Balsamic Strawberries

One of my favorite things about summer is that berries are everywhere.  Before I switched to Real Food, I suffered a raw fruit and raw veggie allergy.  Almost all fruits and veggies, if consumed raw, gave me hives in my mouth, and tongue and down my throat.  My throat would start to feel tight and I’d have to run for the Benadryl.  Not an enjoyable way to live.  I learned that most of my problem was from the pesticides because I can consume organic varieties of those fruits without problems…except watermelon.  That one still remains a mystery.

I love almost every berry out there.  My favorite is a tie between strawberries and raspberries.  I love eating a big bowl of fresh berries drenched in heavy, whole-fat, organic, grass-fed whipping cream.

If you’ve never tried sliced berries with balsamic vinegar you’re seriously missing out.  Your taste buds will go bonkers. You will be violating the spoon used to shove these delightful little ruby nuggets of magnificence into your pie hole.  Hand to God people.  Adding balsamic to berries make them so good that if you had pearls on, you’d clutch them. 

This recipe is super easy.  It’s three ingredients. Feel free to experiment with other sweeteners, such as honey, maple syrup, raw cane sugar.  I personally like good old organic cane sugar.  I feel it does the best job of macerating the strawberries. 

Macerating is simply taking raw fruit and soaking it in a liquid or sugar or salt to soften the food and/or absorb the flavor of the liquid into the food.  In this case, we’re using sugar and balsamic vinegar.  If you’re unsure about this adding vinegar to berries thing, start out with only a tablespoon of vinegar.  But for those of you adventurous types, add 2-3 TB per pound of berries.  Use the freshest berries (preferably organic as berries are often times on the Dirty Dozen List due to the fact that excessive amounts of pesticides are used on them) you can find.  Let the berries sit in the sugar and balsamic for a couple of hours or even over night.  I love to drizzle the berries over homemade vanilla ice cream.  You can get my recipe for vanilla ice cream base HERE. 

If you love homemade jam, I have a fantastic Balsamic Strawberry & Black Pepper Jam recipe for you to try. It’s not spicy- just a hint of heat and oh, so much flavor! 

Balsamic Strawberries

2013-09-21 22:17:17

Serves 2

Summer berries are brought to the height of flavor with a simple splash of rich balsamic vinegar.

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Prep Time

15 min

Total Time

15 min

Prep Time

15 min

Total Time

15 min

Ingredients

1. 1 pound of fresh, organic strawberries
2. 3-4 TB organic cane sugar
3. 1-3 TB balsamic vinegar

Instructions

1. Wash and drain berries. Quarter each berry, or slice thinly. Put berries in a bowl that can be covered tightly. Sprinkle on the sugar and the balsamic vinegar.
2. Put the cover on the container and shake gently to ensure each berry is coated in sugar and balsamic.
3. Refrigerate 3-6 hours or over night for best results.
4. Serve over homemade vanilla ice cream, or waffles, or add to your morning smoothie.

By Kristine-Real Food Girl: Unmodified

https://www.realfoodgirlunmodified.com/