Strawberry Coldsweet

Have you ever plucked a strawberry from a tree and popped it straight in your mouth? I have. We had been to Huber farm 2 weeks back. This farm grows fruits and vegetables as per the season and offers free u-pick and eat. We visited the farm for strawberry season. There is a tractor that takes you to the farm. I had never seen a strawberry bush before and was amazed to see rows and rows of small strawberry bushes. All you have to do is start plucking and eating. Eat as many as you can and buy the rest of the berries.

I and P decided to compete each other. We started plucking the best strawberries and decided we will count who has the maximum ones and declare him as the winner. Cheater as I am, I tried to pick a couple from P's box when he was not looking. Unfortunately, he caught me red-handed and became "extra-alert" at his task. Left with no means, I hurriedly picked as many as I could. During all this exercise, we ate the plumiest and tastiest of berries. At the end of the competition, I was declared the winner with 96 berries:)

We even tasted some strawberry wine at the local winery. Well, after the trip we were left with some 150 berries and even after we distributed some among friends, there were still a lot of berries that we were clueless what to do with all of them. We soon got bored of substituting the evening tea with strawberry milkshake. That's when I found this simple recipe in a book. This recipe solved my "berry consumption" problem and the results turned out fantastic.

Strawberry Coldsweet
Serves: 3

Ingredients

1. 2 cups strawberries
2. 1/2 cup whipped cream
3. 1/4 cup orange juice
4. 1/4 tsp vanilla essence
5. 1 1/2 tsp granulated sugar

Method

1. Wash and cut all strawberries into half.
2. Combine orange juice, vanilla essence, sugar, and strawberries in a bowl. Chill this in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
3. When the mixture is chilled, add beaten whipped cream. Mix together and serve chilled.

Verdict: This effortless dessert is a crowd pleasure. You might want to go easy on the vanilla essence as it adds a strong taste to the dessert.