The strawberry queen eats her strawberries straight from the basket.sliced onto pancakes. Topped with whipped cream. She likes them in the winter, when you can get a good Florida berry fresh from the farms. The strawberry queen is too kind and too regal to show disdain, but she politely passes on California berries in the summer. She's a Plant City girl, after all. This is her time: strawberry season, at last. And when you are the strawberry queen, there is glitz. There is glamour. Forget munching on strawberries reaped from early December harvests. Forget pulling over at farm stands for those thick strawberry shakes that don't make it out of the car. The strawberry queen starts her season with chocolate-dipped strawberries. "They're sweet, and the chocolate adds an extra little goodness," said Natalie Burgin, 18, the Strawberry Festival queen. She lingers by the fancy dipped and striped chocolate strawberries behind glass at the Original Leena's Chocolates in Valrico. This is what she aspired to achieve Monday: a chocolate-covered strawberry worthy of a doily-lined plate. When you are the strawberry queen, your royal duties do not make you nervous. [Source: St. Petersburg Times]