I have a confession. I neglect the strawberries growing on our allotment.
I feel incredibly guilty about this, I really do. The strawberries know my guilt. They have heard me tell the neighbours who visit the plot. They have heard the tone in my voice when I try to explain my reasons for the poor state of the bed.
The state of the strawberry bed is so poor, so overgrown with mares tail and stalks of couch grass on the verge of going to seed, you would be excused for not knowing the bed contained any strawberry plants at all.
The strawberries response to knowing how awful I feel about their care is to produce huge yields of large, juicy and almost perfect bright red fruits.
They even refuse to let the slugs tarnish this guilt trip. I mean look at them! The bastards.
There is one exception to this guilt filled ignorance and it comes in the form of my six-year-old daughter Ava.
The secrets of the strawberry bed are always the first point of call whenever we visit the allotment together. She loves them!
This year I decided to make the most of this awful situation. I am not going to let them ruin my summer.
Nope, I’m going to make the best of a bad situation and eat homegrown strawberries and enjoy it too.
To celebrate my victory and make sure I make the occasion as special as possible, I asked my twitter friends to help a poor guy out when he’s down.
I asked for the best ways to eat fresh strawberries. And boy was my call answered!
Here, courtesy of the Twittersphere, are 10 ways to enjoy those homegrown strawberries that I hope are in abundance in your own pots, plots and kitchen gardens this month (preferably being well kept too):
- Just add sugar and cream via LifeatNo27
- A sprinkling of equal quantities, caster sugar, ground cinnamon and black pepper via questforveg
- Make fruit leathers (I thought Bo was talking about something to wear. Until I found this.) via BohoRaspberry
- Make Rote Grütze (I had to ask. See here) via PatriciaHaskell
- Try with balsamic vinegar and sour cream via Chrissie Williams
- A personal bowl of melted chocolate and dunk at will (Possibly my favourite!) via mudandgluts
- Chopped on top of cereal for breakfast, meringue nests with squirty cream and chocolate sauce or turn glut into ice cream (It’s a whole menu!) via ShrubshallSteph
- Glass jar, layers with a sprinkle of sugar, top up with vodka, seal and forget for a few months, strain it, bottle it, drink it (This is clearly a must try!) via Audiothing
- Room temperature and very ripe with just a pinch of sea salt and nothing else (What?) via Rich_yorks
- Jam or jam (Classic!) via GrowLikeGrandad
A big thank you to all those who responded. There were so many brilliant suggestions it was hard to pick only ten.
Are you picking homegrown strawberries right now? How do you like to eat yours? Drop me a comment below or tweet me @spadesharp
Sharpen your Spades 
Has to be icecream for me, Richard. Lasts into the winter when the thought of a home-grown strawberry seems quite ridiculously precious.
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I eat mine in my morning porridge (prepared the night before with oats, homegrown blueberries, homegrown strawberries, sunflower seeds, and almond milk. My challenge for next year is to grow the oats and sunflower seeds too).
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I haven’t had enough to do anything with. I ate the few that were not slugged straigh from the plant. The strawberry bed was a complete afterthought, six runners taken from next doors straying plant and plonked down. So anything was a surprise win! I have plans to extend the bed next year though!
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Despite my good fortune with strawberries in a neglected bed, I have plans to lift them and put them in s half barrel off the ground. My neighbour does this and has huge success. Very good at preventing slug damage.
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When we were children we lived near the sea and every day, if the weather was good enough, Mum would pick us up from school and take us to the beach for a picnic tea. We always, but always, had strawberry sandwiches. White buttered bread and sliced strawberries with a scant sprinkling of sugar. I’ve never known another family have these but it’s a treat I’ve passed on to my (now adult) three daughters.
Other people think it weird, but why? They enjoy strawberry jam sandwiches but these are so much more fresh and delicious! And if you can have banana sandwiches, why not strawberry?
Try it!
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Do you know, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard about strawberry sandwiches. At first I was one who thought it strange but Yes, we enjoy jam sandwiches so it can’t be that much removed! I will. Thanks for the comment.
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Hope you enjoy them!
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