Andrew's ingredient of the month: Seductive strawberries

During Canada's short growing season, it's great to eat locally-produced fruits and vegetables and it's smart to eat local meat year-round, but I'm no soapbox locavore who deplores all foods from less-than-local sources. After all, from where do you think our food-writing bandwagoneers get their balsamic vinegar and olive oil? How about their salt, pepper, sugar, cloves and cinnamon? Imported foods are necessary.

But when it comes to strawberries, I am a card-carrying, raving old-school locavore.

Local or not? That is the question
When I taste a locally-grown strawberry in June, I wonder why any of us bother with the sometimes almost tasteless imported ones that are omnipresent here throughout the rest of the year.You can probably find California strawberries at supermarkets this month, while you'll only find local strawberries in fruit and vegetable stores and at farmer's markets. But those of us who really love strawberries will search out the best ones.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not dissing California strawberries. I've had some decent-tasting berries from California this winter and California has excellent strawberries. Still, even the best strawberries shipped from afar never compare to our own freshly-picked, in-season ones.

Big, dry and bland vs. petit, luscious and alluring
Unlike their overgrown American cousins bred specially for travelling great distances, Canadian strawberries are delicate, small fruits -- red right down to the core. Sweet and juicy, they scream taste. And new hybrids and old heirloom varieties assure us a crop well into September.

But June is strawberry month, with the most abundant crop. It's true that strawberries might have a short shelf life, but their flavour more than makes up for that fault. Besides, how long can strawberries possibly last when they taste so good?

Click to continue for our best strawberry recipes...

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After devouring a few quarts (or litres) of plain strawberries, you can use these ruby fruits in their full splendour in fabulous desserts. Ranging from simple to complex, here a few of my favourite strawberry recipes from the pages of Homemakers magazine:

Simple pleasures
Besides dipping a strawberry in a little sugar, there are other simple ways of enhancing their natural sweetness to make the fruit even sexier. A simple honey syrup can do the trick (see Strawberries with Lemon Honey Syrup). A strange but traditional flavour pairing sets strawberries up with black pepper. It's a combo that shines in ice cream or sorbet (Strawberry Black Pepper Sorbet).

Strawberries dancing with rhubarb
I grew up with Strawberry Rhubarb compote, a rather dusty mauve-coloured, yet delicious, mix. You make it by simply mixing halved strawberries and chopped rhubarb with just enough sugar to make it slightly sweet and cooking it over low heat until it's a soft -- but not completely fallen-apart -- mush. It's lovely over vanilla ice cream.

Strawberry and Rhubarb Pie is wonderful, too, but how do you get a strawberry to jiggle? Pair it with rhubarb and make it into a jelly (Strawberry Rhubarb Jelly). It might sound like something out of a 50s food magazine with mini marshmallows or something, but it's actually a lovely, simple and very pretty dessert with more than a little bit of class.