Having a Merry Berry Summer
Berries and cherries are in season and at the top of our list for not just great finger-licking taste (naked, blitzed or baked into recipes) but also as a top source of vitamins, minerals, and disease-fighting nutrients. Here’s why you should be buying and eating berries and cherries while you can, and squirreling them away in the freezer for fall and winter!
Blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries are powerful foods for learning and memory and can reduce the risk of several age-related conditions. Eating blueberries, a rich source of anthocyanins (compounds that give many fruits and vegetables their red, purple, and blue colors) three times a week may help lower the risk of type 2 diabetes according to the National Institutes of Health. And, people who eat foods high in anthocyanins—mostly blueberries and strawberries—don’t gain as much weight as those who ate them infrequently. So berry up!
Nutrients and More Health Benefits
Cherries are almost fat free and are a good source of vitamin C, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron and folate. They contain phytonutrients and have been shown to restore normal uric acid levels and reduce gout attacks. And cherries may lower the risk of cancer, reduce muscle soreness, aid heart health and support memory function.
So while berries and cherries aren’t the least expensive produce at the Farmer’s Market in downtown Erie (every Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m.), if you follow these storage tips they’ll last long enough to give you loads of health benefits.
Baking and Eating Berries
Tasting Table has a quick raspberry jam recipe, made with rosé wine, and the Food Network has 50 Berry Treats for you, from smoothies, and breakfast recipes – oatmeal, pancakes, ricotta toast and scones, to jams, butters, hand pies, crisps, galettes, cobblers and tarts. There’s even a recipe for Blueberry Clafoutis (we had to look it up) which is: A baked French dessert of fruit, traditionally black cherries, arranged in a buttered dish and covered with a thick flan-like batter. Yum, right?
Southern Living adds berries to main dish entrees like Grilled Chicken Cutlets with Strawberry Salsa (with strawberry BBQ sauce drizzled over the chicken!) and Strawberry Salad with Warm Goat Cheese croutons (with strawberry-poppy see vinaigrette), and has more salads, desserts and drink recipes.
Now that you know what clafoutis is, here’s one to make from Food & Wine. Or try one of 23 “best cherry recipes” from F&W – from Beet, Pickled Cherry and Crispy Shallot Salad to Prime Rib with Sour Cherry Conserva (a kind of jam). You’ll see a Sour Cherry Sorbet, Chilled Sour Cherry and Fennel Soup and Almond Rice Pudding with Sweet Cherry Sauce – with Caramel Cream. Hard to compete with that, right?
Here’s a chilled Cherry Gazpacho – a cold soup that’s a bit like dessert with a kick, combining cherries, tomatoes, red onion, garlic, and an Italian frying or Cubanelle pepper. Savory sweet – that’s hard to beat!
Taste of Home, not to be outdone, has a Pork Tenderloin recipe with Three-Berry Salsa, Turkey Quesadillas with Berry Salsa, and Seared Salmon with Strawberry Basil Relish plus 35 more berry recipes to take advantage of this summer’s bounty.
For a quick pick-me-up you don’t have to travel far to get a smoothie, fresh juices, and lots of nutritious food you can drink through a straw! Just 15 minutes south of Colliers Hill off I-25 is Berry Blendz, because “when it comes to great taste and nutrition, nature supplies all the right ingredients”!
A Very Berry Summer in Colliers Hill!
We’ve spied a few container strawberry plants in the master-planned community of Colliers Hill and hear that’s the best way to grow them. (If you’re ready to grow your own, here are some tips.) Life is better on the Hill, but don’t take our word for it. Stop by and tour the beautiful model homes from KB Home, Seasons and Richmond American Homes – and coming soon – Boulder Creek! Priced from the high $400s, this fast-growing new home community in Northern Colorado also has lots of exciting amenities to explore!
