First, a shocking fact: the average person throws away about 10% of a strawberry’s volume when they slice off the top. That’s like tossing a handful of dollar bills into the trash every time you make a fruit salad. But the real scandal is that the green hull (the leaf part) is not actually the stem. The stem is that tiny, pale-green bit inside. You’ve been murdering perfectly good berry over a lie.
My grandmother used to say, “A strawberry without its top is a berry that’s lost its hat.” She was a wise woman who also believed that eating strawberries with the hull on would give you “vigorous eyebrows.” I’m 90% sure that’s not true, but her cutting method was genius. She’d take a hulled strawberry, turn it upside down, and—wait for it—do absolutely nothing. She’d just eat the whole thing, leaves and all. She claimed the leaves tasted like “green sunshine.” I think she was just lazy. But hey, it’s the most authentic way to eat them.
