THEMATIC Thursdays: The Berry that Refreshes...

Fruit is a great substitute for refined-carbs. Fruit is vitamin-packed, and aids in digestion. It doesn't send blood-sugar soaring like a chocolate chip cookie or a cheese Danish will. Right now, in much of the U.S., it's berry season--strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries are in season. Apples are available, but will come into season later in the year.

Strawberries can be eaten whole, or hulled and chopped up into smaller slices and thrown in a dessert. I find the strawberries I buy at the supermarket to be less than ripe, and I generally let them sit in the fridge for a few days to allow them to ripen more. Typically, an unripe strawberry will show white on the inside core; you can certainly eat it--I do--but it will be tart, and that familiar strawberry taste will be less in evidence. Waiting a while will produce that dark red inside, to match the usually red outside of the fruit. Once the interior is thoroughly red, you will taste what you know to be strawberry...but, you need to eat them fast, because once they truly turn red inside, they start to go bad pretty fast, and soften up quite a bit. Even soft, they can be successfully used in smoothies, and parfaits--they're just less fun to eat whole (unless you love mushy fruit--and some folks do).

I came late to the strawberry party; it was one of my least-favorite fruits as a kid. Those little seeds on the exterior bugged me, and then--not always getting the ripe ones, they tended to disappoint. But, buying strawberries regularly really clued me in to how incredibly serviceable and often delicious this fruit actually is. It's also refreshing, which--in a homophonous way--often reminds me that in Mexico, strawberry is called fresa. And, fresa-flavored ice-cream is hugely popular there--that's not surprising given that Mexico is one of the top strawberry producers in the world.

Although, there is very little variety--unlike apples--they are versatile, and really good for you. Try ripe ones in a smoothie (ice, yogurt, some other fruit juice, like apple or pineapple, and chopped up strawberries; pulverize in a blender or food processor). Right about now, I'm realizing I must have gotten rid of my strawberry huller sometime ago. Time to get another one, ahorita.