Strawberries are in season.
Strawberries that taste like love.
Last spring my sister and two of her daughters spent eight days in China. Eight days I will remember the rest of my life. Eight days in which a part of me came alive for the girls in ways they simply couldn’t before. China was no longer just where Aunt Amy lived; it was where they, too, had walked. And eaten.
Niece Number Two loves me with a love that is fierce. They all love me, but this one, this girl, this nurturer, she loves with raw public abandon. And I love her back.
At one point in the trip she was asked her favorite Chinese food and she answered, “Strawberries.” Before you scoff, you must know that these berries are so full of flavor. They have not been coaxed to the large flavorless, shells of themselves that many berries in America have.
In the market today I told the fruit vendor I had a strange question and asked if I could take pictures of their strawberries for my niece. Once they understood and saw that I really was taking pictures of the berries, the wife called me around the corner and had me take pictures of the stacks of flats. For your niece, to show her the berries. Does America have strawberries? “We do, but not flavorful like these.” I replied. Ah, Chinese ones are better.
Yes, they are.
They taste like love.
Turkish strawberries are delicious too. You have to eat them within two days of buying them, they are that ripe!
Thanks for sharing! These strawberries are similar, they dont’ last long because they are so delciously ripe!
I LOVE this blog about strawberries. It takes me back to warm June days in Michigan when the strawberries tasted just like Chinese strawberries. Yes, they were filled with love. Mom
Thanks Mom! I wish I could go “back” there in time with you! Love, Amy
Ok, I must comment on behalf of the ‘real’ American strawberries that are the only ones I will now buy: organic ones. Brushing aside the fact that ‘standard American ones’ have some of the highest levels of pesticides in the food industry, here is why I dole out $3.99 for a tub of organic…they actually taste like sweet ripe fruit instead of strawberry flavored tart candy. And why is that? A former truck driver told me that regular ones are picked green, loaded up, a gas is released into the sealed semi truck (forgive me I don’t know the name of it), and when they arrived at their destnation a few days later… Wa-lah! ‘red’ strawberries ripened with gases and tainted with enough chemicals somewhere in the growing process that they can sit unrefrigerated on a grocery shelf for a surprising amount of time.
Organic ones are already ripe when picked and are free of presrvatives, hence the rot faster…but taste oh so much better! I suspect the case is similiar in China & Turkey based on your descriptions. AND, I suspect this ‘produce gasing’ going for much of the standard non-organic produce in America.