I made strawberry shortcake this past weekend, but I had to use California strawberries, which was a sub-par choice. In order to get the fruit to Alaska with a minimum of damage, they send toughest, driest berries. Yes, they have a strawberry taste, but they kind of crackle when you bite them. They SHOULD go smoooosh and flood your mouth with juice; instead, it's like biting Rice Krispies which have been sprayed with strawberry flavoring.

I grew up in Portland and picked berries in the summer to make money. Hard labor and a few bucks a day was pretty cool stuff for an almost-teen back in the late 60s! Eating Oregon strawberries was like filling your mouth with joy. A few years ago, I hauled two 5-gallon buckets of them back to Alaska to prove to friends there *IS* a difference.

I would happily pay twice as much to get Oregon strawberries here in Alaska. I could make strawberry shortcake that was almost as good as sex.

I have rarely had bad strawberries, and feel bad for anyone who must suffer with them being less than juicy. Most of our strawberries in the stores are from CA, but some are from other areas (I'm in WI). I love whipping up some "homemade" sweet biscuits from a baking mix (like Bisquick - only all natural) for shortcake and topping with real whipped cream. Doing the same with a good angel food cake is awesome as well. Lately, if I bring strawberries home, they never make it into a dessert - we just eat them straight from the container.

The last few weekends around here there have been a bunch of strawberry festivals with locally grown strawberries being featured in various ways. Yum!

Is what I use.

Here's mine:
tribes.tribe.net/america/t...df5ac17625