Fresh Ingredients

Fresh Strawberry

Fresh strawberries are the red fruit of the garden strawberry, in British season from May to September and only as sweet as the day they were picked, since they do not ripen afterwards. In drinks they are blended, five to our frozen Strawberry Daiquiri or Margarita, sieved into the purée for a Rossini, or halved into a Pimm's Cup with the ice.

Quick Facts

Legal categoryFood

Flavour Strengthlight medium

SeasonBritish: May to September (British Dietetic Association). Frozen ripe fruit: all year, for blending.

Our keeping timeWhole: two to three days refrigerated. Cut or muddled: the same day.

Storage

Store unwashed strawberries refrigerated. Wash and hull just before use. Discard any soft or moulding fruit immediately.

Allergens

None of the 14 listed allergens.

The ingredient

About Fresh Strawberry

Flavour Profile

Primary Flavours

StrawberrySweetLight acidityFresh fruit

Tasting Notes

Ripe strawberry sweetness, gently acidic and fragrant; easily lost against heavily aged spirits.

Ripe on the plant or not at all

Strawberries do not ripen once picked. They soften and darken in the punnet, but the sugar stays where it was, so selection decides the drink. Ripe fruit is red right up to the leaves and smells of strawberries from a little way off. Home-grown strawberries run from May to September; in winter, berries frozen ripe often beat fresh imports.

Hull them properly, and sieve the purée

Take out the white plug beneath the leaves with the tip of a small knife; it tastes of little and adds a faint dryness. Botanically a strawberry is not a berry: the flesh is swollen receptacle and each speck on the outside is an achene, a tiny fruit of its own. Those specks pass through a blender intact, which is why purée for a flute goes through a fine sieve.

Blended, sieved or halved

Three ways our recipes use fresh strawberries

Blended whole

How it is made: Hulled, blended with crushed ice
Measure: Five, or six if small
Keeps: Blend to order
Our drinks: Strawberry Daiquiri, Strawberry Margarita

Purée

How it is made: Blended with a few drops of lemon, then sieved
Measure: 50ml
Keeps: The same day, chilled
Our drinks: Rossini

Halved

How it is made: Hulled and halved, built in with the ice
Measure: A few
Keeps: Serve at once
Our drinks: Pimm's Cup

Form	How it is made	Measure	Keeps	Our drinks
Blended whole	Hulled, blended with crushed ice	Five, or six if small	Blend to order	Strawberry Daiquiri, Strawberry Margarita
Purée	Blended with a few drops of lemon, then sieved	50ml	The same day, chilled	Rossini
Halved	Hulled and halved, built in with the ice	A few	Serve at once	Pimm's Cup

The Strawberry Daiquiri and Strawberry Margarita blend for 10 to 15 seconds, stopping while the drink is still thick; frozen ripe fruit blends colder. The Rossini tops 50ml of cold purée with 100ml of prosecco. The Pimm's Cup builds halved berries into the glass with cucumber and an orange slice.

Keep them dry and use them quickly

Kept whole and unwashed, strawberries hold for two to three days in the fridge. Wash and hull them just before use, and use cut or blended fruit that day. A few drops of lemon in a purée slow its browning, and a covered bowl keeps the air off.

Using it

Using Fresh Strawberry

Usage

Blend five hulled strawberries with crushed ice for our Strawberry Daiquiri or Strawberry Margarita, sieve them into a purée for the Rossini, or halve them into a Pimm's Cup as the ice goes in. Ripe fruit brings most of the sweetness, so taste before adding syrup.

Pro Tip

Sieve the purée for a Rossini even if the blender has made it look smooth. The tiny achenes on the surface of the fruit survive blending, and in a flute of prosecco they float up and catch on the lip of the glass.

Top Tips

Buy by smell. A punnet of ripe strawberries smells of strawberries from a hand's width away.
Hull with a small knife and take out the pale plug under the leaves as well as the green top.
Wash just before use and dry them well; water left on the fruit dilutes a blended drink and speeds spoilage in the fridge.
Freeze ripe summer berries on a tray, then bag them, for blended drinks out of season.

Possible Substitutions

Strawberry Syrup: For strawberry flavour without pulp in a shaken drink: 15ml, replacing the sugar syrup
Raspberries: Sharper and seedier; sieve them for a purée

Go further

More to explore

Common Questions

What is in a Rossini drink?

Strawberry purée and prosecco. Our Rossini starts with 50ml of cold purée in a chilled flute and tops it slowly with 100ml of cold prosecco, folding once or twice with a bar spoon. The purée is ripe strawberries blended with a little lemon juice and pushed through a fine sieve.

How many strawberries go in a strawberry daiquiri?

Five ripe, hulled berries for one drink, or six small ones. Our Strawberry Daiquiri blends them with 50ml of white rum, 20ml of lime, 10ml of simple syrup and a cupful of crushed ice for 10 to 15 seconds, until smooth but still thick.

Do strawberries ripen after picking?

No. Strawberries are non-climacteric: they soften and darken after picking, but their sugar does not rise. A hard, pale punnet stays sour however long it sits. Judge them in the shop by smell and colour right up to the shoulder, and buy close to when you need them.

When are strawberries in season in the UK?

From May to September, according to the British Dietetic Association's chart of home-grown produce. Outside those months, berries frozen ripe in summer usually make a better blended drink or purée than hard fruit bought fresh in winter.

Can I use frozen strawberries in cocktails?

For blended drinks and purée, yes, and a frozen berry blends colder. Freezing also ruptures the fruit's cells, which lets the juice out easily. For a garnish on the rim or halves in a Pimm's Cup, use fresh: thawed strawberries slump and bleed into the drink.

How long do fresh strawberries keep?

Two or three days, refrigerated, whole and unwashed. Once cut, hulled or blended, use them the same day; purée starts to dull in colour within hours. Lemon juice slows that down, and covering it closely keeps the air off.

Is a strawberry a berry?

Not in the botanical sense. The red flesh is a swollen receptacle, and each seed on the outside is an achene, a separate small fruit with a seed inside. In a glass that matters only for purée: those achenes are why it is worth sieving before it meets the prosecco.

From the Guides

How to muddle strawberries

Make something

Made with Fresh Strawberry

Featured In These Cocktails

Strawberry Daiquiri Rossini Strawberry Margarita Pimm’s Cup

Often Used With

Updated 18 October 2026

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