Fresh Strawberry Milkshake

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Blender
• •Tall glasses (12-16 oz)
• •Long parfait spoons
• •Wide straws (paper if possible)

Instructions

1. 1

   Select and prepare strawberries

   Start with the strawberries. They should smell like strawberries before you even bring them to your nose. Look for deep red color all the way to the stem, no white shoulders, no hollow centers. Rinse them gently and hull them, removing only the green cap and as little flesh as possible. Quarter the larger berries so they blend evenly.

   Taste one before you commit. A strawberry that looks perfect but tastes of nothing will make a milkshake that tastes of nothing. The fruit is the whole point.
2. 2

   Chill your glasses

   Place two tall glasses in the freezer for at least ten minutes. A frosted glass keeps the milkshake cold and thick the way it should be. This small step makes a difference you will notice.

3. 3

   Blend the strawberries first

   Add the prepared strawberries to your blender with the honey and lemon juice. Pulse a few times until you have a rough puree with some texture remaining. The honey rounds out any tartness. The lemon brightens without announcing itself. Taste here and adjust if needed.

   If your berries are perfectly ripe and sweet, you may not need the honey at all. Let the fruit guide you.
4. 4

   Add ice cream and milk

   Add the vanilla ice cream and cold milk to the strawberry puree. Blend on medium speed for twenty to thirty seconds, just until thick and uniform. You want a consistency that holds its shape when poured, dense enough to require a spoon as much as a straw. Stop before it becomes thin. A proper milkshake is not flavored milk.

5. 5

   Pour and serve immediately

   Remove your glasses from the freezer. Pour the milkshake slowly, letting it mound above the rim. Top with whipped cream if you like, and nestle a fresh strawberry at the edge. Insert a wide straw and a long spoon. Serve now. A milkshake waits for no one, and this one deserves to be drunk while it still holds that perfect thickness.

Chef Tips

• •Buy strawberries from a farmer you can talk to. Ask when they were picked. Same-day berries have an aliveness that day-old fruit cannot match.
• •Quality ice cream matters here. Look for brands with short ingredient lists: cream, milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla. If the list reads like a chemistry set, keep looking.
• •If strawberries are out of season where you live, wait. A mediocre strawberry milkshake is not worth making. Try the farmers' market in June.
• •Fresh cream from a local dairy, if you can find it, makes this transcendent. The fat carries flavor in a way that processed alternatives cannot.

Advance Preparation

• •Glasses can live in the freezer, ready for spontaneous milkshakes on hot afternoons.
• •Strawberries can be hulled and quartered up to two hours ahead, kept cold and covered. Longer than that and they begin to weep.
• •This milkshake cannot be made ahead. The moment you blend is the moment you drink.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 450g)