Strawberry Season 2012

Despite some of the really bizarre weather we had in March and April the strawberry crop was really good this year. So it was time to dust off my berry picking baskets and head off to Parlee Farms in Tyngsboro. 

Let me just stop here for a moment to confirm that Yes .. they do know me there by sight. For the last six years or so I have been going there regularly for various and sundry crops from strawberries in the Spring to pumpkins in the Fall.

One of the things I like about Parlee is the relaxed atmosphere of the farm and the calm friendly demeanor of the people they hire to work there. I have been to other PYO places where the "Field Police" watch you as though you were there to sabotage the fields ... and heaven forbid you  bring your own container /  basket. I would probably have had less negative reaction if I showed up topless.Oh well. Again that is why I prefer Parlee since none of that has ever happened to me.

But I do think I should make a confession. Strawberries are not among my favorite. In order to pick them you need to either bed over at an odd angle (sore back), crouch (thigh muscle spasms and creaky knees), kneel (forgot my pad again) or sit (getting straw stuck to odd places no straw should be at) in order to gather the berries.

And secondly ... it is not that I hate strawberries, it is just not one of my favorite fruits. If I had to choose I would go with raspberries no contest.

 However I do know a lot of people who really like strawberries and there are times I do want strawberry jam for yogurt parfaits and so off I went.








Once I got my 10 pounds of berries home I started prepping them. After lining a cookie sheet with waxed paper I remove the stem end and place the berries cut side down. It usually takes four hours or so for each berry to freeze completely. Once they are hard as rocks then I put them into ziplock bags and then into my chest freezer for later use.



There was a new recipe I wanted to try this year: Strawberry-Lemon Marmalade.  Now, if you are ever so inclined and have an hour to kill then you too can "easily" make marmalade. That's how long it took me to very carefully cut the rind off the lemons, scrape off ALL the white pith with a knife edge and then slice the cleaned peel into teeny tiny slivers.

In retrospect it occurs to me that a zester would have worked almost as well. Which reminds me, I need to see if I even own a zester ... hmmmm.

But an hour later I had mashed strawberries, prepared the lemon peel and was ready to get started.

Finished Marmalade

Finished Strawberry-Peach Jam

A couple of days after making the marmalade I still had a large amount of strawberries getting a bit lonely in the refrigerator along with some peaches which were also getting a bit past their prime. So after prepping the remaining strawberries and getting some more peaches from the store I whipped up a quick back of Peach-Strawberry Jam.

I still have a lot of berries prepped and ready for my big jam making weekend sometime this Fall once the weather is cooler - AND I have the Exchange Students here to "help".