Strawberry Fruit Salad

Strawberry Fruit Salad is a simple and very quick dessert, to be prepared with fresh, firm and ripe seasonal strawberries. Ideal for bringing a quick and simple sweet to the table, to be indulged even at the last minute or simply to change the look of the classic fruit salad, especially when the sun makes sweet and tasty strawberries ripen.

There is nothing more sublime than a cup of red strawberries with sugar and lemon! It is a fresh and fragrant spoon dessert that many of us Italians remember from our childhood and that today I offer you in its original version ever!

Strawberries with sugar and lemon is an alternative to the classic fruit salad, which you can accompany and decorate with a scoop of ice cream and a few tufts of whipped cream, to bring to the table as a dessert after a meal or offer them as a healthy snack for children and… not only!

The combination of strawberries and lemon (juice and zest) is not only pleasant on the palate, especially if together with a little sugar and a few fresh mint leaves, but it is also a real panacea for our body! In fact, like lemon, strawberries are rich in vitamin C, but also in potassium, calcium, magnesium, group B vitamins and, among others, polyphenol antioxidants. Known for their toning, purifying and anti-fatigue properties, strawberries help defend the body from free radicals, protecting the circulatory system and reducing cholesterol.

PREPARATION OF STRAWBERRIES, SUGAR AND LEMON
Place 500 g of strawberries in a bowl of cold water. Flush the water with your hands to wash them. Drain them and let them dry spread out in a single layer on absorbent kitchen paper. Remove the petiole and crown of leaflets, twisting them, in order to extract them with the white filament. If they are small, leave them whole, otherwise cut them in halves or quarters and collect them in a large bowl.
Take the zest of 1 lemon and cut it into thin strips. Squeeze 2 lemons and strain the juice through a fine mesh strainer. Dissolve 1-2 tablespoons of sugar in lemon juice, pour it over the strawberries and mix. Complete your sugar and lemon strawberries with the strips of zest and chopped mint leaves and serve.

PROPERTIES AND BENEFITS OF STRAWBERRIES
This recipe is certainly an excellent remedy against the flu, since both lemons and strawberries are a source of vitamin C for our body. But the properties and benefits of this red fruit, much appreciated for its sweet taste, are not limited to this, strawberries are also rich in iron, calcium and magnesium, from which other benefits against colds and rheumatism derive. They also fight cholesterol and activate the metabolism, they are diuretics and therefore help against water retention, finally they are rich in phosphorus and are used for their laxative and purifying properties. They also protect our teeth, because they contain xylitol and, be careful, they counteract hypertension and aging, due to their antioxidant substances.

VARIANTS
First of all, I suggest you replace the white sugar with cane sugar, if you prefer, but even more with whole cane sugar, for a rustic and fiber-rich fruit salad, with a less sweet but truly particular flavor. For example I used coconut sugar because I just really love its flavor. Another tip is to use orange juice and zest instead of lemon. You can also add a few leaves of fresh mint to garnish and perfume your dessert. Finally, for adults you can add a few drops of limoncello, or a little bit of sparkling wine, in this case put less fruit juice, adjust according to how much alcohol you have decided to afford! If you want to eliminate the juice altogether, try strawberries in white wine.

GOURMET COMBINATIONS
To entice not only children, but also adults, the most classic idea is to put the strawberries in a cup and add a little whipped cream on top, perhaps sprinkled with cocoa or cinnamon. But that's the least you can do, a nice chocolate sauce would be even more ideal, or a vanilla filling cream, a chocolate or lemon custard. You can also accompany these strawberries with cocoa, vanilla or even biscuits, an excellent combination is the one with almond biscuits. Also remember that, if the day is hot, the most loved combination is the one with ice cream, I certainly recommend the chocolate or cinnamon one and you must try the strawberries with praline cream ice cream, which suggests another idea, that of eating them simply mixed with dried fruit, almonds, hazelnuts, pecans or even pine nuts and pistachios.

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