All about strawberries

Thawing Berries

Frozen strawberries are suitable for use in many recipes. Berries tend to lose their texture and soften when thawed, the appearance of the dessert may change somewhat, depending on the recipe. When substituting for fresh berries, use the same measure of frozen berries. If your berries were packed with sugar, reduce the amount of sugar called for in the recipe. A rule of thumb: for every pint of frozen, sweetened berries, reduce the amount of sugar called for by 1/2 cup. For berries frozen in a sugar syrup, reduce the amount of liquid in the recipe accordingly.

Picking Strawberries

The strawberry probably tastes best when eaten freshly picked off the vine as you kneel in the middle of a strawberry patch on a bright sunny morning. Second best - any other way you eat it!

Strawberries are not only delicious but they are good for you. They supply vitamins A and C, fiber and calcium at only 55 calories.

When picking strawberries, try and pick early in the morning when when the fruit is still cool. Gently twist the berry off the stem - don't pull. Whether picking or buying, look for bright red, well-shaped fruit without hard green areas. Also, very large berries tend to be less flavorful than the small or medium ones (not always).

Strawberries are best used within 1 to 2 days of picking. Cover and store them unwashed in the refrigerator. Do not crowd or press.

**This information is from http://www.circlesfarm.com/strawberrytips.html

Pictures of the shortcake used with the store bought strawberries

Me mixing five tablespoons of sugar with the 1 1/2 pounds of strawberries.











Me mixing the combination of flour, salt, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and heavy cream.

Me putting the combined mix of ingredients into a pan.

 After 19 minutes of cooking, blehh.

Finally, it cooked after a few more minutes and a higher temperature.










The final product: strawberry shortcake with buttercream frosting.

So many errors, oh my.

I actually went through with making the strawberry short cake with the store bought strawberries, but so many errors were made, such as:

1) When i first cut up the strawberries, i was missing the heavy cream so the strawberries were in the fridge for a few days.

2) the recipe called for three tablespoons of sugar to be poured onto the strawberries and then the other two tablespoons would be used in the mix. But the recipe itself said 5 tablespoons sugar and then 2 tablespoons would be used later, so i didn't know if i should put five or three tablespoons sugar in with the strawberries but in the end, i did.

3) I used 1 1/2 cups heavy cream in the mix, but then when the mixture kept getting tangled etc, my mom added the rest of the heavy cream.

4) I added a cup of water hoping it would relax the mix but it just made it messier.

5) My mom threw out the all purpose flour so i had to use the flour used to make bread and thats how the mix ended up looking like.

6) the recipe said to cook the shortcake for 18-20 minutes, so i timed it for 19  minutes, but it wasnt even close to being done, so i had to put the mixture in for longer on a higher temperature.

7) the recipe said for the pan to be ungreased, and my mom put the cooking spray in.

8) i didn't have enough heavy cream to make the whipped cream or any lemon, so i used the buttercream frosting that i had in my fridge.

Lets get this scientific procedure somewhat started!

Title: Will strawberries in different environments taste different in dessert?

Materials:
Short cake:
1 1/2 pounds strawberries, stemmed and quartered (of store bought and frozen strawberries) **1 1/2 Ib = 1.9 c
5 tablespoons sugar (x2) 
2 cups all-purpose flour (x2) 
2 teaspoons baking powder (x2)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda (x2)
2 tablespoons sugar (x2) 
3/4 teaspoon salt (x2) 
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (x2) 

Whipped cream: 
1 1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled (X2) 
3 tablespoons sugar (x2) 
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract (x2) 
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest (x2)

A mixer (x2)
A medium bowl (x2)
An 8 inch square pan (x2) 
A spoon(x2)
A knife(x2) 

Question: Will the different type of environment a strawberry is bought in affect the taste of dessert?

Chart:

Type of Environment	Observations
Store Bought Strawberries
Frozen Strawberries

Procedure:

1) First, start off with the store bought strawberries;after washing the strawberries,stem them and cut them into four pieces each.

2) Next, take the pieces of strawberry and put them in a bowl; add five tablespoons of sugar and mix.

3) Take the bowl of sugar mixed strawberries and put it into the fridge for 30 minutes.

4) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

5) Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, the rest of the sugar, and salt into a medium bowl.

6) Add heavy cream to the medium bowl and mix until combined.

7) Place the mixture into an ungreased 8 inch pan for 19 minutes.

8) For the whipped cream, beat the heavy cream, sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest with a mixer for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.

9) Remove shortcake from the oven and put on a cooling rack; split into 6 horizontal pieces.

10) Spoon the strawberries onto the bottom piece of the shortcake, and then add some whipped cream on top; for the top of the shortcake, add the whipped cream first and finish it off with a spoon of strawberries.

11) Record your data by taking observations of the taste.

12) Next, take the frozen strawberries and measure out 2 cups; add those strawberries into a bowl full of hot water and wait till the strawberries defrost.

13) After the strawberries are defrosted, repeat steps 1 through 10; record the observations of this shortcake.

14) Compare the shortcake with the store bought strawberries to the shortcake made with the frozen strawberries.

Applications:

 This experiment will help the average farmer and food consumer because they'll know to think twice when making a dessert with frozen fruit because its a known fact that leaving fruits in water for an excessive amount of time will ruin the fruit flavor.

Hypothesis:

If i were to make two strawberry shortcakes, but each had strawberries from different environments (store bought and frozen), then i predict that the store bought strawberries will have a better taste in the end because unfrozen strawberries left in water to defrost will lose its flavor making one of the short cakes terrible.

Abstract:

My experiment is centered around comparing how strawberries from two different environments (store bought and frozen) affect the taste of a strawberry short cake. I'll be making two shortcakes, one made with the store bought strawberries and the other made with frozen strawberries. I want to prove that when fruits like frozen strawberries are used in desserts, the end taste will not be as great because in order to make strawberry shortcake with frozen strawberries, the berries must defrost in water for a few minutes; while defrosting, the water will soak up all of the strawberries flavor.

Purpose:

I want to find out if frozen strawberries used to make strawberry shortcake will be less flavor filled than the store bought strawberries used to make the other shortcake.

NEW IDEA!

So making the raspberry jam was a no go, but anyways, I have another idea. I've decided to make strawberry shortcake because I've been so interested in cooking/baking lately. My idea is to make two strawberry shortcakes with strawberries of different environments. Like grocery strawberries VS. frozen strawberries. Will there be a difference? Does the environment in which the strawberries are in affect the taste of them as a result? Pics will be posted later this week, but here is a recipe i will be using.

Its from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/chic-easy/strawberry-shortcake-recipe/index.html

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds strawberries, stemmed and quartered
5 tablespoons sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Whipped Cream, recipe follows
Directions
Mix strawberries with 3 tablespoons sugar and refrigerate while juices develop, at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Add heavy cream and mix until just combined. Place mixture in an ungreased 8-inch square pan and bake until golden, 18 to 20 minutes.

Remove shortcake from pan and place on a rack to cool slightly. Cut into 6 pieces and split each piece in half horizontally.

Spoon some of the strawberries with their juice onto each shortcake bottom. Top with a generous dollop of whipped cream and then the shortcake top. Spoon more strawberries over the top and serve.

Whipped Cream:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
Using a mixer, beat the heavy cream, sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest until soft peaks form, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.

Why I couldn't make raspberry jam.

I couldn't make jam because of a few things like these: Oh and the pictures are from http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Red-Raspberry-Jam

1)  This huge bucket, like where can I possibly get this?

2)  This instrument, I don't even know what it is (stiff whisk apparently)

3)  This thermometer.

4)  I have never seen these jar thongs ever.

Written Report will be included as well.

So the written report will look like this:

according to https://www.ffa.org/documents/agsci_resource_guide.pdf

Written Report

Title Page -  The title page should include 

the title of your project, your name, grade, school and school address. This should be all that 

appears on this page. The title itself should be no more than three lines with a 15 word 

maximum. Any numbers, chemical elements and compounds should be spelled out. All words 

should be capitalized except for articles such as “a” or “the” and prepositions such as “of,” “in,” 

“on,” “during” and “between;” and conjunctions such as “and” and “but” unless they are the 

first word of the title.

Table of Contents

Abstract - a brief summary of your paper, which concisely describes your purpose, methods, 

results and conclusion. Do not include the title in the abstract. Your abstract may include 

potential research applications or future research. The abstract should not contain cited 

references. It should be no longer than one page and in paragraph form.

Introduction - In several paragraphs, 

provide background on your subject. The introduction should clearly state the problem that 

justifies conducting the research, the purpose of the research, the findings of earlier work and 

the general approach and objectives. You must cite sources for statements that are not common 

knowledge. The last paragraph of the introduction includes the objectives of the study.

Review of Literature - should detail to the reader what information currently exists concerning 

your research project. Information listed in your review should be materials that you have used 

for your research. 

Materials & Methods - Write in third person, in past tense, encompass all of the materials 

required and explain the technical and experimental procedures employed.

Results - Do not include discussion or conclusions about the data. Tell the reader 

exactly what you discovered and what patterns, trends or relationships were observed.

Discussion & Conclusion - draw conclusions from the results of your study and relate them to the original hypothesis. It is helpful to briefly recap the results and use them as a foundation for your 

conclusions. If your results were not what you expected, take this opportunity to explain why. 

Give details about your results and observations by elaborating on the mechanisms behind what 

happened.

Acknowledgements - Acknowledge anyone who helped in any aspect of your project in this section. 

Literature Cited 

Agriscience Research Project Requirements

So here is what my experiment board should include and all information came from https://www.ffa.org/documents/agsci_resource_guide.pdf

The board should be 36" in length and 48" in width.

Title: Put it in a question format. Make sure it is descriptive and interesting.

Purpose: This is a statement of the problem being investigated. What do you want to find out? Be specific, avoid generalities and vague statements.

Question: What did you want to solve?

Hypothesis: Should be an "If-then" statement. The hypothesis must directly reflect the problem being investigated.

Abstract: Your entire project summarized in one sheet of paper, with the font not less than 14/16 point.

Materials: List everything and quantity used. Show dimensions of materials in metric (SI) units.

Procedures: A step-by-step list of what you did. It must be detailed enough so that anyone could duplicate your experiment by following your procedures exactly. Remember... experiments must be repeatable.Number the steps with consecutive numbers.

Tables, Graphs, Photographs: Display visually what you did and what happened. Take pictures if at all possible. Graphs, tables, and charts are a must. Make sure all measurements are in metric (SI) units. This section should give a non-verbal representation of your project. A picture is worth a kilo (1,000) words!

Results: A summary of the observations you made during the experiment. Use both qualitative and quantitative observations. Discuss data you acquired during your experiment. This is not the place to draw conclusions about the experiment. This section is for strictly factual information based on your observations.

Conclusion: This is where you make conclusions based on your data. Was your hypothesis supported by the data? Explain any possible sources of error, uncontrolled variables, and problems you encountered. If your hypothesis was supported, say so. If not, say it wasn't and explain why this happened (based on data collected). Say what you have learned, what you might do differently, and apply your experiment to real world situations.

Applications: What will this project do to help the average farmer or food consumer?

NOTE: Photos w/ captions may be placed any place on the board. But they should show all stages of the experiment  and NO safety violations.

Data Book: The data book is a type of notebook (composition, spiral, etc.) that acts as a scientific journal. Record all observations in your data book. Record everything you do in your data book. This will be the source document for your project board.