This week, in honour of our new Strawberry Pastilles we’ve been looking at all the great reasons to love strawberries, why they’re our favourite fruit, and other fun strawberry facts:
They’re Great For Your Heart, Skin and Immune System
Strawberries have impressive antioxidant content, which makes them fantastic for improving the immune system, preventing against various types of cancers, and for reducing the sign of premature aging. Feeling the love yet? It gets better. Strawberries are brimming with gum–building vitamin C. Vitamin C is required for production of collagen, a key protein that maintains your gums’ strength and integrity. This makes us happy.
Strawberries Boost Short Term Memory
The red colouring contains anthocyanins which can boost short term memory by 100 percent in eight weeks. Could this mean the end of lost keys?
You Can Make a Berry Delicious Cake
When life gives you strawberries…make a cake. Here is our favourite strawberry cake recipe pinched from the talented Martha Stewart.
Ingredients:
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pie plate
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved
What do I do now?
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch pie plate. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl.
- Put butter and 1 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low; mix in egg, milk, and vanilla.
- Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Transfer batter to buttered pie plate. Arrange strawberries on top of batter, cut sides down and as close together as possible. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.
- Bake cake 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 1 hour. Let cool in pie plate on a wire rack. Cut into wedges.
So it turns out strawberries are super for your health, delicious baked in a cake and make a fine pastille. Keen to stay sweet without the sugar? Try our 100% xylitol strawberry pastilles here.
The post Strawberry Fever: Reasons Why We Love Them appeared first on Peppersmith.