Would You Like Strawberries With That?

A wide variety of unique strawberry concoctions were prepared at this year’s 17th annual Watsonville Strawberry Festival. Businesses and non-profits set up booths with their food creations to celebrate the strawberry, but also to raise money for their companies or causes. This year’s festival is a place where you ought to expand your taste palette, whether you are a foodie or just someone who has sweet tooth.

“It is a great festival if your desert lover, there is strawberry treat for everybody,” said Doug Mattos, director of the Watsonville Strawberry Festival. “Including strawberry pizza, strawberry ice cream, almost anything you can imagine with strawberries.”

The strawberry pizza is probably one the least orthodox food items in the whole festival. It was created by Watsonville based Cassidy’s Pizza ten years ago and is especially for this event.

“They are surprised at first, and want to see it,” said Jose Raya, supervisor at Cassidy’s Pizza, when asked about the chief reaction of people when witnessing this pizza. “Then they usually come back, with a desire to taste it.”

The pizza is solely made with fresh strawberries, crème cheese and bread. It has a strawberry dessert like taste that resonates quite well with some people.

“It was delicious, it was sweet,” said Ariana Schulte, 22, a Sunnyvale resident and freelance hairstylist, when asked about what the strawberry pizza tasted like.  “It is almost like strawberry cheesecake on a pizza.”

While, other festival attendees were a little more hesitant to try it.

“We have not tried the strawberry pizza,” said Makayla Mckinley, a bay area resident who was visiting the festival with her two children. “Strawberry pizza does scare me, but I am sure it’s probably good.”

Solid foods did not hold the monopoly in exceptional strawberry makings. Fluids also made their presence felt. The “Agua de Fresa” being sold by the Police Activity League (PAL) seemed to catch a lot of people’s attention.

“You blend your fresh strawberries, and you use just water and sugar,” said Veronica Miranda, the PAL Mom, in charge of that organizations booth operation. “Sometimes its good to blend them with the stem, it gives it a good flavor and more vitamins.”

This refreshing combination was lauded by some of those who tried it during their festival visit.

“It was delicious,” said Joe Clima, a surfboard manufacturer from Santa Cruz, when asked about his favorite strawberry treat so far. “It was sweet and the smell of the strawberries was really good.”

Others, were less inclined to try to it, but trusted the opinions of those who did.

“I just thought that strawberries and water seemed kind of strange,” said Aimee Grijalva, a resident from Salinas whose friend drank some. “But she said it was good,” added Grijalva.

Some of those who brought out of the ordinary strawberry goods to sell were also on a mission to raise awareness about their work. IF, a non-profit that focuses on humanitarian and social change work was one organization that was trying to grab festivalgoer’s attention through some very original strawberry empanadas.

“We really want people to know people we exist,” said Anita Seth, executive director of IF. “We have always been kind of low key organization, we call ourselves a circle of friends, but I think a lot of people would like to know what were up to.”

Not all of the strawberry related food was as surprising as the aforementioned foods. Classic strawberry treats were also available through out the festival, and the American Red Cross chapter of Santa Cruz took charge of making the festival’s strawberry shortcake.

“It’s a fabulous pound cake with fresh strawberries and some whip cream,” said Camilla Boolootian, development manager, when asked to describe their shortcake. “There is reason why this is always very popular.”

The longevity of this classic desert is certainly part of the reason why this dessert has big following at the event.

“I have been eating it for fifty years,” said Jose Vargas, a strawberry grower, who was in the midst of eating a strawberry short cake. “I never get tired of them.”