In early spring, strawberries gradually become more abundant in the market. It's the peak season for eating strawberries. Do you know how to select and eat these tempting, sweet and sour fruits? Let's learn about these things first.
The benefits of eating strawberries in spring are numerous.
1. Relieves heat and clears heat: Strawberries have the effect of reducing internal heat, relieving summer heat, and clearing heat. In spring, people's liver fire is often more vigorous, and eating strawberries can have a suppressive effect.
2. Harmonizes the spleen and stomach: Strawberries have the effect of promoting fluid production and nourishing the stomach. Eating them after a meal can stimulate gastric juice secretion, aid digestion, and eliminate excess cholesterol and harmful heavy metals. It is suitable for conditions like poor appetite, post-meal bloating, and constipation.
3. Aids digestion: Did you know that the dietary fiber content in 1 cup of strawberries (about 150g) can meet 15% of the daily recommended intake for adults. Moreover, dietary fiber is beneficial for digestion and improving digestive tract health.
4. Protects eyes: A study found that eating 3-5 servings of strawberries daily (80g per serving) can reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration by 36%.
5. Protects joints: Data shows that people who consume large amounts of vitamin C-rich foods have a 3 times lower risk of developing polyarthritis.
6. Helps sober up: When feeling dizzy and uncomfortable after drinking, consuming 100g of fresh strawberries at once can help sober up.
7. Nourishes yin and blood: Strawberries contain various sugars, citric acid, malic acid, and amino acids. The proportion of sugars, organic acids, and minerals is appropriate, making it easily absorbed by the body to achieve the effects of replenishing blood volume and maintaining fluid balance.
8. Cleans teeth: Mash one strawberry with half a teaspoon of baking soda to form a paste. Apply the mixture to your teeth, leave it for 5 minutes, then rinse and brush, and floss. The malic acid in the mixture helps remove tooth stains, making teeth whiter.
9. Enhances physical fitness: Strawberries are rich in nutrients and trace elements. Eating strawberries promotes the formation of human cells, maintains the normal function of teeth, bones, blood vessels, and muscles, promotes wound healing, promotes the formation of antibodies, enhances the body's immunity, and also has a detoxifying effect.
How should you choose strawberries?
First, do not choose strawberries that are too large, as they may have been treated with chemicals, which can affect your health after consumption. Strawberries treated with chemicals often have a lumpy surface, feel very light in the hand, and are found to be hollow in the center when broken open.
It is best to choose strawberries that are heart-shaped, have a relatively uniform color, are bright red, have a vibrant color, a shiny surface, and have golden sesame-like dots on them. Such strawberries are of high quality. If the dots on the strawberries are red, they may have been dyed, which can affect your health after consumption.
Choose strawberries with intact skin. If the skin is not intact, they are prone to rotting. After strawberries rot, bacteria can breed, causing other strawberries to rot as well.
Also, look at the strawberry's calyx. Fresh strawberries have a bright green calyx with fine, small hairs on it. Additionally, be careful not to pick strawberries with gray, dark red, or white spots on the surface, as these are prone to rotting.
Eat strawberries safely—wash them correctly before eating
1. First, rinse under running water for a few minutes to remove most of the bacteria, pesticides, and other pollutants from the surface. Note: Do not soak them in water first, as this may cause pesticides to dissolve into the water and then be reabsorbed by the strawberries, penetrating into the fruit.
2. After washing, do not eat the strawberries immediately. It is best to soak them in light salt water or rice washing water for 5 minutes (light salt water can kill harmful microorganisms remaining on the surface; rice washing water is alkaline and can promote the degradation of acidic pesticides).
3. Rinse again with running tap water to wash off the rice washing water, light salt water, and any remaining harmful substances.
4. Rinse once with clean water (or cold boiled water) and they are ready to eat.
I recommend a few ways to eat strawberries
Fried Strawberries
1. Strawberry Jam
Ingredients: 500g strawberries, 50g sugar.
1. Remove the stems from the strawberries, wash them, and blend them in a food processor to a puree.
2. Add the blended strawberry puree and sugar to a pot, bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to medium heat.
3. Stir while cooking to prevent it from sticking to the pot.
4. Cook the jam until it thickens, and the pattern from stirring does not disappear easily.
2. Fried Strawberries
Ingredients: 500g strawberries, 50g sugar, an appropriate amount of water.
1. Remove the stems from the strawberries, wash them, and drain the water.
2. Pour sugar into a pot, add water, and bring to a boil until the sugar dissolves.
3. Add the strawberries and gently stir with a spatula. When the sauce turns red and thickens, and the strawberries become soft, it's done (this takes about 5-10 minutes).
4. Let it cool, then refrigerate before eating for a better taste.
Strawberry