Baked Fruit Pies

We live in an age when we have access to a wider variety of foods than ever before. You’re in New York but you want peaches in December? No problem, they’re shipped in from Chile. You want strawberries on Valentine’s Day? There are stacks of plastic clamshells full of massive strawberries from Southern California right there in your local grocery store.

While the hyperavailability of produce year-round can be convenient, I don’t think it always adds to our quality of life. When we get used to the tastes and textures of subpar berries shipped across the country, we sometimes forget just how earth-shattering a juicy, truly ripe strawberry can be in its season. We blunt the pleasure of anticipation and get out of sync with the seasons.