In France, we call this easy dessert with strawberries “fraises au sucre,” strawberries with sugar, or “fraises au vin.” strawberries with wine. The strawberries are the star of the show, so you don’t have to do much to them. Just add a few ingredients to compliment the natural flavor of the fresh strawberries. Here are a few variations you can make quickly and serve for family dinners and entertaining.
Fresh strawberries
Organic sugar
Optional -lemon juice
Optional- red wine
Wash and slice the strawberries.
Place the strawberries in a bowl and sprinkle with organic sugar. Use just a bit to add a little extra sweetness to the berries but not so much as to shadow the flavor of the berries. For a quart of berries, I use about ¾ of a teaspoon of sugar, depending on how sweet the berries are.
Optional- Add freshly squeezed lemon juice to taste if desired. The combination of lemon and sugar with the berries is delightful.
Optional - Add red wine to the strawberries for Fraise au Vin. You can make Fraise au Vin with red wine and sugar or red wine, sugar, and lemon juice. Use any dry wine that you would enjoy drinking. A Côtes du Rhône is a nice complement. I use about a cup of wine for a quart of berries, but you can add more or less as you like.
You can serve the berries immediately for a quick dessert for family dinner or let them marinate for an hour in the fridge, stirring a few times to completely marinate the berries.
Enjoy the strawberries and drink the juice at the end.
You may also be interested in these related posts about why making fresh whipped cream is better than buying store-bought.
