Leighton was very good and asked the correct way to pick the strawberries (good training from the apple picking excursions and his beans we planted last summer!). Riley took the grab and squeeze approach at first (which resulted in messy fingers that caused complaint until cleaned off - this from the same girl who will dig in mud and muck all day long!), but she soon got the hang of it and followed our encouragement to pick the smaller, firmer strawberries for less mush potential!
We are now the proud owners of 5lbs of ripe, delicious strawberries and are trying to decide what to make with them. We always love this strawberry shortcake recipe (even the time I got messed up on the measurements and used double the butter when we were visiting Jenn and Dean and the boys in Oakville and I made it for Jenn's Dad's birthday - oops! We all loved the strawberry
I have been doing a lot of investigating into what other u-pick farms are near us and have made a list for some other day trips over the next several months. May will be blueberries, and June will be peaches/nectarines. In the fall, we will try for some persimmons. Picking oranges would be fun (and grapefruits if Grandma and Papa are visiting!), although the area in TX for that is a bit further from us. We will miss apple picking in NY, but all these other fruits will be fun and delicious substitutes!
wow! gorgeous strawberries! i don't have any suggestions for use (i don't eat many of them because i think they are one of my allergenic items) but my vote definitely goes for strawberry rhubarb anything.
ReplyDeletesuper jealous of fresh nectarines - lots of peach and plum growing here but no nectarines (and they are my absolute favourite fruit!) - i wonder about this in the same way i wonder why everyone has their own lemon, mandarin, orange and grapefruit trees, but you can't find a lime around here to save your life! (we're keeping our eye out for a little lime tree but so far no luck).
Can you grow a lime tree from seed? I could try to find some lime seeds if so!
DeleteYou could always make that amazing dressing with strawberries and cilantro. I have made it a bunch of times but it never turns out as good as yours!!
ReplyDeleteMmm, haven't had that salad sine your place - good idea! Especially since the berries are starting to need to be eaten and used asap.
DeleteThe strawberries won't keep long, so you need to make some decisions. If they are still in excellent shape, you could remove the green stems/leaves and line them up on a cookie sheet or other baking pan and put it in the freezer. They then will freeze as individual strawberries and once frozen can be bagged together for easy storage. Then, when you need a strawberry or two, pluck them out of the bag.
ReplyDeleteOr mash them in a bowl and put the mush into freezer bags...great for ice cream topping (or making strawberry ice cream at a later date).
Strawberry rhubarb crisp would be terrific...I wonder if rhubarb needs a cooler climate to grow?
Are you implying that I may be procrastinating?!!? I really am bad for making decisions, I know!
ReplyDeleteThe strawberries are begging to be dealt with or eaten, so I've been going mad today taking care of them! Will blog all about it later.
I was also wondering if rhubarb would grow here or not?