Strawberry Tops: A "How To" Blog

Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I grew up in a bakery family. Decades ago, my Great Grandfather Jarosch (on my mom's side) moved from Germany to Chicago and opened his own bakery. After success in the city, he moved the business to Elk Grove Village, IL and thus the Jarosch Bakery we know and love today was born.

It's always been a family effort, my grandparents in charge when I was little, and my aunt and uncle taking over when my grandfather became ill with cancer.  There's a lot of love and pride in a family bakery and it shows thru the cakes-- equal parts gorgeously decorated and delicious-- cookies, breads, pastries, etc etc. After working there on and off for 5 years, I've got a few stories about bakery life I'd love to share. I'll write about it down the road.

Anyway, one of the most popular cake fillings at Jarosch is fresh strawberries. I mean... duh. Makes total sense, no? Needless to say, as a "Bakery Girl" there were crates of strawberries that needed the tops removed and to be halved. And being German, it was imperative for my Great Grandma to create a method that saved as much of the strawberry as possible since they're expensive, especially when out of season. 

Step 1: Get a strawberry.

IMPORTANT: Do not skip Step 1.

 Step 2: Retrieve a cutting board and small paring knife.

(I got my cutting board and knife from The Pampered Chef)

Step 3: Insert blade as close to the center as possible, as well as a little underneath the top.  

Step 4: Rotate knife all the way around center, remaining close to the leaves.

I actually rotate the strawberry into the blade more than I move the knife.

 Step 5: Remove top.

See how much of the strawberry is left? 

I hope this was helpful. It may take a little getting used to, but after doing hundreds (maybe THOUSANDS) of them, you get the hang of it. This is great when you're making fruit salad. Do you use a special technique to remove strawberry tops? Do you think I'm utterly WEIRD for writing a blog post about it?!