Murky, which Alpine strawberry did you raise from seeds? I've usually bought them as plants from the local nursery, with Baron Solemacher and Mignonette being my favorite reds. The yellow and white Alpines here are much better than the reds, sweeter, more aromatic, and ever bearing. Also, it could have been your source. An eBay merchant sent me some Duchesnea indica plants, mock strawberries, and claimed they were Fragraria virginiana, native Virginia strawberries. As soon as they bloomed with yellow flowers, I politely sent them back to her, with some information on Duchesnea indica. It's easy to make mistakes. The nursery below looks okay. She claims to have Pineapple Crush alpine strawberry seeds, which I grew years ago, and really liked. Here is a link that might be useful: Fraises des Bois

I have a couple of different varieties. The Sequoia is my favorite big strawberry and I have some Mara de bois that are fabulous and some frais de bois that are even more fabulous but the berries are teeny tiny. I also have Tristan which are nice and flavorful and have very pretty fushia pink flowers and then I have quinalt which are good. I am not knowledgeable enough to say which is June bearing and which is everbearing. I just plant them and away they go!!!

This is a recipe from River Cottage every day veg. Mushroom ragout with soft polenta. 400ml milk Bay leaf Sprig thyme Peppercorns Half an onion and/or 2 cloves garlic bashed 150 gr quick cook polenta 20g butter 1 tsp finely chopped rosemary 20 g grated parmesan Ragout : 2 tbls oil Large knob butter 650g mushrooms, thickly sliced Garlic bashed Thyme laves, finely chopped 150ml red wine 150ml stock S and p For the polenta, put milk an 400ml water in a pan, add bay leaf, peppercorns, onio'/garlic. Bring to just below the boil and set aside to infuse 20 mins. Meanwhile, heat half the oil and butter and cook half the mushrooms, S and p and cook until most of the juices have evaporated. Add half te garlic and thyme, cook for a minute more then tip onto a plate. Repeat with the other half. Add first lot back to th pan, add the wine and stock and simmer for about 15 Mins until liquid is reduced by half. Strain the infused milk, bring to a simmer, add the polenta, stir likke crazy, let it simmer for a minute. Remove from the heat, Add th butter, rosemary and cheese. Check the seasoning. Serve straight away topped with the ragout. Serves 4.

maybe I do need to explain my idea of dry brining a little bit. I did a google search and it seems I differ from some of the info. Almost all of it is about meat and I must tell you that dry brining is just as good for vegetables. It takes that little hard edge (maybe bitter for some people) off the vegetable making it more palatable. What I do is pretty informal. I prepare vegetables for cooking such as washing and snipping off the end of green beans, or slicing mushrooms or peeling some of the coarse stem off broccoli and chop, etc. I then put the vegetables in a collander. I use about 1 tsp kosher salt per 8 oz of fresh mushrooms. Or two teaspoons for 1 1/2 pounds of green beans. For carrots, I use two teaspoons for 10 mediums carrots thickly sliced (on the diagonal). But don't leave out the seasoning step. Stir the salt into the vegetables in the collander. Then I mince a large jalapeno with seeds in my food processor. Then stir the jalapeno bits into the vegetable mixture in the collander. I think this is the point you could substitute other seasonings such as thyme or dill or garlic or oregano. Stir everthing well trying to make sure your veggies are coated with the herbs (or jalapeno bits). Then put the collander over an empty bowl and cover the collander with a dishcloth. Here is where I get really loose with the directions depending on how much time I've got. But I rarely leave the veggies sitting on the counter in the collander (covered) for more than 3 hours. But I think you could if you accidentally went that long but I have no idea what the maximum time would be. May depend on the veggie. Once your ready to cook, then nothing else special to do but cook. A lot of veggies are good roasted. You can put the results from your collander on a roasting pan and spray lightly with one of those spray cans of olive oil. And then roast for normal amount of time. There will be liquid probably in the bowl beneath the collander. I just discard this though it might be good for making a stock but could be rather salty. Sorry I'm winging most of this but the main point of this is that the salt besides taking the edge off the veggies seems to somehow cause the seasonings to really be drawn into the veggies and penetrates them better than without the brining, IMO. When I cook catfish fillets, I let them sit in the collander with the jalapeno bits and salt covered for a few hours. But inevitably, when I roast them, I need to roast for about 10 minutes, drain and roast some more. Not sure if I get the liquid because my catfish is cheap or what but the final version of the catfish with the jalapeno spicy flavor is nothing short of fabulous. I don't eat catfish any other way now. Yum, yum, yum. Sorry to make this so long but when I went looking on google, turns out there isn't much on this. I posted a pickled carrots recipe in other thread that I love for low fat, diet snacking and healthy too that involves dry brining first with minced jalapenos, then briefly boiling in vinegar and water and chilling in jars in the fridge. If you like spicy food, the salt will really enhance the jalapeno flavor, IMO. Search for "pickled carrots" and I bet it will pop up.