Smashing Strawberry Sauce
by Erin Fletter
Photo by Trending Now/Shutterstock.com
prep time
5 minutes
cook time
makes
4-6 servings
Smashing Strawberry Sauce
Kids will be chopping and smashing strawberries to make an easy, delicious fruit sauce they can have at breakfast on french toast, pancakes, or waffles and for dessert on ice cream and cake, like Swedish Sticky "Kladdkaka" (Chocolate Cake)!
Happy & Healthy Cooking,
Chef Erin, Food-Geek-in-Chief
Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills
- chop :
to cut something into small, rough pieces using a blade.
- juice :
to extract or squeeze out the juice of a fruit or vegetable, like a lemon, orange, or carrot, often cutting open or peeling the fruit or veggie first to access its flesh.
- knife skills :
Bear Claw (growl), Pinch, Plank, and Bridge (look out for trolls).
- smash :
to break up food into smaller pieces or squash food to flatten or soften it.
Equipment Checklist
- Mixing bowl
- Cutting board
- Kid-safe knife
- Measuring spoons
- Potato masher
- Citrus squeezer (optional)
scale
1X
2X
3X
4X
5X
6X
7X
Ingredients
Smashing Strawberry Sauce
- 12 strawberries (1 per kid) or raspberries
- 1 T granulated sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- juice from 1/2 orange
Instructions
Smashing Strawberry Sauce
1.
chop + sprinkle
Slice off the stems of 12 strawberries and discard stems. Chop the strawberries and add them to a mixing bowl. Sprinkle them with 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 pinch of salt.
2.
juice + smash
Squeeze the juice from 1/2 orange over the strawberries and sugar. Using a potato masher, smash the strawberries until a smooth sauce forms. Try spooning it over Swedish Sticky "Kladdkaka" (Chocolate Cake) with a dollop of Sweet Shaken Cream!
Photo by FamVeld/Shutterstock.com
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.
Let's Learn About France!
Photo by Alliance Images/Shutterstock.com
- Bonjour (hello)! Bienvenue en (welcome to) France and the spectacular Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo da Vinci, and ancient Roman ruins in the Provence region.
- France is a European country, and its official name is the French Republic. The capital city is Paris, which also has the most people.
- France's land area is 248,573 square miles. That is almost the size of the US state of Texas! The number of people in France is 67,874,000, about 43 percent more than in Texas.
- The official and national language is French, which is also the official language in 12 other countries, and a co-official language in 16 countries, including Canada.
- France's government consists of a president, a prime minister, and a parliament and is divided into regions and departments rather than states and counties.
- The French have a well-known motto, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity."
- In addition to the Eiffel Tower, France is known for the Louvre, the most visited art museum worldwide (the Mona Lisa resides there), the Notre-Dame Cathedral, and the French Riviera (Côte d'Azur) in southeastern France on the Mediterranean coast.
- France is famous for the "beaux-arts" (fine arts). Paris is still home to many artists and great painters, artisans, and sculptors. Great literature came from French authors, such as Victor Hugo's novels Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
- Paris has two popular nicknames. The most common is "The City of Light" (La Ville Lumière), which came about because Paris was the first European city to implement street lighting in 1860, lighting up the city with 56,000 gas street lamps. The second is "The City of Love," (La Ville de L'amour). This name is probably due to Paris being considered one of the most romantic cities in the world and the high number of marriage proposals at the Eiffel Tower!
- French cuisine is known for its freshness and high quality. Many of the world's greatest pastries originated in France, such as the croissant, eclair, and macaron!
- Other French foods are escargot (snails!), baguette (bread), ratatouille (roasted tomato, zucchini, and eggplant—remember the movie?!), and crepes (very thin pancakes).
What's It Like to Be a Kid in France?
- Most kids start school (preschool) at around age three. Depending on the area and the school, students go to school 4 to 5 days a week. They often get a 1½-hour lunch break, and some kids go home for lunch.
- Dinner is served at 7:30 pm or later, so afternoon snacks are essential. "Le goûter" (goo-tay), or afternoon tea, often includes a "tartine," a slice of bread topped with something sweet or savory (like cheese, butter and jam, or Nutella). Other popular snacks are yogurt, fromage blanc (white cheese), and fruit.
- Popular sports for kids are soccer, bicycling, and tennis.
- There are several parks in France, in and around Paris. Napoleon III even designed one of them, the Bois de Boulogne, where you can find beautiful gardens, lakes, a zoo, an amusement park, and two horse racing tracks. In addition, kids can go on pony rides, play mini-golf, and race remote control boats at many public parks.
- Of course, kids can also go to the most popular theme park in Europe, Disneyland Paris, which opened in 1992. While there, kids can go on a ride unique to Disneyland Paris: Ratatouille: The Adventure!
THYME for a Laugh
Why were the little strawberries upset?
Because their parents were in a jam!
Lettuce Joke Around
What do you call strawberries playing the guitar?
A jam session!
