berry, berry good

I like to avoid the trite phrase "nothing's better than...," but, I gotta say, few things are better than a strawberry that goes straight from plant to mouth. There's something really satisfying about spotting the bright red berry under the canopy of leaves, plucking it off the stem, and popping it into your mouth...er, box.

They look like dazzling little jewels--and with a flavor as (if not more) alluring. Especially if you go for the ones in direct sun, warm to the touch--they taste like jam. A little bite-size piece of jam. No knife, no toast necessary. It's amazing. Warm and full of sweet, sweet strawberry-ness.

We went to Chiles in Crozet this week to pick strawberries, and we had a blast. I wanted to pick another whole flat, but Steve was the voice of reason and reminded me we couldn't go through them quickly enough. Sure, we could turn them into a strawberry sauce or jam and put it in the freezer, but it almost seems a shame to not enjoy them in the moment, when the flavor shines brightest. Instead, we got home and made several rounds of the macerated strawberries that were featured in the spring issue of Edible Blue Ridge (see below). We made a bowlful each night--sometimes eaten with ice cream, sometimes just by itself.

In my defense, the whole flat we picked was gone in about 3 days. So we may have been able to go through two flats after all. When you have a 2-year-old berry addict, anything's possible. Of course, once any kid starts eating strawberries, he's going to have a trail of juice leading from lips to chin. And we couldn't resist snapping this shot. It's like he's saying, "Guilty as charged. I heart strawberries."

Anyway, here's the super-easy recipe, in case (for some crazy reason) you threw out your copy of Edible Blue Ridge:

Balsamic Macerated Strawberries

1 lb. strawberries, hulled and quartered
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
5 basil leaves, cut into strips

Stir ingredients together in a small bowl. Let sit out of the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Serve by itself, or atop vanilla ice cream or pound cake, making sure to drizzle some syrup over the top.