Fruit
Strawberry
FresaMaduixaFragaria × ananassa
Strawberries don't ripen after picking: if the shoulders are white, white they'll stay. Follow your nose: the ones you can smell from across the stall are the ones to buy.
When
Around: Mar–Jun · At its best: Apr–May
Around: Jan–Jun · At its best: Mar–May
Around: Sept–Dec · At its best: Oct–Nov
Around here
Catalan tells apart the «maduixa», small and fragrant, from the «maduixot», the big one. Maresme strawberries are the classic Catalan kind, sold in spring in that comarca's markets and in Barcelona. Most of what arrives before April comes from Huelva. In the hills, in late spring, you can still find tiny wild strawberries.
At the market
- Red right up to the cap, with no white or green shoulders.
- Fresh green leaves, not wilted or dry.
- Check the bottom of the punnet: if it's stained with juice or any berry is mouldy, leave it.
- Small, glossy ones usually taste better than huge ones.
At home
- In the fridge, unwashed and with the caps on, in one layer on paper: two or three days.
- Wash just before eating and hull them afterwards, not before, so they don't go watery.
- Take them out half an hour before: cold strawberries taste of almost nothing.
If you have too much
- Freeze them washed, dried and hulled, spread out on a tray, then bag them. For smoothies and sorbets, not for eating whole.
- Jam: with little sugar and a squeeze of lemon, it's done in half an hour.
- Sorbet or granita by blending them frozen with a bit of sugar and lemon.
- Bruised ones go into a quick syrup or compote for yoghurt.
In the kitchen
- With a splash of orange juice and a little sugar, the classic pudding.
- With cream, or with a dash of balsamic vinegar and black pepper.
- In a salad with baby spinach, fresh cheese and walnuts.
- On a coca (flatbread) or tart with custard.
- Strawberry gazpacho: tomato, strawberry, cucumber and good olive oil.
What it brings
Per 100 g, raw.
- Energy
- 32 kcal
- Water
- 91% water
- Carbs
- 7.7 g
- Sugars
- 4.9 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
- Protein
- 0.7 g
Stands out for
- High in vitamin C58.8 mg · 74% of what you need in a day
Data from the USDA (FoodData Central). See the full table ↗ · How we decide what stands out
Goes with
- CherryMay–JulThe cherry is the fruit you eat standing at the stall, «just one more». The season is short and cherries don't ripen after picking, so what you buy is what you get.
- LoquatApr–JunIt's the first stone fruit of the year and one of the briefest: a few weeks between April and June and it's gone. Inside are huge glossy seeds that take up half the fruit.
- AsparagusMar–JunWhite and green asparagus are the same plant: the white kind grows buried in soil and never sees the sun. The thin, bitter one that pops up wild along field edges is another species.