned out well with a syrup-like consistency. We ate this with toasted wheat bread with butter & the strawberry preserve on top. The next day we had it with the pancakes. Also works best with vanilla ice cream since the sugar on the strawberry is tamed.
To Che: is it 3-4 pcs of (1) orange peel or peel of 3-4 oranges?