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“How To” Hull a Strawberry

I have a love affair with strawberries! I just cannot get enough of them. I would eat them in something delicious everyday of my life…if I could. But maybe I can???

Strawberry Season has not been going very well here in Oregon. Normally, there is a Strawberry abundance and the prices are cheap. This year, we have been rained out. My husband who manages a bank in “Farm Country” (Known as Woodburn or Little Mexico) comes into a lot of contact with the local farmers there. Most of the crops have been ruined from all the rain and there is very little to be salvaged. So when I see a deal on Strawberries, I’m going to grab them.

Lately, the produce has not been overly great where I normally shop, (it’s understandable with the weather) so we’ve been shopping for our fruits and veggies in our own town’s local grocery store. This store is filled with all local ingredients and it’s the community that keeps this business thriving. It’s really an awesome store, their Meat, Bakery, Seafood, and produce sections are out of this world! So when I saw local strawberries on sale for $2.99 for 2lbs…I thought I was going to die. Normally, I would pay $2.50 for 1lb at my store so I was thrilled about this. I do plan on going berry picking soon…but the weather and my schedules have been working together very well.

Since it was Father’s Day weekend, I didn’t have time to devote myself to the “time-consuming” art of hulling Strawberries. So Monday, as soon as the kids were down for their nap…I got busy hulling. Which is actually I’m able to blog right now too, their napping again :)

I love the color of Strawberries. The richness of the color varies on the size and shape of each berry making it completely unique even though they are all the same thing. Once I was done gazing at my crimson beauties, I got to work rinsing them really good. While the water was draining off, I set up my prep area…right in front of my garden window ( I like to have a view of something while I work) and quickly got down to business.
What I needed was:
1) a Straw
2) cutting board
3) knife
4) garbage bin ( or I just used the container the strawberries came in)

This is the way I hull my Strawberries…I’ve found a method or assembly line version that works for me so this is what I did. I took one strawberry and trimmed the green leafy top off and discarded it. Then, I took my Straw and at the top, I poked my straw through the strawberry till it pushed through at the end with it the center of the strawberry in the straw.

The I sliced the Strawberry in half and set aside and went to work on the next one. This…could take awhile, depending on how many Strawberries your have. It took me somewhere in the 35-45minute time frame…but I was also taking my sweet time. 
After all the strawberries were hulled and sliced, or quartered. I placed them all back into my strainer and rinsed them off again. 
My goal for this batch of Strawberries was to simply freeze them. I know I want an abundance of fresh berries in my Freezer by the time Fall comes so aside from the one strawberry I did eat…they were all going to be frozen for future use. 
I got out my cookie sheet ( one with high edges really works best for freezing berries) and I covered it with plastic wrap. The berries just don’t stick to the plastic wrap as they do the metal. Then I laid out all the strawberries on the sheet and put it in the freezer for 2-3 hours. 

Gosh, they are soooo beautiful!!

Once they were completely frozen, I transferred them to my awaiting and pre-labeled ziploc bag and put them in the freezer. Couldn’t be more simple!

They say, you can keep a bag of Fresh Frozen berries in your fridge for up to a year. I don’t know who “They” are…I’m assuming they are the foodie people that know a lot of about freezer burn and bacteria. But that’s okay, because I will go through this bag probably fairly quickly by making smoothies, and muffins, and pies with these sweet little bites!

What are your favorite ways to cook a Strawberry?