Strawberry Fields Forever

A much-younger-than-I mom convinced me to take the Grands (2 &3 the first time) strawberry picking. Yowza! But she was right. It was delicious fun and memory-making.

There was a bit of a wait, many kids tagging along, a fun tractor-pulled wagon ride to and from the field, and a few rules to follow - basically stay in your assigned row. The picking farms don’t really care if the kids eat as they pick, and how can they not?!

It is extra fun that the best berries play a kind of hide-and-seek game - you have to search for the reddest ones under the leaves, to the delight of any child. Actually, we like that too, don’t we! The farms usually provide the containers (especially now with Covid) but it is handy for the kids to have a small container that they then dump into the bigger box. You don’t want much of anything with you - maybe bottled water and some wipes, sunscreen application and hats. It is enough to wrangle kids and the berry box. You actually don’t have to be there very long to gather quite a crop, so no need to argue about hat wearing etc. Google pick-your-own strawberry farms in your area - you’ll want to check their new covid rules. These pictures are from Pine Tree Orchard in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. The www.empressofdirt.net site has 4 Tips for Growing Strawberries if you want to start from scratch. There are too many bunnies in my yard for any success with that!

I do two things with my bounty - this fresh strawberry pie I have made since my 20s, and in recent years, I have become a total snob about homemade jams and marmalade. Grocery store jam is terrible! The kids go crazy for how this strawberry jam “ups” the peanut-butter-and-jelly lunch game. Do you know the Grandma trick of hulling strawberries with a plastic straw? Even the cheap straws work - push it up through the bottom and the hull and stem come right out the top (the kids could even do it!)

FRESH STRAWBERRY PIE

Shortcake crust:

1 1/2 c flour, 1 1/2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 c vegetable oil, 2 T milk

Combine dry ingredients. Wisk oil and milk together and add flour mixture. Press into a pie plate with a fork. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes and cool.

Strawberry mixture:

1 c water, 1 c sugar, 2 T cornstarch, 3 rounded T of powdered strawberry jello mix

Cook water, sugar, and cornstarch until clear. Remove from heat and add strawberry jello powder. Cool enough to not “cook” the fresh berries.

Slice 2 pints or more of fresh strawberries into the cooled crust (it looks impressive piled high). Pour the cooled sauce over the top in and around the strawberries. It makes a fabulous sheen and sweetly “glues” them together, with so much more flavor than anything you can buy. Refrigerate until set. Serve with whipped cream of course.

WINNER STRAWBERRY JAMS

I am always trying new recipes. My fave so far is The Best Strawberry Jam from www.completelydelicious.com - no pectin, and a bit of lemon juice, balsamic vinegar and a vanilla bean (I use vanilla paste I have on hand for making caramels). You don’t taste the add-ins; they just intensify the strawberries in an amazing way. I also made this easy and tasty Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam this year. I usually only refrigerate and freeze my jams as I don’t like the darkening that comes with the hot water bath system. Please share your favorites in the comments! We also love the Martha Stewart Strawberry Shortcake cookies.