The simplest and best strawberry syrup ever!

I found myself at Salamanca market a few Saturdays ago, as I do most Saturdays. It's a place that I can just get lost in. There is a buzz of people, locals and tourists, old and young, conventional and somewhat not. There's an enormity of shopping, antiques, books, jewellery and crafts. But the thing that keeps bringing me back is the food! It is a foodies heaven. Wonderful Tasmanian produce and producers at every turn!

I never go to Salamanca with a shopping list, I just get inspired by what I find. And this week I was excited to see these strawberries! Two punnets for $3. What? Did I read that right? These punnets are twice the size of the supermarket, and they want to give me two of them for just $3? Sold! There's always a catch however- and I knew what it was. These babies must be nearing the end of their season and although they look amazing, they were close to their expiration date and had to be eaten in the coming days. How would I get through them all?

Easy! This is a recipe my dad taught me- I actually don't even know if you can call it a recipe, it's that simple! Dad would always do the same thing and buy in bulk when the prices were right. Our fridge shelves would be full of this syrup, and it would be a treat for the weeks ahead! I used to think he was magic! How could he create something so good with little to no effort at all? Lucky I'm here to now fill you in on the secret.

I must say this recipe does involve a lot of sugar, but the health benefits must surely outweigh that right? Well lets see- Did you know strawberries are full of age-defying nutrients? They are packed full of Vitamin C which is essential for the manufacture of collagen which helps maintain the structure of our skin. And lets be frank- everyone wants to look younger for longer!

As soon as I got home from the market, and before taking off to work, I prepared these strawberries- it must've taken me all of 20 minutes to clean and cut them up. Then you just cover them with sugar and let the fridge do the rest of the work as you put your feet up (or in my case, go to work).

Now don't touch! Don't you dare do any more work for this dish! In a few days your strawberry syrup will be complete.

It's a great idea for dinner parties with no fuss. The syrup will keep for up to a week and the strawberries will shrink up and become so concentrated with flavour it's not funny! Simply served with ice cream it's a treat everyone will love! The trick... serve in elegant glassware to impress.

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2 punnets of strawberries (standard punnet size is fine)

3/4 cup white sugar

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Clean, wash and remove the leaves from all your strawberries. Cut them into a mix of quarters and halves.

Place strawberries into two tall glasses, only filling halfway up. Top with a half the sugar. Fill with remaining strawberries and top with remaining sugar.

Places glasses in the fridge and forget about them for at least 2-3days.

Remove from fridge and serve equal amounts of strawberries and syrup over your dessert- I suggest two scoops of vanilla bean ice cream.