An installment in an occasional series on local in-season foods, this post is part of Fight Back Fridays hosted by Food Renegade and The Bare Cupboard carnival.
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Strawberries
Strawberry, four times I love strawberries. I love them so much I can’t bear to cook with them! No matter how many of these beautiful red gems come in my CSA box, I eat them all raw, freshly washed and still warm from the sun. I love how they are red all the way through, not like the ones at the store that are white on the inside. I love the smell, the taste, the color. And even though I don’t like having orange hair, when someone calls me a Strawberry Blonde, I smile.

Strawberries grow well in containers, the alpine varieties make a terrific groundcover or garden edging because they don’t send out runners. It’s a sacrifice, but if you’ll pinch off the blooms in the first year after planting, you’ll have larger yields later. A strawberry plant generally can produce well for about five years. You might need to cover your berries with netting if you don’t want to share with the birds. After harvest, rinse the berries before removing their green caps. Don’t slice them until you are ready to serve them to preserve the most vitamin C. You’ll lose some vitamin C if you cook them, too. Don’t cook strawberries in aluminum or iron or your fruit and pot will both discolor.

Strawberries are loaded with antioxidants in their natural state to keep you feeling young and healthy. They also contain folate, a very important substance for pregnant moms and heart health. Ounce for ounce, strawberries have even more vitamin C than citrus fruits. Strawberries, when eaten with cured meats, reduce the reaction that turns nitrates into a carcinogen. So, put down that orange juice and eat a strawberry with that bacon! Strawberries are one of the 12 foods most likely to trigger food allergies, so if you tend toward allergies, take it slowly at first.

Kale
Kale to harvest You gotta give kale props for being tough enough to grow in the cold. It’s a member of the cabbage family, so you know it can take abuse. It’s often the first green available in the spring and the last in the fall or winter. It’s a medicinal food with strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It also contains sulforaphane, a chemical believed to have potent anti-cancer properties. During World War 2, it was a vegetable often seen in the victory garden, both because of its resistance to cold and its wide nutritional profile.

Kale contains measurable amounts of oxalates, so if you are on a diet to reduce kidney stones or gout, please check with your doctor. It is also goitrogenic (can interfere with thyroid function in susceptible individuals.) But for those of us who aren’t troubled by these problems, kale has a great quantity of plant-based calcium and the precursor to Vitamin A.

I gotta admit: kale is one of those veggies I never, ever ate before my CSA membership. I was concerned it would have that sulfur taste like broccoli and cabbage. Besides, it was leafy and green, qualities I hadn’t yet learned to appreciate. But now, kale is my friend. It goes in smoothies, soups and sandwiches like lettuce. Our favorite way to eat kale is as roasted kale chips. For the very best nutrition, use an animal fat to make all the pre-vitamin A available to your body!

Roasted Kale Chps

1-2 big bunches organic kale
1 tablespoon raw organic apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon melted pastured butter or non-hydrogenated lard
sea salt

Pre-heat oven to 350°. Fold the kale long ways so you can cut out the stem with one swipe of the knife. Wash, pat dry and chop or tear into “chip” sized pieces. Spread onto baking sheet. Shake together the apple cider vinegar, butter and salt and pour it onto kale. Toss to coat. Bake for 10 minutes or until crispy. You could also spread the chips out on a dehydrator tray for about 6 hours. Using a dehydrator preserves a little more of the enzymes available and doesn’t heat up the kitchen in summer!