<p style="text-indent:0px; line-height:12px;"><span style="font-weight:bold;line-height:130%">Watsonville, CA</span><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">By Jordan Okumura<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">05.02.13</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>As the industry kicks off National Strawberry Month, we can celebrate the fact that Americans now consume twice as many strawberries than two decades ago, according to the U.S. Department of Food and Agriculture. May brings about a time when farmers and consumers alike celebrate the peak abundance of the favorite fruit.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/calstrawberries050213body.jpg" alt="images050213" /><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The versatile strawberry has made its way beyond traditional desert dishes to savory and sweet entrees, salads, appetizers and cocktails. Strawberries can be blended with garbanzo beans and lemon juice to make a tart hummus, or strung on rosemary-stem skewers, grilled and served with black pepper ice cream and ruby port syrup, according to the California Strawberry Commission. The berry is among one of the most talked about fruits on culinary websites, blogs and social media. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Thanks to the decades-long effort of California strawberry farmers, the fruit is now one of the country's most popular fruits, available year round. As Americans have doubled their consumption of fresh strawberries, with per capita consumption rising to almost eight pounds in 2012, refined growing methods on more than 40,000 acres have improved yields by 44 percent since 1990. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Currently, about 90 percent of U.S.-grown fresh strawberries come from California. It's good to be a California girl.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://www.californiastrawberries.com " target="_new"> California Strawberry Commission </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
