May is one of my favorite months because plants are well on their way to producing fruit. It is warm outside, but not yet miserably hot. The best part? Fresh strawberries are available. I enjoy going to different farmer’s markets and buying local grown strawberries. I tend to buy more than my family can eat at one time. The first thing I do when I get them home is to wash the berries and remove the caps. Then, I store them in the refrigerator until I plan out my recipes. I never add sugar unless the strawberries are designated for margaritas.
Growing up in Surry County, North Carolina, you couldn’t go to a church potluck dinner and not have multiple sonkers. Surry County even hosts an annual Sonker Festival. Sonker is unique to this area of the Yadkin Valley and isn’t found outside the area. Surry County Historical Society has a sonker cookbook, but the cookbook is more than a collection of recipes. It has personal stories of the dish and the people who made them. The book is loaded with measurements such as, a handful,a smidgen, a helping and a tad. I have fond memories of my mom making delicious sonkers. Coincidentally, strawberry was my favorite. On most occasions, we burned our tongue because we couldn’t wait for it to cool off enough before devouring that first bite. Sonker is in the same family with cobbler and crisps. They are cousins of sorts. What’s the difference? Sonker is juicier than cobbler and is served with a sugar and milk "dip" that is poured on top. True sonker is cooked and served in a cast-iron pan. Try our simple strawberry sonker recipe and let us know how it goes. You can substitute your fruit of choice once strawberries go out of season.
I freeze a lot of strawberries for the winter months to make smoothies. I use strawberries with both vanilla and chocolate Orgain protein powder. Chocolate Orgain tastes like chocolate-covered strawberries.
We are all trying to get enough water and fruit-infused water is a tasty way to do just that. Simply cut up your fruit fill your fruit infusion filter to supplement your daily water intake. Keep in mind any pitcher will do if you are limited on storage space.
I recommend letting the flavors mingle overnight. My favorite is strawberry and lime, but the mixture combinations are endless. Fruit infused water is the perfect way to decorate your brunch table and spruce up your buffet presentation.
Strawberry Margaritas taste so much better if you use real fruit. The fruit I use has a little sugar mixed in. You can also use fresh strawberries, but may need to add ice to get the slushie consistency. Frozen strawberries require little or no additional ice.
I recently discovered this recipe for strawberry bread and it has just the right amount of sweetness to satisfy your sweet tooth. If trying to cut down on sugar omit the glaze. It is still delicious.
My new obsession is flavored kinds of butter. This is a quick strawberry butter recipe that is perfect on toast.
Stayed connected with us for more strawberry recipes in the near future. Be sure to follow us on all our social media outlets and sign up for our email list to get the latest news from The More Balanced Life with Delayne and Kelly.
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