STRAWBERRIES
Strawberries - the summer fruits - are very fragrant, have a unique flavor rounded off with some sweetness and acidity, and are beautiful to look at. For these simple reasons, your desserts will both taste and look amazing if you put strawberries to a proper use. Strawberries are so popular they are the most sold berries in the world, despite their relatively high price. Their red color and the skin that is loaded with small seeds, together with a small green leaf cap is characteristic for strawberries. Most of these that are sold can be said to be "standard" berries, although there are several hundred of other strawberry varieties, many of them growing in the wild and having different flavor (and size). They are in season at the break between spring and summer, from April to July, in other words - you don't have much time each year to enjoy these delicious berries, so make sure to catch a part of the cake when it's available and most appealing.
Strawberries are very fragile and they have to be picked when they are ripe. They don't tolerate even a few days of storage, so they need to be consumed as soon as they are harvested or bought in. When you buy strawberries, choose the ones that have a firm appearance, are not crushed or blemished in any way, and they should also be free of the contagious mold. Don't buy strawberries that don't have a full red color - they will not ripen as they should, and they will taste sour. In terms of flavor, remember that the smaller sized strawberries are more tasty than the larger ones.
Once you bring the fruits home, keep them in refrigerator until you want to use them. Make sure to wash them in water and pat them dry on a paper towel before use. Whatever you do, don't let the fruits stand in a warm room, exposed to the sunlight - they will go bad very quickly. If you want, you can freeze strawberries, after you've removed the cap, but remember that they will lose their natural texture and some flavor once thawed. Personally, I wouldn't recommend freezing any food, with some exceptions...
If you want to combine strawberries with other fruits in your desserts, bear in mind that they contain some of the flavor molecules also found in pineapples and some grapes. It is therefore imperative that you experiment with the combination of these types of fruits. Also other ingredients can be added to strawberries, although they are quite perfect to use on their own.
From the nutritional point of view, strawberries contain a lot of vitamin C - one cup of these and you have covered daily reccomendation of this vitamin. They also contain many other vitamins, and several minerals that are good for our health. In addition, you can find the less known although very powerful phenolic antioxidants in strawberries. They protect against development of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. These antioxidants are the ones that give the fruits their red color, and they also serve as anti-inflammatory agents (no need to use aspirins with their side-effects). Of course, you need to eat fruits regularly and in sufficient doses in order to reap their benefits. It shouldn't be too difficult though as they taste so nice.