[2] This beauty is a no-bake strawberry cream pie. Here’s the recipe (photo © Wife Mama Foodie).

[3] How about a strawberry and chocolate cream pie? Here’s the recipe (photo © Food 52).

[4] We’ve never had a roasted strawberries. In this pie, the strawberries are roasted in the oven. Here’s the recipe (photo © Delicious Australia).

[5] Beyond cream pie: a strawberry shortcake made with a pound cake loaf. Here’s the recipe (photo © The Baker Chick).

[6] Boozy strawberry shortcake with Baileys Irish Cream. Here’s the recipe (photo © Baileys).

[7] Strawberry ice pops in rosé wine. Here’s the recipe (photo © California Strawberries).

[8] Beyond the biscuit: a strawberry shortcake layer cake (photo © Japan Recipe Tin Eats).

[9] Pork tenderloin with balsamic strawberries. Here’s the recipe (photo © Southern Living).

[10] Souffle omelet with balsamic strawberries. Here’s the recipe (photo © California Strawberries).

A cream pie is a plain pastry or crumb pastry shell with a pudding or pudding-like filling.

Butterscotch, chocolate, frangipane and vanilla are most common, as are banana cream pie, coconut cream pie, strawberry or raspberry cream pie.

What’s the difference between cream pie and creme pie?

Just the spelling.

Creme is an Americanization of the French word for cream, crème (pronounced KREHM), most likely adapted in the U.S. to make the dish sound more special.

But why mispronounce another language’s word for cream? Unless it’s a French recipe, such as Coeur à la Crème, stick to “cream.”

And celebrate the day by making this delicious strawberry cream pie recipe, courtesy of the California Milk Advisory Board.

You can substitute your berry of choice: blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, etc.

There are more than 70 additional strawberry recipes below—beverages, desserts, sweet snacks and savory foods.
 
 
RECIPE: STRAWBERRY CREAM PIE

Ingredients For 8 Servings

For The Crust

 
For The Filling

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F.

2. MIX the flour and powdered sugar together. Add the butter. Mix together and press the mixture into a 9-inch deep dish pie plate. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned then let cool.

3. COMBINE the sugar, salt and cornstarch in medium size saucepan. Slowly whisk in the milk until smooth. Cook over medium heat until thick, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute, then remove from the heat.

4. STIR a small amount of the hot mixture into the beaten egg yolks. Pour it back into the pan and cook for 2 minutes more, without letting the mixture boil. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla; fold in sour cream. Cover and cool to lukewarm.

5. LINE the pie shell with the sliced strawberries and pour the filling over the berries. Chill well before cutting into wedges. Makes 8 servings.
 
> See many more delicious recipes from the California Milk Advisory Board.

> Also check out this raspberry cream pie recipe (National Raspberry Cream Pie Day is August 1st).
 

> THE HISTORY OF STRAWBERRIES
 
 
MORE STRAWBERRY RECIPES

Beverage Recipes

 
 
Dessert & Sweet Snack Recipes

 
 
Savory Food Recipes

 
 
Holiday & Seasonal Recipes

Not surprisingly, it has a different flavor profile. Our resident sriracha expert says it has more of a flavor kick than his usual brand (Huy Fong, a.k.a. Rooster, Sriracha), with a heat that builds.

You can buy the 12-ounce squeeze bottle on Amazon for $6.99 with free shipping on orders over $35. So consider these attractive green bottles as stocking stuffers for your heat-loving friends.

Musashi Foods has also launched Japanese Spicy Mayo, the condiment used to make spicy rolls at sushi bars. It’s also delicious with crudités, eggs, fries, sandwiches and burgers, seafood and anywhere you’d like some heat in your mayonnaise. It’s the same price and delivery deal as the Green Sriracha, on Amazon.

(Note that you can make your own spicy mayo by mixing hot sauce into conventional mayonnaise. You can control the heat this way—Musashi’s mayo is pretty hot!)

WHAT IS SRIRACHA?

Sriracha, pronounced see-RAH-jah, is a Thai hot chili sauce. It is made from red chiles, distilled vinegar, garlic, sugar and salt; and is aged for three months or longer.

Unlike American hot sauces such as Tabasco, which are vinegar sauces that are infused with hot chiles, sriracha is primarily puréed chiles, making it a much thicker sauce.

The sauce is named after the coastal city of Si Racha in eastern Thailand, where it was first made and marketed. Different brands can be found in the Asian aisle of many supermarkets and in Asian groceries.

According to multiple sources, including an article in Bon Appétit, the sauce was made more than 80 years ago in by a local woman, Thanom Chakkapak. She initially made the condiment for her family, and then for friends, to enjoy with the local seafood (think of it as a much hotter counterpart to American cocktail sauce).

As is a common story in the specialty food business, they encouraged her to sell it commercially—and it became the best-selling chile sauce in Thailand. In 1984, Ms. Chakkapak sold her business to a major food company, Thai Theparos Food Products.

What’s the correct spelling: sriraja, si-racha, sriracha or siracha?

According to Andrea Nguyen, who wrote the article for Bon Appétit: Since Thailand does not adhere to one romanization system for Thai words, many variants have emerged, chosen by manufacturers who have created their own version of the original sauce.

However, the most commonly accepted spelling is sriracha.

ABOUT MUSASHI FOODS

Founded in 2013 in New York City by an entrepreneur with a passion for hot and spicy food and named for the famed Japanese Samurai, Miyamoto Musashi, Musashi Foods is a producer of premium Asian sauces made from the highest quality ingredients. For more information visit Musashifoods.com.
  

You can enjoy the same baked apple flavor with a betty or crisp (a.k.a. crumble). The differences, along with dough-topped variations such as cobbler, grunt, pandowdy and slump, are below.

BEST APPLES FOR BAKING

When you bake apples, you need a variety with balance of sweet and tart flavors and, more importantly, flesh that doesn’t become mushy when cooked. These include:

Apple crisp: With a crumb topping, it is easier to make than a pie. Photo courtesy McCormick.

Ingredients

 
For the Cinnamon Topping

 
Plus

Preparation

1. PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Combine apples, lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon in a large baking dish. Pour water over apples.

2. PREPARE the topping. In a separate bowl, using a fork, cut the butter into the other listed ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

2. SPREAD the topping over fruit mixture. Bake in a 350°F preheated oven 50 minutes or until topping is golden brown. It’s that easy!
 

CRISP, CRUMBLE, COBBLER, ETC.: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

A crisp is a deep-dish fruit dessert made with a crumb or streusel topping and baked. Similar dishes include:

Foodies who like lusciousness—not to mention fitness fans looking for a natural source of post-workout muscle recovery—may want to reach for one of the world’s oldest-cultivated fruits: Medjool dates.

Sure, they’re delicious. But dates and other foods rich in potassium are linked to reduced exercise-induced muscle soreness and connective tissue damage, and enhanced athletic performance going forward. Nutritionists are touting the health and muscle-recovery capabilities of dates as a natural replacement for sports drinks and energy bars that are loaded with processed sugar.

According to Elizabeth Somer, registered dietitian and author of Eat Your Way to Happiness and Eat Your Way to Sexy, dates are one of nature’s best recovery foods.

“A serving of dates speeds recovery after exercise, replacing needed potassium and other electrolytes, and helping to restock glycogen stores,” explains Somer. “In addition, the potassium and manganese help balance blood-sodium levels that support muscle contraction, reduce fatigue, and stimulate recovery.”

Who knew? We’ve been eating them plain and with cheese simply because we love them. But now, we’ll look at them as a guilt-free sweet snack! For those watching their sugar intake, Medjools rate low to low/medium on the Glycemic Index (GI).

> February 4th is Medjool Date Day.

A great anytime snack (both photos © Bard Valley Medjool Date Growers Association).

Among the sweetest fruits in the world, with a concentration of natural sugar that has earned them the sobriquet “nature’s candy,” dates are one of the earliest crops to be cultivated, in the Fertile Crescent between Egypt and Mesopotamia as early as 4000 B.C.

Dates are the fruit of the date palm (photo below), a tree that thrives in desert conditions—including the Bard Valley of Southern California, which produces premium Medjools.

Dates are prominent in the Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, with date palms thought to be the original “apple tree” in the Biblical story of Adam and Eve.

In Judaism, dates are considered one of the seven holy fruits, or seven species, and remain an important ingredient in Israeli cuisine.

Silan, a syrup extract taken from dates, is thought to be the sweet component of the promised “land of milk and honey.” In Islam, the end of Ramadan may be celebrated by indulging in ma’amoul (buttery cookies with date stuffing).

They continue to be an important crop for Iraq, Iran, the Arabian peninsula, and North Africa west to Morocco.

Since the early 20th century, dates also have been cultivated in southern California, Arizona, and Florida [source].

Several varieties are easy to find in the U.S., but the best are Medjools, larger, plumper, moister, and more tender, with caramel notes. They are considered the best-tasting, most luscious dates in the world, and have long been called the “Fruit of the Kings.”

You may also come across Deglet Noor, Halawy, and Khadrawy, all chewier varieties. We like them all but prefer the larger, softer Medjool.

In addition to sweet recipes—cakes, compotes, cookies, fruit breads, ice cream, puddings, smoothies, etc.—dates add a sweet accent to braises and roasts and can be substituted for prunes. (Unless otherwise specified, date varieties are interchangeable in recipes.)

One serving of Medjool dates (two whole dates) provides 8% of the daily recommended value (DRV) for potassium, 12% for dietary fiber, and 4% for magnesium, as well as important vitamins and minerals including calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, niacin, potassium, and vitamin B6.
 
 
Harvesting Dates

Harvesting dates from the palm tree is a labor-intensive process.

Wind pollinates date palms naturally, but to ensure an adequate yield, the growers must pollinate each palm by hand.

A worker may climb the same full-grown tree multiple times a day to trim sharp thorns, monitor air circulation, and ensure proper sunlight exposure so the dates can reach optimal size.

The ripening dates are then covered with burlap bags or nylon netting for protection from birds and insects.

Since dates don’t ripen simultaneously, this process is done repeatedly, picking fruits one by one until the harvest is exhausted. Think of all this the next time you bite into a delectable date!

Dates are harvested according to stages of ripeness. Once fully ripened, they need to be picked: The longer they stay on the tree, the drier they become.

Delicate, just-ripe dates are sold fresh at some farmers markets and Middle Eastern grocers, but they’re most commonly sold partially dried, often with the pit removed.

Choose dates that are plump and glossy. They can look wrinkled, but shouldn’t feel hard. A thin coating of sugar on the outside is okay, provided it’s not crystallized. If the dates smell sour, pass them by.

Like dried fruits, dates have a long shelf life and will keep at room temperature for about two months if sealed in plastic.
 
The Bard Valley Medjool Date Growers Association (BVMDGA), a consortium of family growers in the southwest, is responsible for more than 60% of the Medjool dates grown in the U.S. For more information, visit NaturalDelights.com.

Anchovies, feta, garlic, goat cheese, pecans, plus fresh herbs: Have fun creating your own stuffed olive creations. The spring-loaded olive stuffer lets you fill large pitted olives with anything.

Simply load the stainless steel device with the stuffing(s) of your choice, place the plunger into the pitted olive, and release.

Buy it at Williams-Sonona.com for $14.65.

If you don’t have an olive pitter, you should pick one up, too.