40 | JULY 7 • 2022 

I

s there anything you’re not 
growing back here at this 
point?” my friend Amy 
Wise asks me, taking in the 
scope of my backyard garden. 
She and her husband are join-
ing us for dinner on our patio 
tonight. She hasn’t seen it in a 
while, and my plants have real-
ly grown since her last visit. 
“Probably not! But I do have 
something fantastic and new to 
show you,” I say, ushering her 
across my yard. 
Amy is my friend and 
neighbor for more than 20 
years now, and she’s always a 
good sport about going on my 
garden tours. She knows this 
is my happy place, and that 
starting in spring through the 
end of fall, it’s likely where you 
will find me. It’s my pride and 
joy, and I love sharing it with 
people. 
People are always surprised 
to find my garden pots are 
filled with only things to eat or 
cook with, and nothing floral 
for a vase. That’s because the 
only flowers I’m interested in 
are the small ones that even-
tually mature into a tomato, 
pepper or eggplant one day. 
It never gets old to see a veg-
etable emerge from what was 

previously a small bud.
I grow a wide variety of 
herbs and vegetables and take 
pride in the fact my landscape 
is mostly edible. I experiment 
every year by trying out new 
things, and this year is no 
exception. I’ve got a new type 
of eggplant, a mix of hot pep-
pers and a beautiful assortment 
of heirloom tomatoes. I water, 
weed and feed them, willing 
their offspring into existence, 
until they’re ready to harvest. 
It’s so amazing to gather 
ingredients for dinner that are 
procured from your own yard.
I go garden crazy every sum-
mer, but this year my enthu-
siasm is reaching entirely new 
levels. I owe it to the planting 
of my first sweet fruit, straw-
berries, which are now the 
shiny new jewels of my back-
yard. “
Aren’t they amazing?” I 
ask Amy, moving some leaves 
so she could get a better view. 
She agrees, teasing me about 
the proud-parent persona I 
use to show them off. Just for 
that, I make her stop to be 
properly introduced to the new 
Anaheim peppers on our way 
back to the table. 
I’m learning a lot from this 
new plant. I enjoy watching the 

blush-colored flowers morph 
into miniature strawberry 
buttons. I’ll never be a Chahi 
Ariel, the Israeli strawberry 
farmer currently holding the 
Guinness world record, but I 
have a feeling we regard the 
fruits of our labor with the 
same passion. His strawberry 
was confirmed and registered 
in February of 2022 as the 
heaviest on record. I
It encourages me to know 
the green and pale pink seed-
ed nubs on my vines have so 
much potential in them. I have 
to believe that if an Israeli 
farmer in the Central District 
of Kadima-Zoran can grow a 
289-gram strawberry on his 
family farm, then there is hope 
for me, too. A girl can dream.

A VERSATILE FRUIT
Even though I’m trying this out 
for the first time, strawberries 
have been cultivated world-
wide for centuries, starting in 
France in the 14th century. 
Today, they’re available at gro-
cery stores year-round, and 
seasonally if you are growing 
them or buy from farmer’s 
markets. Different varietals are 
ready for harvest at varying 
times throughout the season. 

Some have fruit early in June, 
others later in fall, and another 
type produces berries all sum-
mer long. As a chef, I have no 
shortage of ideas for what I 
plan to do with them. 
They are best au naturel, 
bursting with red and still 
warm from the sun. Their 
sweet aroma lets you know 
they’re ripe, making them 
impossible to ignore. Another 
simple way to enjoy them is in 
a bowl with cream. This classic 
dish, Strawberries and Cream, 
appeared at Wimbledon in 
1877, and is still being served 
at the tennis tournament today. 
Strawberries can be blended 
into smoothies, added to salads 
or turned into desserts and 
jams. They’re easy to dehydrate 
on low heat in the oven sliced 
on a sheet tray, which extends 
their shelf life. Dried straw-
berries make a delicious quick 
snack, or can be reconstituted 
in cereal, ice cream, oatmeal 
or pancakes. Roasting them at 
higher temperatures concen-
trates their sugars, softens their 
texture, and creates a fantastic 
sweet and saucy topping for 
vanilla ice cream. 
Making room for dessert, we 
moved our dinner dishes aside. 
I’ve impressed myself tonight 
by making strawberry short-
cakes with some store-bought 
scones, strawberries, whipped 
cream and a sprig of my out-
side mint. Serving this as our 
last course feels special, know-
ing the hand I have in growing 
part of it. I smile, passing the 
tray around the table, trying 
to decide what I was happiest 
about on this beautiful night: 
being able to include some of 
my new backyard bounty or 
the joy of sharing it with such 
good friends. 

FOOD
 

PHOTOS BY MICHELLE KOBERNICK

The perfect summer fruit is 
ripe for delicious desserts.

Strawberry 
Fields Forever

MICHELLE KOBERNICK SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

