Strawberry Festival!

Ponchatoula Strawberries! Lots of 'em, sold in every shape and form imaginable. Strawberry beer, tea, snow balls, smoothies, and so much more. Home made jam and jelly in every strawberry infused flavor possible even pepper jelly!

Just an hour away from New Orleans, the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival is a local favorite. The small town hosts thousands of people for this lovely Spring festival, completely transforming the town into a strawberry heaven.

I couldn't pass up the chocolate covered strawberries. The white chocolate covered berries drizzled with milk chocolate were scrumptious. I don't always enjoy chocolate covered strawberries because the berries are too tart, but these were perfect. Plus the heat melted the chocolate so that they were more like fondue dipped berries!

One of the most popular strawberry delicacies was of course funnel cake topped with strawberry sauce and gobbs of powdered sugar. Funnel cake is a must at any carnival, fair, or festival but I decided to pass this time so I could save some stomach space for other delightful treats.

Such as deep fried strawberries! I was thrilled when I saw this tasty bite size dessert at the fest. I really shouldn't be surprised, it's a fair in small town Louisiana of course everything is going to be fried! And it was smashing! Coated in a thick layer of cinnamon batter and fried crispy brown, then topped with powdered sugar. It was like eating a strawberry stuffed beignet. Yummmmy!

Not surprisingly, there were many more deep fried delights for sale. The blooming onion was quite beautiful but my tongue led me to the fried pickles (which were WAY too salty, but I still enjoyed them).

Strawberry Season

It's finally Spring, and you know what that means, it's Strawberry Season!!! Down here in South Louisiana we are truly blessed with incredible local Ponchatoula strawberries. They are just the right balance of tart and sweet, and almost never too hard or sour. These ruby red berries are sold everywhere this time of year, and for super cheap! Even Walmart sells our local crop, and for only $1.25! With that price it's hard to resist eating them in almost everything.

While they're great on their own (or dipped in Nutella), one of my favorite ways to eat these delicious berries is in a fresh summer salad. Toss it with some fresh greens, yellow corn, and whatever other vegetables you have in the fridge and you have a gourmet (and healthy) lunch. I like to add some soba noodles or goat cheese for a little extra flavor and top it off with some olive oil and balsamic. Sprinkle it with a little black pepper and sea salt and viola- delicious!

But there are only so many strawberries you can eat before they go bad, so if you're like me and Mackenzie and your eyes are larger than your stomach you can always make some home-made strawberry jam (which is exactly what Mackenzie is doing now. Simply boil down the berries, add some sugar, lemon juice and zest and you have yourself some good old fashioned home made jam.

If this just got you in the mood for some scrumptious strawberries get excited because Strawberry Fest is in two and a half weeks!