It's summertime in the US and the ripe berries are in full season. And that means it's time for me to load up at the local farmers market and also at the grocery stores with lots of succulent fruit. Raspberries, blueberries, and especially strawberries.

A lot of people are probably familiar with eating chocolate covered strawberries at a fancy restaurant for dessert. Or maybe picking some up at a gourmet food store - grabbing a couple to eat and go. Or maybe even ordering some online or from the local store for delivery. 

But did you know it's really easy to make some hand dipped strawberries yourself? Besides saving a lot of money from ordering expensive delivery services, you'll have the enjoyment and satisfaction of making them just how you want them. Plus you know all that went into them as well!

First off, it's not an absolute necessity that you use strawberries. I just find it my favorite chocolate dipping fruit. Plus it's the classic pairing :) . You can pick the exact berries you'll use. Look for plump ones that will take a good dipping . Once you've thoroughly washed and dried the strawberries, you can put them to the side.

Then it's a matter of finding the type of chocolate to melt. You can use a double boiler (large pot of water with a glass bowl on top) to melt the chocolate. This will ensure that the chocolate doesn't burn or scorch. You want it to melt slowly.

Getting a big block of chocolate and then chopping it into smaller pieces will allow it to melt a bit faster. I prefer dark chocolate which is in the 60-70% cacao range.

In the next section, I'll talk about the actual chocolate strawberry dipping process. It's pretty simple ;) .

In this day and age of focusing more on local food sources, why not try your hand in growing your own strawberries? From there, you can have your own great supply to then make fresh chocolate strawberry desserts at any time. Or naturally you can use them however you please: eating them plain, using them in a fruit salad, adding some poppy seed dressing and making a nice romaine and blue cheese salad with strawberries and almond shavings. Lots of possibilities!

Strawberries are a plant and you can get them from a variety of nursuries. A lot of home improvement stores sell them in their garden sections too, so keep an eye out for that. They do like a lot of sunlight. The more the better. And naturally they like a good consistent supply of water. You may have to experiment to find the ideal soil conditions for your plants. But some varieties are sturdier than others, so some may work just fine with the dirt you have. Otherwise, you can put some plant food material in the soil to help health and growth.