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Yes. New Morning in PA has a late growing season, especially in comparison to the early birds of West Virginia. Could be their berries missed out on the major patch of deluges others got.

ALB, take note. You should talk to Heather and Zora about jamming.

Hi everyone. as Anna Blume noted above- I shared with her my dramatic weekend of jam with her this weekend. The first day it did not set, presumably because I didn't put in all the sugar that the recipe called for. I just couldn't do it- it was so much!! After advice from Clear Valley(? one of the last stands on the street side of the market on the far side of the metro)- on sunday, I opened all the jars reheated and followed the directions of the Pomona pectin, and reprocessed. I think it worked, but honestly I am too afraid to open the jars and check. Any advice for a canning newbie would be GREATLY appreciated. My plan for the summer was to start with strawberry jam, then move to cherry and peach preserves and end the summer with tomato sauce. I don't want to get derailed- but its harder than I thought!! Thanks everyone for any advice you may have.

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Hi everyone. as Anna Blume noted above- I shared with her my dramatic weekend of jam with her this weekend. The first day it did not set, presumably because I didn't put in all the sugar that the recipe called for. I just couldn't do it- it was so much!! After advice from Clear Valley(? one of the last stands on the street side of the market on the far side of the metro)- on sunday, I opened all the jars reheated and followed the directions of the Pomona pectin, and reprocessed. I think it worked, but honestly I am too afraid to open the jars and check. Any advice for a canning newbie would be GREATLY appreciated. My plan for the summer was to start with strawberry jam, then move to cherry and peach preserves and end the summer with tomato sauce. I don't want to get derailed- but its harder than I thought!! Thanks everyone for any advice you may have.
Hi ALB. :lol: Did you use regular pectin, or the "low/no sugar" variety? If it's regular pectin, then you can't cut back on the sugar and get good results. If you don't want to use a lot of sugar then look for the low sugar pectin. I found some at Strosnider's just this morning.

If you used the right amount of sugar and the jam still won't set, set the jars aside and check after 1-2 days. Sometimes it takes time to jell properly. The strawberry jam I made last weekend has set up perfectly.

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I've had great straweberries at the Takoma Farmer's market but bad luck with trying to do anything with them! I tried doing a stawberry tart but I didn't preecook the tart shell enough and it turned into a mushy mess (still tasted good) Last weekend I made shortcakes that didn't rise becuase unbeknowest to me the bakin powder had expiered 6 months ago. So I just riped them up and put them in a ramekin and they still tasted fine.

Next week I'm sticking to strawberrys marinated in a bit of sugar and marsala wine, maaaaybe over ice cream if I'm feeling fancy. Hard to screw that up.

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I have given up on most retail places in my yearly sources for decent strawberries (stuff I remember eating when I was a kid, or the berries I've had on a NJ strawberry farm or stuff I had overseas). I think it is the variety that we grow in this country.

Never-the-less, spring brings new hope and I'm looking for a farm (Pick your own) for some great strawberries. If you know of any, I would appreciate a heads up.

Soup

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Does anyone know if strawberries need sun to be sweet? though i have pretty heavy shade on my balcony, making planting most edibles a nonstarter, this year i said to heck with it and planted a bunch of stuff, including strawberries. to my delight, 1 of my plants has produced a handful of tiny berries, of which only two have ripened. the texture of those two was great, really succulent and tender. however, they were quite sour. does anyone know if this is due to lack of sun, bad variety planted, or some other cultural issue? thanks!

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Anyone find good strawberrys? It is season and I'm searching for great testing small sweet strawberrys. Anyone seen them? I'm not looking for the big grocery stuff.

Soup

Either you have a newborn or you've been meeting a whole lot of deadlines for weeks on end since strawberries have been around for over a month now (things are very early this year). Not this weekend, but the week before, I'd say, was the peak for those from VA and MD, though there are still some later varieties coming out. The ones from S. PA have just started, so hi thine hide hither to a field or market!!!

FTR, this past weekend brought early sweet cherries to market and the first crop of fava beans.

Follow twitter feeds for your favorite farmers markets, sign up for enews and/or like Facebook sites.

(I started to list arrivals for seasonal topics in this forum, but since no one else contributed, I stopped.)

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Either you have a newborn or you've been meeting a whole lot of deadlines for weeks on end since strawberries have been around for over a month now (things are very early this year). Not this weekend, but the week before, I'd say, was the peak for those from VA and MD, though there are still some later varieties coming out. The ones from S. PA have just started, so hi thine hide hither to a field or market!!!

My personal experience, but so far they have not been very sweet this year. I've bought strawberries from a variety of vendors at the dupont circle and U St farmers markets for the past month, and haven't gotten a truly great batch yet.

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I have to say I got some great strawberries at the West End Farmers Market on Sunday. Many of the vendors' berries weren't that great looking, but these were deep red, smelled like strawberries and were completely devoured by Sunday night. It's so nice to cut a strawberry and see all red instead of white!

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Westmoreland Berry Farm, Sundays at Bethesda Central FM

Yes, we've been really happy with the strawberries we've gotten from Westmoreland Berry Farm at BCFM. Very sweet. Their asparagus has also been phenomenal.

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Does anyone know if strawberries need sun to be sweet? though i have pretty heavy shade on my balcony, making planting most edibles a nonstarter, this year i said to heck with it and planted a bunch of stuff, including strawberries. to my delight, 1 of my plants has produced a handful of tiny berries, of which only two have ripened. the texture of those two was great, really succulent and tender. however, they were quite sour. does anyone know if this is due to lack of sun, bad variety planted, or some other cultural issue? thanks!

Yes, fruit crops need a lot of sun to produce sufficient sugars and produce well. They also need relatively low amounts water during the ripening period, or the fruit will be watery and insipid.

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Yes, fruit crops need a lot of sun to produce sufficient sugars and produce well. They also need relatively low amounts water during the ripening period, or the fruit will be watery and insipid.

Actually, I think it's not the sun, but temperature. Think of ice wine - made sweeter from the use of grapes that have frozen on the vine. It's the overly warm temps right now that are causing the problems. According to this high temp increases respiration rates, whatever that means, reducing sugar content. So while there has been less rain, which I've noticed makes the fruit smell better, the heat is wreaking havoc on the sweetness.
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I don't think high temperature is the primary culprit. When I lived in California, the daytime temperatures were even higher but the farmer's market strawberries were much sweeter and more fragrant than any I've encountered on the East Coast. I find this true to be true of other fruits as well, melons/stone fruits/citrus from arid regions tend to be much sweeter than those from rainy climates.

Ice wine is sweet because it's essentially made with raisin juice. The prolonged ripening and noble rot process partially dries the fruit out, so the juice is more concentrated.

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Ice wine is sweet because it's essentially made with raisin juice. The prolonged ripening and noble rot process partially dries the fruit out, so the juice is more concentrated.

I don't believe noble rot is involved in Eiswein. The grapes are pressed while the water in them is frozen, yielding a greatly reduced volume which is very sweet. The Wikipedia article looks to be pretty informative.

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But to return to the sweetness of strawberries: Even the most desirable strawberries benefit from being cut up, sprinkled with sugar, stirred, and allowed to macerate for 10 or 15 minutes. When the strawberries are less sweet, the solution is to use more sugar. I've had three quarts of strawberries this month from Spring Valley farm at Dupont Circle. They have not been very sweet, but they've been wonderfully aromatic; indeed, I've found their perfume to be almost intoxicating, and they've had flavor to match. All they need is to be cut up and sprinkled with sugar. This is true for many kinds of fruit: all types of berries (most of which don't need cutting up, which strawberries demand), peaches, nectarines, all are improved with a bit of sugar. A good peach generally doesn't need to be made any sweeter than it already is, but a bit of sugar brings out its juices and its flavor.

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Saturday morning at the Rockville market a long line formed at one vendor; strawberries there were $4.50 a quart. Of course I stood in line, too, got my berries, and then found where Scenic View's stand was and bought more berries. There was no line. Hopefully all the bargain hunters will continue to queue at the other vendor, because at five bucks a quart Scenic View's berries made the others taste like Driscoll's. Okay, not really, but just like last year, I found Scenic View to have better tasting fruit than anyone else- even Westmoreland. And to think, we still have sweet and tart cherries and raspberries and black raspberries coming.

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Westmoreland doesn't get the crazy lines at Mt. Vernon like they do at Courthouse, so it's not for the wait, but the price that I've looked past Westmoreland in favor of cheaper strawberries that that only been getting better this season.

I'm looking forward to tasting some more on Wed. morning :wub:

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The Wednesday Rockville market opened today, with only three food vendors (there will be more in coming weeks), but Scenic View was there with strawberry seconds at $4.50 quart. They were seconds only because of their size, not because they were past their prime or anything like that. And they are the best tasting strawberries I've had this year. So, unless you have something against small berries (John Smallberries?), look up Scenic View.

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This past weekend was the time to buy strawberries as far as ripeness and abundance goes. Everyone who grows berries and participates in our metro region's markets brought theirs, whether for the first time or the third.

The ones I bought this week were definitely the best I've had so far. This was my 4th week buying them. I've been eating them plain and have made both strawberry-balsamic and rhubarb-strawberry sorbets, but I am really loving them in a simple spinach salad with pecans, black pepper, and a balsamic vinaigrette.

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This past weekend was the time to buy strawberries as far as ripeness and abundance goes. Everyone who grows berries and participates in our metro region's markets brought theirs, whether for the first time or the third.

The strawberries from PA farms are just coming in and will be around for several weeks to come.

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