Welcome to the home of the freshest, most delicious strawberries in the world. Enjoy fresh Florida strawberries, available December through April.
Strawberry news with Strawberry Sue at Nashville’s Channel 5‘s Talk of the Town. Sue prepares a classic Tres Leches cake with fresh Florida strawberries. She is assisted by weather caster Lelan Statom.
Sue follows her TV appearance with lunch with the editors of Relish and Spry magazines, which together reach more than 29 million people nationally.
PLANT CITY, Fla. – The Florida Strawberry Growers Association, as part of its continuing campaign to educate consumers about its unique winter strawberry crop, has partnered with Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill to spread the message that fresh-from-Florida berries are on the menu in a special promotion that runs Feb. 10-March 2.
Florida is the dominant domestic supplier of winter strawberries, which are harvested between Thanksgiving and mid-March, and are shipped to locations east of the Mississippi and along the entire East Coast. This market is ideally suited to the Smokey Bones brand, which includes 65 locations in 17 states, most of which are in the same geographic area targeted by Florida winter strawberries.
Smokey Bones’ vice president of culinary Jason R. Gronlund, also a founding member of the FSGA Chefs Advisory Board, wanted to further promote Florida-grown strawberries, and suggested the restaurant could boost the berries’ brand exposure through menu items featuring the red, juicy fruit.
Gronlund created a limited-time dessert offering – Florida Strawberries & Cream Cake, which will be available Feb. 10. The restaurant also developed a new strawberry cocktail – Strawberry Blonde – and will offer a strawberry-flavored ale from its bar selections, which will be available starting Jan. 13.
“We are excited to be able to spotlight our winter berries through a popular restaurant brand that is synonymous with great food, drinks and fun. We know our collaboration with Smokey Bones will encourage consumers to purchase and consume more Florida strawberries all winter long,” said Sue Harrell, director of marketing for FSGA.
“Teaming with the people who grow Florida’s winter strawberry crop complements Smokey Bones’ culture of developing menu choices featuring the best quality food, including the freshest produce possible,” added Tiffany Walker, director of marketing for Smokey Bones.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is supporting the “Bones ‘n’ Berries” promotion by lending its “Fresh from Florida” logo, which was created to promote the state’s fresh agricultural products. The logo will be placed on collateral material to identify the special menu items.
Local growers and members of the FSGA produce about 15 percent of the nation’s strawberries and most of the domestically grown berries harvested during the winter. The commodity has an economic impact on the local community exceeding $700 million. Hillsborough County, Fla., is known as the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World. For more information about FSGA, visit www.flastrawberry.com.
Smokey Bones is a full-service bar and fire-grill restaurant brand based in Orlando, Fla. It is owned by an affiliate of Boca Raton, Fla.-based Sun Capital Partners whose portfolio of restaurants also includes Boston Market, Friendly’s, Sweet Tomatoes, Fazoli’s, Bar Louie, and other restaurant brands. For more information on Smokey Bones, visit www.SmokeyBones.com.
Despite weather and disease problems that hampered production at the start of the 2013-14 strawberry season, local growers still anticipate a good year.
“All we need now is a little more normal weather,” said Ted Campbell, executive director of the Florida Strawberry Growers Association in Dover, on Thursday. “We’re still optimistic for a good season.”
Florida provides most of the nation’s domestically grown strawberries during the winter months from more than 10,000 acres of fields throughout Plant City. The Florida strawberry season typically begins about Thanksgiving and goes into March.
Continue reading on The Ledger.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 22, 2013
Contact: Sue Harrell, Director of Marketing
Florida Strawberry Growers Association
(813) 752-6822
PLANT CITY, Fla. – The Florida Strawberry Growers Association (FSGA), as part of its continuing campaign to educate consumers about its unique winter strawberry crop has partnered with Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill to spread the message that fresh-from-Florida berries are on the menu in a special promotion that runs Feb. 10-March 2, 2014.
Florida is the dominant domestic supplier of winter strawberries. Crops are harvested between Thanksgiving and mid-March, and are shipped to locations east of the Mississippi and along the entire East Coast. This market is ideally suited to the Smokey Bones brand, which includes 65 locations in 17 states, most of which are in the same geographic area targeted by Florida winter strawberries.
Smokey Bones’ vice president of culinary Jason R. Gronlund, also a founding member of the FSGA Chefs Advisory Board, wanted to further promote Florida-grown strawberries, so he suggested that the restaurant could boost the berries’ brand exposure through menu items featuring the red, juicy fruit. Gronlund created a limited-time-dessert offering – a strawberries and cream cake. The restaurant also developed a new strawberry cocktail, and will offer a strawberry-flavored ale from its bar selections.
“We are excited to be able to spotlight our winter berries through a popular restaurant brand that is synonymous with great food, drinks and fun. We know our collaboration with Smokey Bones will encourage consumers to purchase and consume more Florida strawberries all winter long,” said Sue Harrell, director of marketing for FSGA.
“Teaming with the actual people who grow Florida’s winter strawberry crop complements Smokey Bones’ culture of developing menu choices that feature the best quality food, including the freshest produce possible,” added Tiffany Walker, director of marketing for Smokey Bones.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is supporting the “Bones ‘n’ Berries” promotion by lending its “Fresh from Florida” logo, which was created to promote the state’s fresh agricultural products. The logo will be placed on collateral material to identify the special menu items.
Local growers and members of the FSGA produce about 15 percent of the nation’s strawberries and virtually all the berries grown during the winter. The commodity has an economic impact on the local community exceeding $700 million. Hillsborough County, Fla., is known as the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World. For more information about FSGA, visit www.flastrawberry.com.
Smokey Bones is a full-service bar and fire-grill restaurant brand based in Orlando, Fla. It is owned by an affiliate of Boca Raton, Fla.-based Sun Capital Partners, whose portfolio of restaurants also includes Boston Market, Friendly’s, Sweet Tomatoes, Fazoli’s, Bar Louie, and other restaurant brands. For more information on Smokey Bones, visit www.SmokeyBones.com.
Here’s a great article from the Mother Nature Network with eight reasons to appreciate nutrition-packed strawberries:
You probably know these berries pack a vitamin C wallop, but there’s a wealth of other good stuff inside.
Like strawberries? If you’re like the average consumer of this fruit — which is actually a member of the rose family — you consume about 5 pounds of strawberries each year.
How are strawberries, which are second only to apples in fresh-fruit popularity, doing your body good? Let’s review some strawberry nutrition facts.
Most strawberry lovers know that a serving contains a lot of vitamin C. In fact, one cup of strawberries (about eight medium-sized berries) yields 150 percent daily value (DV) of vitamin C. Talk about nutrient density! That’s a lot of vitamin C for only 50 calories.
Strawberries are also relatively high in fiber. One cup provides 3 grams, or 12 percent DV.
Continue reading for even more reasons you should eat more strawberries!