Honey Balsamic Strawberries
Honey Balsamic Strawberries
Although not an expected pairing, balsamic vinegar enhances the strawberries' flavor and sweetness. The combination on its own is a classic Italian dessert. As a topping, it adds an extra dimension to both savory and sweet dishes.
Happy & Healthy Cooking,
Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills
- macerate :
to soften foods, like fruit, and bring out their juices by allowing them to soak in a liquid.
- slice :
to cut into thin pieces using a sawing motion with your knife.
- stir :
to mix together two or more ingredients with a spoon or spatula, usually in a circle pattern, or figure eight, or in whatever direction you like!
Equipment Checklist
- Medium bowl
- Dry measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- Cutting board
- Kid-safe knife
- Wooden spoon
Ingredients
Honey Balsamic Strawberries
- 2 C strawberries
- 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsp honey
Instructions
Honey Balsamic Strawberries
scrumptious science
Maceration is the process of softening the texture and increasing the flavor of fruit with sugar or salt. When sugar or salt is sprinkled over fruits, the acid in the fruit will react with the sugar or salt, causing either one to melt. Meanwhile, the sugar or salt is also drawing out the moisture inside the fruit. The result is super soft fruit swimming in a sticky, sweet syrup.
slice + stir + macerate
Have kids slice or chop 2 cups of fresh strawberries. Mix the strawberries together with 1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar and 2 tablespoons honey in a medium bowl. Stir to combine and set aside at room temperature while you make pancakes, like Cheery Cottage-Cheesecake Pancakes. They get better and better the more they sit!
Hi! I’m Strawberry!
"Hello! I want to introduce myself. I'm Strawberry—and I have my very own month—May! I'm great in desserts, breakfast foods, snacks, salads, and fragrances. I like to be a part of picnics and holiday celebrations. So combine me with blueberries and bananas (or whipped cream, vanilla pudding, or white cake) for a red, white, and blue dessert for Independence Day in the United States or Bastille Day in France."
History
- The garden strawberry as we know it was first bred and cultivated in France in the 1750s. It was a cross between a Virginian strawberry and a Chilean strawberry.
- The ancient Romans believed strawberries had medicinal powers. So they used them to treat everything from depression to fainting to fever, kidney stones, bad breath, and sore throats.
- Native Americans made cornbread with crushed strawberries and cornmeal; this is how strawberries were introduced to Colonists and served as an inspiration for the invention of strawberry shortcake.
- In some parts of Europe, people once believed elves could control how much milk cows produced and that the elves loved strawberries. So farmers tied baskets of strawberries to their cows' horns as an offering to the elves.
- California produces about 80 percent of the strawberries in the United States. Strawberries have been grown in California since the early 1900s.
- Americans eat an average of three and one-half pounds of fresh strawberries per year. In one study, more than half of seven to nine-year-olds picked strawberries as their favorite fruit. They're nature's candy!
Anatomy
- The strawberry isn't a true berry but is called an accessory fruit. Strawberries are the only fruit with seeds outside their skin, about 200 on each berry. And, to be super technical, each seed on a strawberry is considered by botanists to be its own separate fruit!
- The strawberry plant is a perennial and can last for a few years, producing fruit each year.
How to Pick, Buy, & Eat
- Some varieties of strawberries are easier to harvest than others. To pick a strawberry from its plant, grasp the stem just above the berry between your pointer finger and thumbnail and pull with a slight twisting motion.
- To store fresh strawberries, place them whole and unwashed in one layer in a plastic or glass storage container and put them in the refrigerator. Wait to clean them until you are ready to eat them, as rinsing them quickens their spoiling.
- Strawberries can be pickled! Especially when you pick them green or unripe. If your berries are overripe, make jam!
- Strawberries can be puréed into smoothies or milkshakes and baked into tarts, pies, cakes, and tortes. Or, roast them and serve over ice cream and berries. You can also dehydrate and mix them into granola or purée raw strawberries and freeze them into yogurt pops. Dip them in chocolate or drizzle them with cream. Strawberries are incredibly versatile—the fruit we wait all year to enjoy once summer weather hits!
Nutrition
- Strawberries are a HUGE source of vitamin C, especially when eaten raw! One cup of strawberries contains 113 percent of our daily recommended value. Vitamin C is excellent for the heart, bones, and teeth. When we cut ourselves or break a bone, vitamin C comes to the rescue to help repair our tissues.
- Strawberries contain natural fruit sugar, called fructose. However, fructose is better than table sugar (white sugar) because it comes packaged with other vitamins, nutrients, and fiber from the rest of the fruit. Plus, the fiber in fruit helps slow down the effects of sugar in our blood.
History of Balsamic Strawberries!
- "Fragole all'aceto balsamico," or "strawberries with balsamic vinegar," has a long tradition in the Emilia-Romagna region. Balsamic vinegar originated in the city of Modena, in the same region of Italy.
- Drizzling balsamic vinegar over macerated (softened) strawberries creates a light dessert with a mix of fruitiness, sweetness, and slight tartness. The vinegar enhances the flavor of the strawberries.
Let's Learn About Italy!
- Italy became a unified country in 1861, only 150 years ago. It is sometimes called "bel paese" or "beautiful country."
- Italians invented the piano and the thermometer!
- In ancient Roman mythology, two twin brothers named Romulus and Remus founded Rome, Italy's capital city. The myth says the twins were abandoned and then discovered by a she-wolf before being found and raised by a shepherd and his wife. Eventually (and after many exciting adventures), they found themselves at the location of Palatine Hill, where Romulus built "Roma." The Italian wolf became Italy's unofficial national animal.
- In the 1930s and 40s, Mussolini, Italy's prime minister, and dictator tried to eliminate all foreign words from the Italian language. How did he do that? He just changed them! For example, in soccer, "goal" became "meta." Disney character names changed, too: Donald Duck became "Paperino;" Mickey Mouse became "Topolino;" and Goofy became "Pippo." Although they're not banned anymore, these words and names have stuck. So now if you go to the Italian Disneyland, called Gardaland Park, you will see Topolino and Pippo!
- About 60 million people call Italy home, and it is 116,350 square miles, slightly larger than the US state of Arizona. If you compare that to the United Kingdom, 67 million people live there, and it is about 94,350 square miles. So, the UK is smaller than Italy but has a bigger population!
- The Italian flag is green, white, and red. These colors represent hope, faith, and charity.
- The average Italian eats close to 55 pounds of pasta annually. If you think about how light pasta is, that is a considerable amount! There are more than 500 different types of pasta eaten in Italy today.
What's It Like to Be a Kid in Italy?
- Kids begin school at 6 years old. They grow up speaking Italian, but they learn English in school, so many become bilingual in Italian and English.
- The most popular sport for kids is football (soccer). The Italian word for soccer is "calcio," the same word they use for "kick." A favorite of younger kids is "Rody, the bouncing horse," a plastic horse that a small child can hop onto and bounce around the room. Rody was invented in Italy in 1984.
- The family ("la famiglia") is a central characteristic of Italian life. Children have great respect for their older relatives. It is traditional to name the first male child after the grandfather and the first female child after the grandmother.
- If kids live close to school, they can go home and have lunch with their families! Lunch at school might be pasta, meat with vegetables, a sandwich, or a salad with lots of ingredients. Families typically eat dinner later (7 to 8 pm), so kids end up staying up later, too!
- Between lunch and dinner, kids often enjoy "merenda," which is an afternoon snack that translates to "something that is deserved." It is really a mini-meal that can include both savory and sweet foods. Examples of savory foods are a salami or mortadella sandwich, a slice of rustic bread rubbed with a cut, raw tomato, or "pizza bianca" (white pizza without tomato sauce). Types of sweet foods eaten during merenda are "gelato" (a lower-fat type of ice cream), any kind of cake, or biscotti dipped in warm milk.
That's Berry Funny
Why couldn't the worried strawberries be consoled?
They were stewing in their own juice!
That's Berry Funny
Why do bees have sticky hair?
Because they use a honeycomb!
THYME for a Laugh
Why did the honeybee go to the barbershop?
To get a buzz-cut!
The Yolk's On You
What is a scarecrow’s favorite fruit?
Straw-berries!
