28 / matters magazine / summer 2026 Cooking with Ilysse Strawberry girls: short and sweet BY ILYSSE RIMALOVSKI foodmatters E arly in June, sweetness is smil ing little faces stained with strawberry juice. Strawberry shortcake, the quintessential American pastry layered with whipped cream and sliced berries, is an ode to the start of berry-picking season. The strawberry shortcake that my grandfa ther knew, plucked from his bakery’s refriger ated display case somewhere in Queens, was tall and fluffy but never tasted as good as it looked. The halved berries, encased in thick white creamy icing, lacked integrity. The vast majority of the country’s commercial ly grown strawberries come from California, opti mized for weeks of travel and refrigeration rather than for taste. The cooling process can compro mise the fruit’s texture and aroma and turn any tender berry mealy. Unlike those sold in plastic clamshells at super markets, the strawberry varieties favored by New Jersey farmers are bred for their delicate skins and concentrated flavor, best eaten the day they are picked. With limited shelf life, they require han dling with extra care. Their shape is smaller and less uniform. The local pick-your-own season generally runs from mid-to-late May through mid-June, depending heavily on the weather. Learning how to select the berries that are most flavorful but not overripe is a skill that grows with experience. Rows of strawberry plants invite pickers to peek beneath the mounded leaves, resisting the tempta tion to choose the reddest berries that may be too delicate to stack in the container. “Only every oth er strawberry actually makes it into the basket,” recalls Elyse Wolfe, a local mom and Compass real estate agent nostalgic for such family outings. “The truest joy is watching your strawberry-loving children eating their way through the fields.” In my family, many June birthdays were cele brated with strawberry shortcake at Alstede Farms in Chester after a day of picking, wagon rides and farm activities. My elder daughter, Lila, a straw berry blonde, now 29 years old, remembers “warm berries in the sunshine, giggling on hay bales and no worry in the world.” Maybe living the good life is as simple as a forkful of strawberry shortcake. Made with flaky, golden homemade biscuits, the original American shortcake derives its name from the rich doughs typical of 19th century bak ing. The word “short” means high in fat, which creates a crumbly texture. The sponge cake version came later, a commercial convenience that, like the California strawberry, was designed for mass production rather than flavor. The recipe for strawberry shortcake below is the traditional version, relying upon the biscuit’s salt, butter and structure to contrast the sweetness of macerated berries and whipped cream. It ab sorbs the juices without going soggy. A truly ripe, just-picked Jersey berry deserves the biscuit. For a quick version, however, you may substi tute homemade biscuits with store-bought sponge cake, pound cake, muffins or scones. If you have extra berries, especially those too bruised to keep their shape, make a strawberry sauce in a pot on the stove. Simmer the berries to gether with a splash of water and sprinkle of sugar. This mixture can be drizzled on the shortcakes, pancakes, vanilla ice cream or even mixed with seltzer for a refreshing strawberry spritz. Ilysse Rimalovski is a well-seasoned home chef and writ er focusing on food, community and care. Do you have a story to share? Please email forilysse@icloud.com. Strawberry Shortcake Yield: 6 to 8 servings Biscuit Ingredients 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus some for dusting 1½ tablespoons baking powder 1 tablespoon sugar 1 teaspoon salt 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter 1 cup whole milk ¼ cup heavy cream (for brushing biscuit tops) Directions 1. Preheat oven to 425°. Sift together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a large mixing bowl. 2. Using a box grater, grate cold butter directly into the flour mixture and com bine using a fork or pastry cutter until the mixture resembles rough crumbs. Add milk and stir with a fork until it forms a rough ball. (Alternatively, transfer the flour mixture to a food processor. Cut butter into pats and add to flour, then pulse five or six times until the mixture resembles rough crumbs. Return dough to bowl and add milk, stirring with a fork until it forms a rough ball.) 3. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and pat into a rectangle, about an inch thick. Fold it over and gently pat again, repeat ing two more times. Drape dough with a kitchen towel and let rest for 30 minutes. 4. Gently pat dough into a rectangle approximately 10 by 6 inch es, trimming away any un even edges with a floured chef’s knife. Cut dough into six or eight even biscuits. 5. Place biscuits on a cookie sheet. Brush tops with heavy cream and bake until golden (10 to 15 minutes).
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