Very soon it will seem as if the entire country will be ready for strawberries. There will be festivals everywhere and the roadside stands will be featuring rhubarb along with its best friend, strawberry.

Of all the fruits and juices we normally have, strawberries have the most free radical fighting protection. They also have a lot of vitamin C. Wild strawberries are native to the Americas, but rhubarb, which is not a fruit, but a vegetable, finds its origins along the banks of the Volga River in Russia. If you have a poor immune system or high cholesterol, you may want to eat more rhubarb.

However, if you are prone to getting kidney stones or are sensitive to oxalates (mineral salts that are not processed in the body) don’t eat the rhubarb. It is a great source of fiber and, like its friend strawberry, also contains vitamin C.

Do cut off and discard the green portion of the stalks and the leaves of rhubarb. It is a tart vegetable, so look for redness that indicates a sweeter taste.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

1 pie shell, homemade or purchased and baked

2 cups of 1-inch rhubarb

1 1/2 cups strawberries, hulled, halved

2 tablespoons butter

1-1/2 cups sugar

2 tablespoons flour

2 egg yolks, lightly beaten

2 egg whites

Bake and set aside the pie crust while you make the filling. Use a large sauce pan to melt the butter, add 1 cup of the sugar, then the strawberries and rhubarb. Mix and cook until sugar is dissolved. Now, mix 1/4 cup of sugar with the flour, add the beaten egg yolks to the fruit mixture and combine. Cook this over low heat until mixture thickens and rhubarb starts to look transparent. Remove from heat and cool, then pour into pie shell.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks and slowly add the 1/4 cup of remaining sugar. Beat constantly. Spread this meringue over the pie shell and brown in the oven at about 350 degrees for 12 – 15 minutes.

In 1636, Roger Williams, while visiting Providence, R.I., wrote that the strawberries here were bigger than any ever seen in Europe. Wild strawberries were eaten until around l850 when a hearty, larger strawberry was developed for commercial production. Now, strawberries are grown in every state.

Narragansett Strawberry Bread

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup maple sugar

1 egg

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup fine ground walnuts

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Enough milk to make a stiff batter

1 cup of wild (or cultivated) strawberries rinsed, stemmed and quartered

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the egg and beat until smooth. Add flour, nuts, baking powder and salt. Stir and add enough milk to make a stiff batter. Gently fold in the strawberries and turn batter into an 8 or 9 inch square baking pan. Bake in the center of the oven for 20 – 25 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool before slicing.

The other day I was talking with someone and she mentioned that her freezer still had some odd, maybe tough cuts of venison left. She was about to throw them out, eek! I suggested this recipe and thought it might be wonderful over rice or pasta. I tried it and liked the rice better than pasta with this main course.

Vamped Venison

2 pounds of assorted venison cuts

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 1-pound can of tomato sauce

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

2 cups of carrots, chopped

2 onions, chopped

1 bell pepper (green, yellow, red, or orange) chopped

1-1/2 teaspoons chili powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons good paprika

Brown the meat. Transfer it to a crock-pot. Now combine all the other ingredients in a bowl, mix to blend and add this to the crock-pot, stir to coat the meat. Simmer on low for 8 – 10 hours.

If your children like those “Fruit Roll-Ups” that are kind of expensive and contain preservatives, here is a way to make them at home. All they are is pureed fruit and a little sugar baked slowly in the oven. You can mix different fruits or have one single flavor. My favorite is apricot.

Fruit Leather

1-1/2 pints fruit, i.e. strawberries, hulled

1/3 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees. Puree the fruit in a food processor or blender until liquefied. Spread this in an even layer on a non-stick 12″ x 18″ jelly roll pan, (or cookie sheet with slight sides). Bake with the oven door slightly open for 50 – 60 minutes or until solid and not sticky. Put pan on a rack to cool. When you can handle it, roll it up, cut it out in shapes or place it on waxed paper. It should last up to a month in an airtight container – not refrigerated – at room temperature.

Notes & Tips:

*I used to get so angry at those identification stickers on my fruit, especially peaches, when I tried to remove them they took some fruit with them. Now I use a small piece of scotch-tape on top of the label and they come right off.

*It isn’t a good idea to substitute corn syrup or honey for sugar when you’re baking. Sugar is a dry ingredient that adds bulk and sweetness. It will ruin the balance of the recipe.

*If your honey crystallizes set the jar in very hot water for awhile or microwave it for a few seconds uncovered. However, if you store it on a shelf at room temperature you will never have this problem.