Make Your Summer Strawberry Sweet

GUELPH, ON  – It’s strawberry season!

The arrival of summer also means the arrival of Ontario’s fresh, sweet and juicy strawberries. Not only do they tickle your tastebuds, but strawberries are full of antioxidants. A fat-free, sodium-free delicious snack, the amount of recipes strawberries can be packed into is only limited by the imagination.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture, the voice of more than 38,000 Ontario farm families, offers five recipes that will help you get the most out of these tasty berries while they are in season:

1. Cooking strawberries, in particular roasting them, is a fantastic way to add to their flavour! Using this muffin recipe can elevate anybody’s breakfast: Roasted Strawberry Oat Muffins.
2. Strawberry pie is a delicious treat; try this one cooled for a great addition to your summer dessert rotation. The secret to its overall deliciousness is in the retro strawberry-flavoured jelly: Glazed Strawberry Pie.
3. Savoury strawberry dishes are just as good, with a mixture of spiced Middle Eastern flavours and sweet strawberries, this recipe is perfectly balanced: Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Ginger Strawberry Sauce.
4. Kids love this sweet, simple frozen ice-cream treat. Make it together using these instructions: Frozen Strawberry Sundae Squares.
5. Nothing says summer like this tasty snack. It uses feta cheese and balsamic vinegar to bring out the sweetness of the berries, these appetizers will not last: Mini Cucumber Strawberry Boats.

Ontario farmers have been growing strawberries for more than 50 years, and during each harvest more than 15-million pounds of strawberries are grown. Farmers are proud to bring them to the tables of Ontarians across the province. These recipes will go over great with family and friends this summer. Find more recipes, or strawberry growers near you, at ontarioberries.com.

And did you know that Ontario is home to a number of greenhouses that also produce fresh Ontario berries which extends the ‘local strawberry season’ even longer. Year-round indoor production of Ontario strawberries means we have access to fresh, healthy and delicious Ontario strawberries year-round!

The OFA’s Home Grown project aims to raise awareness of the importance of preserving Ontario farmland for the production of food, fuel, flowers and fibre. It’s a key issue for the province; based on data from the last Census of Agriculture, Ontario is losing an average of 175 acres of productive farmland to urban development every day. This is a worrisome decline for what is arguably the province’s most essential natural resource — the arable land with which we feed people.