This text is part of the special Pleasures notebook
When it’s strawberry season, we take the opportunity to eat them without moderation. They are so juicy and sweet that it’s hard to get tired of them. Many local artisans are inspired by the sweet flavors of this little red fruit to develop new products. Here are four to discover this summer, 100% Quebec.
Julia strawberry wine from the Bourdages farm
At the Bourdages farm in Saint-Siméon-de-Bonaventure, in Gaspésie, they farm in a way that is “very close to organic,” explains co-owner Pierre Bourdages. For this reason, freshly picked fruit only stays beautiful for a day or two. Unsold produce from the day is processed the next day.
In 1995, Pierre Bourdages was actively looking for a new way to valorize his less attractive fruits. At that time, he and his team conducted the first tests to create a strawberry alcohol. In 2006, they presented Julia, a wine made from 100% Bourdages strawberries, whose must was fermented for three weeks, then macerated for nine months in stainless steel barrels. “It’s a totally unique product made with the best strawberries in the world,” says Pierre Bourdages, laughing.
The aperitif-oriented product quickly delighted its customers. “The craze was gradual. The first year, we sold 300 bottles. The second, 3,000. The third, 8,000…” he says. And now, they make more than 75,000 per year, he adds.
Quebec strawberry and spruce jam from Arhoma bakery
Frank Vilpoux, pastry chef at Groupe Arhoma since 2022, buys strawberries in large quantities when they are in season and immediately transforms them into cakes, purees and jams. “Since we have a fresh strawberry in full season, it is very sweet,” he explains. “Manufacturers put the same weight of sugar as fruit in their recipe. For us, for a kilo of strawberries, we only incorporate 500 g of sugar.”
The identity of his culinary style is based on boreal products, so when he starts creating, Frank Vilpoux opens his little bags of local herbs, such as sweet grass, sweet clover, verbena or thuja, and carries out numerous tests.
“The goal is to find the perfect ingredient that will add value to the fruit we are going to work with, without distorting it,” explains the pastry chef. This is how he developed a combination of strawberry and spruce for his most recent jam. “A duo that stands out,” he emphasizes.
Strawberry sorbet from Givrés
“We couldn’t ignore strawberries, because they are part of our Quebec gastronomy,” says Alexandre Deslauriers, co-owner of the artisanal ice cream and sorbet company Les Givrés, which has several locations in Montreal, enthusiastically. “Our creation is made with 100% Quebec strawberries, and has been for 14 years. If we ever ran out of local fruit, we would simply stop making this sorbet,” he adds bluntly. This flavour is without a doubt one of their best sellers.
At the Les Givrés factory, the mandate is clear: we must promote local products. “We work with farmers who freeze them for us as soon as they come out of the field. We bought three tons of strawberries last year!” emphasizes the co-owner. Not only are local fruits very tasty, but according to Alexandre Deslauriers, it is just as important to know where they come from and when they were picked. And this is to ensure that they have not traveled far to get to them.
Quebec strawberry milk tablet from Palette de bine
Christine Blais, owner and chocolatier of Palette de bine in Mont-Tremblant, considers herself a purist: “My strength is pure dark chocolates made from exceptional cocoas.” While she sometimes allows herself to add an ingredient—a fruit, a spice—to her sweet creations, she tries to favor local products.
When the Quebec strawberry season begins, the chocolatier stocks up on berries from La récolte de la Rouge, a family farm located not far from her workshop. “The strawberries from 2024 will be used to make the chocolate of 2025,” explains the businesswoman.
This year, she bought 50 kilos of these fresh berries, which she plans to quickly freeze-dry (i.e. freeze and then dehydrate). She will thus obtain five kilos of strawberry powder, which she will add to her cocoa mixture.
To make her flavored palettes more flavorful, she doesn’t skimp on the amount of fruit powder. For example, in the strawberry milk bar, the bar contains 5%, she calculates. “The taste is very powerful. And this way, the texture of the chocolate remains smooth and creamy.”
This content was produced by the Special Publications Team of Dutyrelevant to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part in it.