Triple Berry Salsa

June. The days are long again, the way Montana June days are, and the ranch is in the productive quiet of the maintenance season. The calves are on pasture with their mothers. The horses are in the summer rotation. The farrier schedule has settled from the spring rush to the sustainable weekly rhythm. I've been sleeping well, which I note because I know better than to take it for granted.

I met a woman named Jen at the Billings farmers market last Saturday. She was at the booth next to the chile vendor and she was buying vegetables — a lot of vegetables, the kind of buying that suggests she cooks, not just assembles. We talked for twenty minutes next to the bok choy. She's a schoolteacher, sixth grade, dark hair, laughs easily, asks questions that go somewhere. She asked what I did and I said rancher and farrier and she said, "What does a farrier do?" and I explained and she said, "You learned that from your neighbor?" I said, "He taught me, I built from there." She said she liked that answer. I gave her my number.

I told Gary on Thursday. He said, "Third time at the farmers market this year." I said, "I was buying chiles." He said, "You were buying chiles the first two times too. This time you also met someone." I said, "Are you tracking my farmers market attendance?" He said, "I'm tracking your life. It's my job." I don't know if it's officially his job anymore since I'm two years into the program, but I'm not going to tell him to stop.

Mom made strawberry shortcake Thursday with the first strawberries from the garden. June thing. Cream and berries and something that tastes like the beginning of summer.

Mom’s shortcake got me thinking about berries the rest of the week — the way the first ones of the season taste different from every one that comes after, brighter and a little more urgent. This triple berry salsa has that same feeling: simple to put together, no fuss, just fruit doing what it does best at the beginning of June. Felt right to bring something like this to the farmers market next Saturday, if Jen happens to be there buying vegetables again.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 10 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 cup fresh strawberries, hulled and diced small
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup fresh raspberries
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon lime zest
2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
Pinch of salt
Cinnamon sugar tortilla chips or shortcake biscuits, for serving

Instructions

Prep the berries. Hull and dice the strawberries into small, uniform pieces. Leave blueberries whole. If raspberries are large, halve them. Combine all three berries in a medium bowl.
Make the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together honey, lime juice, and lime zest until the honey is fully incorporated.
Combine. Pour the honey-lime dressing over the berries. Add the chopped mint and a pinch of salt. Gently fold everything together so the berries are coated but not crushed.
Rest briefly. Let the salsa sit at room temperature for 5 minutes so the berries release a little juice and the flavors come together.
Serve. Spoon alongside cinnamon sugar tortilla chips, or spoon over shortcake biscuits with a dollop of fresh whipped cream for a dessert version.

Nutrition (per serving)

Triple Berry Salsa — The Taste of a Montana June