Though you can find strawberries at the grocery store most any time of year, they are almost never worth buying out of season. Berries picked when they are ripe and ready to eat won’t survive long-distance truck travel to market, so year-round consumer demand means berries grown in warmer climes are picked while they are still immature, before their natural sugars have had a chance to fully develop.

The hard, tart, pinkish excuse for a strawberry you can find at the store in January pales (literally) in comparison to the tender, luscious, juicy gems in abundance at local farmers markets right now. The locally-grown, in-season strawberry, plucked from the vine less than 48 hours before you touch it, is an entirely different fruit. It may be only a quarter of the size of the mutants we’re accustomed to seeing at the grocery store, but rest assured that smaller berries usually mean more concentrated sweetness.

If you’ve never picked your own before, it’s worth trying: the plants grow low to the ground, thick green leaves shading the fruit tucked underneath. You move down the row in a crouch, letting your fingers guide you from one plump berry to the next. (You probably don’t want to eat them straight off the vine, though, especially if they’re not organic, because they absorb herbicides and pesticides readily.)

As much as I crave the sugary burst of fresh strawberries at their peak, I sometimes find that same sweetness cloying when it’s concentrated into jam or sauce. I’ve always preferred the tart kick of the strawberry-rhubarb jam my grandmother used to make every spring. This year, I decided to spice things up a bit. Heat cuts sweetness just as surely as sour flavors do: inspired by a sample at the Dupont Circle farmers’ market, I made my own strawberry-jalapeño jam. Sweet at first, it slowly develops into a warm, peppery buzz on your lips.

You might not spread it onto your morning bagel (though you certainly could!), but it could serve as the anchor for an entire savory brunch on its own. It begs to be slathered onto thick slices of cheesy cornbread or drizzled over cornmeal pancakes, tucked into grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and spooned generously onto buttermilk biscuits, with plenty of strong coffee and cream nearby. Mirror the flavors in the jam with a pitcher of sweet and spicy Bloody Marys.

Strawberry-Jalapeño Jam
Makes about 2 pints

Note: Do not use this recipe to can jam for out-of-fridge storage. It must be refrigerated or frozen.

1 qt. strawberries
1 ½ cups sugar
¼ cup pureed jalapeño peppers, including seeds and ribs (about 2-3 peppers, depending on size)
2 Tbsp. water
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
½ envelope unflavored gelatin

1. Wash and hull the strawberries. Cut them into small pieces. Pour the sugar over them and mix gently, then let them macerate (sit and release their juices) for an hour or so.
2. Cut the stems off the jalapenos and discard. Chop the peppers (including stems and ribs) into small pieces. (You may want to wear latex gloves or put your hand in a Ziploc bag for this step, especially if you have contact lenses to remove within the next several hours.) Puree peppers with 2 Tbsp. of water in a food processor until it becomes a smooth paste.
3. In a saucepan, mix strawberries, sugar, pureed jalapenos, lemon zest and juice. Bring to a rolling boil, stirring occasionally, and cook at a boil for 15 minutes or so, until mixture has thickened slightly. Remove from heat.
4. Stir half an envelope of unflavored gelatin into ¼ cup cold water and let stand for 1 minute, then slowly pour it into the jam, stirring continually.
5. Immediately pour jam into clean jars, screw on the lids, and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Jam will keep in the fridge for approximately 4 weeks or in the freezer for up to a year.