Wimbledon, Strawberries and Cream

Strawberries and cream with a twist.

I just love strawberries. The sweet, juicy and lovely little wonders! Seeing that it is associated with tennis at Wimbledon, where the finals were played this past weekend, it tickled my fancy again. I set out to find out about them and create my own little version of the famous Wimbledon Strawberries and Cream.

Strawberry facts and trivia

• Strawberries belong to the order Rosales, family Rosaceae and genus Frangaria. The word 'Frangaria' comes from the Latin meaning fragrant. Italians call strawberries 'frangola'. 
• Strawberries are not considered fruits. They are enlarged receptacles of the flowers and are hence known as a secondary fruit.
• The average strawberry has 200 seeds on its surface, unlike any other berry.
• There are more than 40 species of wild strawberries.
• Fresh strawberries were once used as toothpaste, as the juice cleaned discoloured teeth.
• Strawberries are very high in vitamin C and relative high in fiber.

Strawberry patch when I was a child

I spent my first years on a smallholding outside Pretoria. My father desperately wanted to farm, true to his childhood memories of an African farm in the area then called Bosbokrand. My father ploughed the land and  planted masses of strawberry plants. I was only about 3 or 4 years old and tales are told about me sneaking away from the comfort of the house and making my way to the strawberry lands. Unfortunately I don't have any recollection of this, but I was told that I ate strawberries until I could no more. Blissful! Everytime I have to pay R25 for a punnet I think about these stories!

Wimbledon = strawberries + cream

Apparently it became a tradition to serve strawberries at the tournament in 1953 and apparently the cream was added in 1970. An awful long time to be without cream. Apparently the official strawberry is the Elsanta variety, grown at farms in Kent, and it is served in punnets of not less than 10 berries accompanied with double cream, which contains at least 48 percent butterfat. It is said that 8615 punnets are consumed on average per day.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/weekinreview/02basicB.html?ei=5088&en=2fe4cafe224d3456&ex=13094928

This is my take on this delectable dish.
Stawberries and cream with a twist:
Author: Dulcie & Cubano

Serves 2
Ingredients:

15 to 20 fresh ripe strawberries, hulled and cleaned
125 ml cream, whipped
1 tot orange liqueur (something of good quality like Cointreau)
Rind of half an orange
Juice of half an orange
2 tsp sugar

Method:
Marinate the strawberries and orange rind in the liqueur, orange juice and sugar. To serve: add strawberries to bowl, spoon the liquid over it, top with cream and garnish with the orange rind.