Strawberry Season

Lets talk about strawberries since they are in season  right now.  Everywhere that we have lived we try to have a strawberry patch.  We used to go pick around 50 -75 quarts of strawberries every year and put them up in various ways.  In the last few years we have stopped doing that and try to pick from our own patch or go without.  There are two reasons for this.  One, we know that our strawberries have not been sprayed with chemicals and two, it is easier to pick along and put them up through the season rather than the marathon 1-2 days we used to do.
This year we have a new strawberry patch and are only getting a handful of berries every few days.  These go into our morning smoothies or are eaten before we make it into the house.  So, I broke down and bought a few quarts of strawberries this year.  I added a couple of pictures of the processing, they look so beautiful.  I put them in the sink and soak them in cool water with a dollop of bleach for 10 minutes of so to take off some of the residues.  I rinse, de-hull, and cut up in a bowl.  From there they are processed into Jam or frozen in quart bags without sugar.   We also make shortcake and ice-cream with them.

It is funny how strawberries can bring back memories of past years.  My father's birthday is in mid June and where they live the strawberries are in season around his birthday.  We always had shortcake for his birthday.  I remember as a young girl helping my Mother pick strawberries in the fields around our house for shortcake for Dad's birthday.  You haven't lived until you have tasted wild Strawberry Shortcake with fresh, warm biscuits and whipped or clotted cream.  But I will warn you, it is much more labor intensive since the berries are so much smaller.  However, if you ever have a chance to make shortcake with wild strawberries, it is well worth it.

We are praying that the strawberry patch will produce much better next year.  In the meantime, we are planning on enjoying my moment of weakness.