Wimbledon and Strawberries

Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is regarded by many as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877.

Now in the final week of this year’s tournament, we look forward to the Men’s and Women’s finals taking place this weekend. We also look forward to commemorating the occasion with the fruit most associated with this summer spectacular…. Kent Strawberries!

Strawberry Stats

Wimbledon is the largest single annual sporting catering operation (3,000 staff) carried out in Europe. Average quantities of food and drink served at The Championships include 21,917 bottles of Champagne, 76,603 ice creams, 303,277 glasses of Pimms and 166,055 portions of strawberries and cream!

Since 2010, the price for a portion of strawberries and cream at Wimbledon has remained at £2.50. The strawberries served at the tournament are always Grade 1 English strawberries of the highest quality from LEAF- registered farms in Kent. LEAF is a charity promoting Integrated Farm Management balancing organic with chemical practices.

To ensure the utmost freshness, strawberries are picked at 4am, collected from the packing plant at 9am and are delivered to the All England Club for inspection and hulling. They are then served to guests and enjoyed on the same day.

No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake

Not lucky enough to be attending the Wimbledon final this weekend? How about celebrating with a homemade no-bake strawberry cheesecake? This sweet treat is easy to make and is sure to score you an ace with the whole family!

Ingredients

For the biscuit base:
200g Gingernut or Digestive Biscuits
75g Butter, melted
2 Tbsp Dark Brown Sugar

For the cheesecake:
280g Cream Cheese
100g Icing Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
½ Lemon (juice only)
300ml Double Cream

For the Top:
150g Strawberries
4 Tsps Icing Sugar
Other berries/decorations of your choice

Method

1. Put the biscuits into a food processor and whizz until well mixed. Alternatively, put them into a bag and hit them with a rolling pin until they are in fine pieces. Put into a bowl and add the melted butter and sugar. Mix well.
2. Press the mixture into a 20cm loose bottomed tin that’s been greased. Put into the fridge to chill.
3. To make the filling, put the cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla and lemon juice into a bowl and whisk until all combined.
4. In another bowl, whisk the cream until it holds stiff peaks. Then fold it in, carefully, by hand into the cream cheese mixture. Pour this into the tin with the biscuit base that has chilled in the fridge. Smooth over. Put back into the fridge to chill once more.
5. Take the strawberries (apart from a few for decoration) and put them in a food processor along with the icing sugar. Blitz well. Strain this pureed mixture through a sieve and then pour it over the top of the cheesecake. Add strawberries, berries, edible flowers and any other decorations of your choice to the top. Leave to set in the fridge overnight.

Serve and enjoy!