Welcoming Spring with Strawberries
Tuesday, April 16, 2013 at 4:00AM 
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By Ben Mims
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks
The time I’ve been waiting for all winter is finally here: the first of the season’s strawberries.
I’m surprised to find out that many people don’t associate spring with strawberries, but I do. In the South, they always marked the arrival of new spring crops and, of course, lasted well into the summer, when most people think strawberries are at their best. And while I agree with that opinion, I still love the first strawberries, with their slight tartness.
That tartness suits them well to maceration, my favorite treatment for strawberries. Akin to marinating meat, maceration is when you soak a fruit in liquid in order to soften it. How you macerate it and in what liquid is where you can get creative.