Decades ago, on the family farm, Kathleen Barsotti asked her teenage son which part of it he thought was the most sustainable. He gave the answers a boy eager to prove himself would give: the land, the water, the seeds, the customers. The most sustainable part of the farm, she said, was the bottom line. Without a profit, the farm would disappear, and every good thing it did would go with it.
The hour or so before dinner is never easy. Backpacks drop by the door, someone opens the fridge hoping for something good, and a meltdown can start before dinner is even close to ready. Have a quick ready-to-go snack can help! With summer ending and school back in session, now is a good time to think about what to keep on hand.
Most strawberry recipes start the same way: Hull the berries, trim away the leafy cap and the pale shoulder, and drop what's left into the compost without a second thought. It's such a routine motion that most people never stop to wonder what they're throwing away. Strawberry tops, as it happens, hold onto a surprising amount of the fruit's flavor and color, enough that simmering them down with sugar and water produces a vivid strawberry syrup.
