With our unusually cold season, local strawberries have been late to arrive in the Pacific Northwest. Finally, local berries can be found at roadside stands, U-pick farms and local farmers’ markets. It’s time to celebrate. How? With strawberry shortcake, strawberry pie, strawberry ice cream, strawberry jam, strawberry cheesecake and more.

In the Northwest, we are lucky to enjoy some of the highest quality strawberries in the world. Unlike the stalwart berries imported from California and New Zealand, which are bred for hardiness and are often hollow-cored and insipid, our Northwest strawberries are raised strictly for sweetness and flavor. They are deep velvet red to the core, juicy and densely textured throughout. They perfume the air with strawberryness. These are strawberries so sweet and luscious that, when you bite into them, they ooze with juice.

Tiny wild strawberry plants with berries grow on the Oregon Coast and were a favorite of celebrity chef James Beard.This is the way strawberries should be, and lucky for us, we’re blessed with the right elements for growing them – plenty of summer sun, rich soil, access to water and many berry varieties specially developed for our northern climate.

There’s no better way to get in the strawberry mood than by picking your own. Somehow, the intoxicating perfume of strawberries in the air, the tingling sticky juices dripping down your arms and chin and the deep rich smell of the hot earth arouse strawberry passion.

As a child, my family always had a small strawberry patch, but it wasn’t enough to supply us with berries for jams, jellies and freezing. Each summer, we’d head to our favorite U-pick berry patch in the Kent Valley, near Seattle. We spent the whole day crouched over heavily laden strawberry vines, picking (and munching) sweet strawberries. On our way home, we’d stop at a special dairy to purchase cream in glass bottles that was so thick you had to spoon it from the jar. For me, the ultimate strawberry dish was a bowl of sliced berries sprinkled with sugar and topped liberally with spoonfuls of that thick cream.

The late James Beard, one of America’s best loved food writers and chefs, who spent many summers in Gearhart, was especially fond of our wild coastal strawberries. In his book, “Delights & Prejudices,” he writes, “The wild strawberries at Gearhart and up the beach took hours to gather, but they were so good that no one seemed to mind. They grew on long stems, similar to the European fraises des bois, and had a sugary, wild flavor that has lingered on my palate all these years. … No one has experienced the real flavor of strawberries until he has had a plate of these.” In addition to our wild coastal strawberries, there are similar wild species that grow in the mountains, known as “alpine strawberries.”

Commercial strawberry plants are categorized according to when they bear fruit. There are three main categories: June-bearing (which bear one early-summer crop); everbearing (produce a spring and fall crop); and day-neutral (which produce fruits throughout the growing season). Whether you grow your own or buy fruit from a commercial farm, it helps to know what variety you’re getting. Some varieties are best for eating fresh; others are bred for freezing or processing.

At Biringer Farms in Marysville, Wash., one of the region’s largest strawberry growers, Mike and Dianna Biringer’s favorite variety is Shuksan, a June-bearing variety that is tolerant of wet soils and has firm, sweet fruit that stays firm after freezing. The Biringers also recommend Totems, which, they say, “yield well in the Northwest and develop few disease problems.”

Bernadine Strik, Ph.D., extension berry crop specialist at Oregon State University, recommends Tillikum (a day-neutral variety) for fresh eating. Other Northwest favorites include Hoods (the best I’ve ever sampled), Honeoye (a cold-hardy variety developed at Cornell University) and Bentons, among many others. When purchasing fresh strawberries, ask for a sample and also find out which variety best suits your needs.

There are endless ways to enjoy strawberries. “I like my strawberries with shortcake topped with both ice cream and whipped cream,” one strawberry enthusiast told me. “But my favorite way to enjoy strawberries,” he admits, “is lying down on the ground, with my wife dropping strawberries into my mouth.” Some favor sliced, sweetened strawberries spooned over pound cake or meringue (instead of shortcake), topped with ice cream.

For strawberry dippers, there’s the classic recipe for strawberries dipped in melted semi-sweet chocolate. For a truly delicious experience, inject the strawberries first with Grand Marnier, using a syringe, available at kitchen shops. Strawberries dipped in sour cream and brown sugar are “so good they can make you sick,” admits another strawberry fan. There is also the curiously delicious combination of strawberries dipped first in Balsamic vinegar and then in freshly cracked black pepper.

Freshly picked strawberries deteriorate rapidly once they are picked, especially when the temperature is hot and humid. For best results, use fresh strawberries they day they are picked. Don’t rinse them or hull them until just before eating. To store overnight, keep them chilled in the refrigerator, as loosely packed as possible.

I finalized this recipe for shortcake following many happy years of research. The secret to making light, fluffy biscuits is to keep all ingredients well chilled, and to handle the dough as little as possible. Make sure your baking powder is fresh and your oven is preheated. If you can, use just-picked berries. For an up-to-date listing of farm markets and U-pick farms, call your local Extension Service.

3 cups unbleached flour

2 1/2 tablespoons sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled

1 1/2 cups heavy cream, as needed

3 baskets Northwest strawberries

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons Grand Marnier, or

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups cream, whipped and lightly sweetened

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a mixing bowl.

Cut butter into small pieces and, using a pastry cutter, cut it into the dry ingredients until butter is reduced to pea-sized pieces. Gradually add the cream, just until a very soft dough can be formed. Knead dough very gently on a floured surface. Roll out to 3/4-inch thick and cut into 4 to 6 desired shapes (circles, triangles or squares). Place on a parchment-lined or well-greased baking sheet. Brush the tops of the biscuits with a little cream and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake for about 12 minutes, or until tops are golden. Let cool to room temperature.

To prepare strawberries for shortcake: Quarter 1/2 of the strawberries; sprinkle lightly with sugar, add Grand Marnier or vanilla and stir well. Chill the berries for several hours. (This maceration time draws out the berries’ sweet juices.)

Just before serving, halve the remaining strawberries. Gently fold the fresh berries into the macerated berries. When dishing up the strawberries, make sure to get plenty of the sweet juice.

To serve: Split the shortcakes in two. Place bottom half of the shortcake on a plate and top with sliced berries, together with strawberry juice, and a spoonful of whipped cream. Cover with top half of the shortcake, more berries and whipped cream. Drizzle more strawberry juice over the top. Enjoy!

Serves 4 to 6