Strawberry Chicken
I bet you thought this was going to be a recipe. I wish. That would mean that there would be strawberries at the market and I haven’t spied any just yet. This is the end of the annual game I play each year called strawberry chicken. Will I win by squeaking by with a few frozen nuggets squirreled away in the freezer from last season or will I go without one of my coveted staples until they once again show up at the market?
I’m down to half of a gallon freezer bag. Just a few at a time, most often in a smoothie along with a banana. If I’m feeling decadent, I’ll open a jar of peaches, also put up last season. They’re preferred for special occasion desserts like a warm birthday peach crisp for my Aquarius and Pisces pals. Everyone welcomes baked peaches in the dead of winter. Bonus points for homemade vanilla ice cream using snow. A splash of one of the good bourbons you can find at market…you get the idea. Life is too short to eat bad food.
The USDA recommends five servings of fruit and/or vegetables each day, defining a portion as six ounces. Then again, the FDA defines catsup as a vegetable, but I don’t think I’d want to eat six ounces of it.
But during the winter months the availability of fresh local fruits trickles to apples and pears and by April the variety of those have waned to only a few. Unless you planned for the winter months, you’re either eating imports or going without. I prefer to keep my blood sugar stable and my digestive system happy so each year when fruit season arrives I begin planning.
As with any project, the more prepared you are, the more successful you will be.
Yes, I’m more fortunate than most with ample freezer space, but I keep all my frozen fruit in the bottom bin of my kitchen appliance’s freezer, your normal residential Whirlpool side-by-side. Each gallon freezer bag of fruit gets stacked flat, one on top of the other. There’s plenty of room for two of strawberries, two of blackberries, two of cherries, one of blueberries, and few quart bags of foraged black raspberries. The peaches and nectarines get processed in jars. If I win my game of strawberry chicken (and all the other berry chicken games) I’ll be polishing off a bag as each fruit comes into season.
If you want to start a game of strawberry chicken, now is the time. First, you’ll need room in your freezer. Clean it out. Either cook and eat it or toss it, unless it’s worth more to you than having blueberry pancakes on New Year’s morning, at least not the kind that come out of the box and cook in a toaster.
Next, procure your storage containers prior to fruit season. I use plastic gallon zipper bags. As much as I’d love to have a re-useable container, they don’t have the seal or space saving feature a bag offers. Having them on hand is half the battle since fresh fruits, especially berries, tend to get eaten before one can procure freezer bags. It’s a vicious cycle. If you’re going to can, buy the jars, lids, and bands. There’s a new case of quart jars earmarked for San Marzano tomatoes and two cases of pints for peaches tucked under my desk already. It’s going to be a close one on both those pantry items. Something about using a jar of summer on brutally cold days of winter that gets you through those dark days.
While canning fruits and vegetables may be intimidating to some (it’s not), a round of strawberry chicken is as simple as washing the fruit, slicing off the green caps, shaking off the excess water, putting the berries in the bag, and popping it in the freezer. Anyone can do it. And then let them nestle in your freezer until that special moment calls and you savor the flavors of your favorite fresh market fruits that have long been out of season. You’ll feel like a winner.