Saturday, June 18, 2011

Berry Picking

This morning my friend Karen and our daughters, the lovely Miss C and Lil Miss A, all went strawberry picking just outside La Crescent, Minnesota, at Kathan's farm. The season only opened yesterday so the pickin' was really good. The berries were plentiful and beautiful, though not as sweet as one might hope (though, strangely, by the time I got mine home, they seemed sweeter). After we picked, we went out to lunch at Fayze's Restaurant in La Crosse.

Now I'm home. I pitted and sliced some berries for dehydrating and some for the freezer. I'm telling the family to eat all they can manage now while the berries are at their best. I'm also going to can some peaches that I bought at the market.

Here are my Strawberry Tips for 2011:

  1. Wear strawberry-juice-colored clothing.
  2. Use a paper clip to pit the strawberries. Unbend the center bend, so you have the two bent ends to work with.
  3. Slice ripe strawberries with an egg slicer.
Quote from Lil Miss A, helping to shuck the skins off the peaches: "Why does the skin always stick in the butt crack?"

2 comments:

Catherine said...

We haven`t picked strawberries for years. Acres and acres of wild strawberries. I like your strawberry cleaning ideas.

That`s a "peachy" and very true observation your daughter made about peeling peaches. So honest.

Felisol said...

I'm just a tiny bit envious. The strawberry season is the peak of summer to me. This cold summer there's still some weeks to wait before I can take a plunge into the strawberry field. (Not ours).
I'll certainly try the egg slicer on them (the strawberries). Delicious on the bread. Strawberries and thick cream are the ultimate summer dish.
A childhood revival.