Strawberry Season
It's June, treat yourself to something summery
So…it’s June and we all know what that means. Strawberry season. Of course, here in northern California, I’m spoiled and can get pretty good strawberries year round, but they hit better this time of year and we all know it. These are just facts. So I have been doing what any reasonable person would be doing right now and buying A LOT of strawberries. Some of that is just for snacking; some of that is for use with cereal or oatmeal. But really, what about drinks?
Many of us have had some version of a frozen strawberry margarita or daiquiri that occasionally seemed to bear little if any resemblance to the beautiful and bright strawberries we know. And I’m here to tell you not to settle for that. You don’t have to, and it’s not that hard
With all that in mind, here are a couple spins on good, refreshing cocktails for your late spring/early summer pleasure.
My Strawberry Daiquiri
Let’s not overcomplicate things here. You’ve got yourself some beautiful fresh strawberries and you want that flavor to come through, so the key here is to add as little as possible. That means there’s no reason to dump a boatload of simple syrup or sugar in this. Those fresh berries got you covered on that front.
Now the thing about blended drinks is I always feel like they just need a touch more liquor than I realize. I don’t know why that is, but these are just facts when you are playing with your blender sometimes. But other than that, let’s keep this dead simple. Strawberries, lime, rum. What more do you need? Ice, I guess. Here’s how I put it together:
3-4 fresh strawberries, roughly chopped
juice of a small lime (approximately .75 oz)
2.5 oz white rum (Plantation 3 Stars for me)
1/2 cup of ice (I keep a lot of crushed ice around, but it doesn’t have to be that finely crushed, that’s what the blenders for)
The other fun thing about blended drinks? Pour, mix, serve, very easy, and simple to scale it up quickly
We were joking about the Strawberry Supermoon so you know, let’s call it that
Tastes Like Summer
The other great thing about strawberries is that when they are in season and fresh you get tons of them. Lots to play with. So I was thinking, what else goes with strawberries?
Obviously I put lime in the daiquiri and that’s all well and delightful, but what about a couple other complimentary flavors that you might not think about? Like almond. Or coconut? The internet is full of weird sites that will have you believing anything if you aren’t careful
However, it turns out they do work pretty well together, the internet was right for once. I grabbed my orgeat, and when I was thinking about it, I decided I wanted economy and opted for my coconut washed Plantation Dark. I could go into the mechanics of making that, but let’s save that for another time. It’s pretty basic though, you can just google “coconut washed rum” and you’ll learn just as much as I can tell you anyway.
Suffice to say, I still have a little left from the last time I did that, and when you are trying to make a beverage in a coupe, economy is great. Fat-washing is a great way to squeeze a little more flavor into something that’s in a small serving, or just give you a little different flavor, and we all know coconut and rum are natural friends anyway.
This time, let’s muddle a few fresh strawberries, and since it’s in a coupe, be a bit more precise in the measurements:
2-3 fresh strawberries, roughly cut
.5 oz lime juice
.5 oz orgeat
2 oz coconut-washed rum
Put the strawberries in your mixing tin, grab your muddler, and mix them to a fine pulp. Add the rest, throw some ice in there, and give it all a good shake for a bit. Double strain (this is v important as you will have a ton of strawberry pulp) into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a lime wheel. A fresh strawberry would be a nice touch too, but I didn’t do it.
Viola! Enjoy a nice summery beverage as we head into it.
This is Trader Jane’s, a periodic newsletter about drinks (mostly tiki) and other fun writing. Follow me on Substack for something every couple of weeks (if we are being honest), and follow me on Twitter and Instagram for more timely updates on my beverages (and for lots of other things of course!)
And, as with any good drink, feel free to share (responsibly, of course)