Strawberry Memories
Strawberry Memories
Shortcakes, Semifreddo, and Trifle
I hate to see the end of strawberry season 2023. It brought the sweetest, juiciest, and most aromatic berries in a long time. Each red, ripe bite conjured up memories of my grandmother and I walking to the strawberry patch wearing our bonnets to pick wild berries and eating them in the field. Yet I made the most of the season while it lasted… And now it is back! Here are last year’s favorites to inspire you. Strawberry Favorites 2024 coming soon!
Bistro V:
Co-owner, Emily Tuttle Shell whips up a warm cake that makes hers unforgettable. Emily’s Strawberry Shortcake is an annual celebration of the season. A generous helping of fresh, sliced macerated strawberries and freshly whipped cream tower over the cakes. Strawberry juice seeps into the muffins turning their tops pink, soaking them with the berries fruity, sweet flavor and moisture. And the cream melts and melds onto both the berries and the cakes.
Bottega Cafe:
Early spring also brings strawberry season. Thus, we cannot resist Bottega’s annual Strawberry Semifreddo. This tiny, creamy tower is grounded with a graham cookie, dusted with pistachio, and is bursting with pristine strawberry flavor.
Chez Fonfon:
I never miss strawberry season at Fonfon because it means Strawberry Trifle season here. Today I pair this heap of heaven with Champagne, and share the dessert, not the Champagne with Kev. This superb synthesis of cake, pudding, macerated strawberries, cream, and pistachios has it all: fruitiness, sweetness, creaminess, and crunchiness, from top to bottom and in between.
Dyron’s Lowcountry:
In addition to the dessert menu, we are informed that in season Strawberry Shortcake is an option tonight. Enough said. Strawberries have a short season, and each week I will continue my shortcake anthology until they run out. A dollop of freshly whipped cream tops the lovely fresh berries, and their sweetened juice that soaks the moist cake with fruitiness in this delicious dessert.
Galley and Garden:
And my shortcake is also unique. Freshly sliced, in-season strawberries star and bring brightness to the fresh cream, and lemon, poppyseed pound cake. And the poppy adds an unexpected nuttiness and delicate texture to this dreamy dessert.
Tasting TBL:
Chef Jennifer’s Dessert of Strawberries and Cream is not your grandmother’s strawberry shortcake, this dessert masterfully gleans fruitiness, creaminess, and sweetness from a myriad of provisions. And it is an artful example of this pastry chef’s plethora of talent and experience. At its base is a heavenly buttermilk panna cotta, which is ensconced with rhubarb strawberry cream, whipped honey, chamomile tea sherbet, rhubarb jam, whipped strawberry ganache, with finishing touches of fresh, local strawberries.
