This is the best time of year to me. Spring has sprung and my favorite food of all time is in abundance—strawberries. All my life strawberries have been my favorite food. I love everything about them—their alluring beauty, their captivating aroma, their compact design, their convenience, and their spectacular taste.

Oregon strawberries, where I live now, are as aromatic and flavorful as the Ohio strawberries of my childhood. In the intervening decades, I’ve tasted my share of bland berries that aren’t worth the money. And I don’t buy them in markets, natural or not, and never off-season since they have traveled who knows how far from where they were grown. They’ve probably traveled farther than I’ve ever been.

Grown to hold up during their voyage somewhere, picked before they are ripe, then packaged in environmentally questionable plastic boxes, these products are not healthful nor good for the environment. Seasonal fruits are not meant to be eaten out of their local season—they become common if they are easily available.

As I approach the Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings starting in early May my anticipation grows—will they have the season’s first berries yet? This year they arrived surprisingly early given our very cool spring. The first few weeks they were scarce. Finally, last week there were more berries than anyone could imagine and the price had lowered. I bought my first half crate. I froze two pints, made strawberry muffins and we eat the rest fresh out of the carton. I usually eat mine over yoghurt with some sprouted and roasted seeds: pumpkin and sunflower, and ground flax seeds. Yummy. Sometimes I slice some into a bowl and pour on heavy cream. Way yummy.

Strawberries are delicate—like any fruit bruised spots will mold and that mold will transfer to the rest of the container. So, I check all the berries as soon as I get them home. If they have some soft spots remove the spots and eat that berry right away. DO NOT wash them until you are ready to eat them, except if you are freezing them. Otherwise, store most in the refrigerator until ready to eat. The colder the fruit the less the luscious flavor comes through. I remove a pint from the refrigerator each morning to warm them before nibbling on them all day.

To Freeze: line baking sheets with waxed paper. Check your freezer for space to place the sheets flat. Rinse each berry, shaking off the water and patting it dry, then slice or cut each one into bite-sized pieces. Small berries can be left whole. Be sure to shake off as much water as possible so your berries aren’t water-logged when you thaw them. Place the cut pieces in a single layer on the baking sheets and put them in the freezer. These gems will freeze overnight. Place them into heavy plastic freezer bags (or doubled regular bags). They will keep this way for several months. They are perfect for smoothies in hot weather with a little milk (dairy, nut, or coconut, whichever you prefer), and some nutmeg. If you don’t add sugar you get a very nutritious drink with the rich taste of strawberries. When I have some that last into winter I’ll use them for muffins or in pancakes or pies. The frozen ones don’t work well for tarts or shortcake. Freezing breaks down cell walls making the fruit mushy so they aren’t so good uncooked.