Strawberry Season

What is it about strawberries that has been calling to me?

I think it started many years ago at Swamp Rabbit Cafe and Grocery, on my annual May overnight with my sister in Greenville, SC. Every spring, their abundance of fresh local strawberries is irresistible. And wouldn’t you know, they usually have some shortcake and whipped cream right near the strawberries. My sister and I have our Greenville weekend schedule down pat, and it ends with brunch + a little grocery shopping at Swamp Rabbit. There’s always a bit of sadness in leaving my sister, but driving home with strawberries, shortcake and whipped cream makes it a little easier. I’d get home and have a little treat to remember the weekend by.

Maybe that’s what draws us to certain foods: the memories, the connection to place, the connection to people. Strawberries feel like summer sunshine (and Harry Styles knows all about it)! They say local food tastes better, and a local strawberry will tell you that for sure.

So now strawberries are kind of a thing with my sister and me. 

On another sisters’ weekend, we had dinner in Asheville at Jargon and were delighted with a similar treat to the homemade ones we’d made from Swamp Rabbit. We sat outside on their delightful patio together and connected again over a local strawberry. Jargon is in West Asheville, and their food is “inspired by the world around us,” so that was completely in line with our experience.

This May, I realized it’s National Strawberry Month. Makes sense!

When the kids were little, I loved taking them to pick strawberries at Warbington Farms, just a little bit north of where we live. Looking out over fields of strawberries, pulling them off the plants, taking them home, and making something from our own work was always so fun and satisfying. Hoping to visit Warbington this year before strawberry season is over.

In Asheville, The Hop Ice Cream is partnering with Lee’s One Fortune Farm on their strawberry ice cream this month. They make strawberry jam from local strawberries and fold it into the ice cream. The Hop has multiple locations throughout Asheville, including one at The S&W Market.

If you’re driving to or from Asheville from Georgia and take the back roads (why wouldn’t you?), you’ll pass Osage Farms in Rabun Gap, Georgia. I try to stop anytime they’re open from May through October. Just pull off the road, and suddenly you have access to a ton of locally grown, in-season food. Strawberries are in right now!

Close to home here in Cumming, I recently discovered Rendezvous Cafe and noticed they have an iced strawberry matcha latte on their spring menu. I also saw that Branchwater has a strawberry romaine salad, and a strawberry shortcake with white chocolate drop angel biscuit, strawberry purée and whipped cream. So yes, I will absolutely be stopping in soon, since I drive past this restaurant nearly every day and somehow haven’t been there in a couple of years.

The closer to the source you can get with most food, the more it tastes like itself, which makes it shine in any dish or drink. And I love the idea of being more and more like ourselves, yes?

Where are you seeing strawberries? I’d love to hear.