Tuesday’s Tip with The Kitchen Whisperer – Hulling Strawberries with a Straw

Put down the knife and quit using your fingers to hull out a strawberry. Reach for a drinking straw to hull out your strawberries!

Growing up Mama grew strawberries for the sole purpose of making strawberry preserves. God how I miss hers. It was thick and packed with chunks of strawberries. It made the BEST peanut butter and jelly sandwich ever. Sure I can make it today but it’s just not the same; it’s not hers, ya know?

I can remember us out in the garden for what seemed hours picking strawberries (and sneaking a bajillion in my mouth). We’d get back to the kitchen, she’d fill the sink up with cold water and we’d literally dump bushels of them in. My job was to give them a bath which entailed sticking my arm in the ice cold water and moving the berries around to clean them. She’d scoop them out into a strainer and onto the newspaper lined kitchen table the strainers went. Mom would, one by one, use a small parry knife to hull out the strawberry. I’d use my fingers as best as I could. This was such a long and arduous process yet Mom made it fun and she never once complained.

God how I miss those days.Throughout the years I’d make her preserves for myself and my sister as that was Dianna’s favorite thing. I swear if she could have gotten away with it, she would have just eaten the preserves with a spoon.

Over the years folks got, I guess, tired of using a parry knife to hull them thus they came up with simple tricks or hacks. I had heard of the using a straw eons ago but honestly forgot about it. However, TKW sister Maria (hi Maria!!!), mentioned this to me the other day. I’m always asking the TKW Family for their kitchen tips and tricks as I want to share their ideas with others too. Part of being a great chef is knowing that you don’t know everything and that there is always something new to learn.

Anyway, Maria said that she uses a straw to easily hull out her strawberries AND she’ll use an egg slicer to cut the strawberries evenly AND quickly. Great tip Maria!!!  I hadn’t thought about the egg slicer.

So how do you do it then? Honestly, it’s pretty simple, all you need is a sturdy standard drinking straw.

1. Gently fluff up the green leaves.
2. Take a sturdy drinking straw and press it against the bottom tip of the strawberry (opposite side of the green leaves).
3. With gentle but firm pressure push and twist the straw into the strawberry slowing pushing up to the top. You may need to slowly twist the straw to push it to the top.
4. Once you get to the top just poke the strawberry up through the top taking the leaves/core off with it leaving you a perfectly hulled out strawberry.

Now that you have all of those gorgeous hulled strawberries it’s time to get cooking! What will you make?

Decadent Ice Cream Topping

No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake

Grown Up Pittsburgh Strawberry Pretzel Salad Tart

To make the 2 tarts I used the following tart pans:

No Bake Cheesecake:

 

Pretzel Tart: