Strawberries

[jim 44-40]

Grandson gave us a flat of strawberries from a local grower. Don't get me wrong they are good,but the strawberries I ate up in Michigan few years back,now let me tell you get up there and try them.So sweet!

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Yes, they are good in the upper Midwest. I picked a bunch near Merrilan WI a couple summers back that were fantastic. Wifey made strawberry rhubarb pie.

[megasupermagnum]

Anywhere you find black bears, you find the best berries. I don't think it's a coincidence.

[Bmi48219]

…..but the strawberries I ate up in Michigan few years back,now let me tell you get up there and try them.So sweet!

You are right. Used to go with mom to the strawberry farm to pick them. Something about the cool evenings they have during the growing season.
Plant City Fl is a big strawberry producing area but they don’t have the flavor like up north.

[rockrat]

I think the cooler temperatures at night help concentrate the sugars. At least, thats what they claim about our local corn.

[Bmi48219]

I think the cooler temperatures at night help concentrate the sugars. At least, thats what they claim about our local corn.

If you want to taste sweet corn try eating right after you’ve picked it, don’t cook it at all just take a bite.

[jim 44-40]

If you want to taste sweet corn try eating right after you’ve picked it, don’t cook it at all just take a bite.

Done that before!

[MrWolf]

Had a phenomenal year of strawberries so far. Best tasting we've had. Got 30 lbs so far from a 5'x7' patch I planted last year. My blueberries are pathetic so far but blackberries are delicious. Raspberries not quite ripe yet.

[jim 44-40]

You are right. Used to go with mom to the strawberry farm to pick them. Something about the cool evenings they have during the growing season.
Plant City Fl is a big strawberry producing area but they don’t have the flavor like up north.

I didn't know Florida had radish farms till I saw them on the north side of Okeechobee.

[Bmi48219]

I didn't know Florida had radish farms till I saw them on the north side of Okeechobee.

There was a big radish farm just west of Lake Erie near Leamington, Ontario. The soil was peat several feet deep. During drought conditions a carelessly tossed cigarette would destroy acres of crops as the peat smoldered. They used to get in two, occasionally three plantings of radishes in a season. The radishes weren’t mild flavored by any extent of the imagination. I’ve only started enjoying radishes recently, and not the Leamington variety.
Florida grows abundant, but not especially flavorful produce.
Then again after 28 years of smoking my sense (of taste) isn’t quite so acute.

[farmerjim]

They pick strawberries too green down here. They don't ripen correctly. I have grown them and when ripened on the vine, they are great. Same way with peaches. They are picked too soon and do not ripen correctly. I had 250 peach trees and sold most of them to the fruit stands. They would sell mine for 50 cents more per pound than the ones that came out of South Alabama. I would pick 500 pounds every other day, and they would be out when I delivered.

[jimlj]

I have always liked strawberry's better than raspberry's. Unbeknown to me, my wife of 42 years revealed in a conversation we were having yesterday after trying one of Wendy's "strawberry" Frosty's she liked raspberry's better. Whaaaatttt? I told her she had never had a real strawberry. Anything she had ever eaten was grown in California or Mexico, picked green and shipped to Wyoming. I guess comparing what I grew up eating to what passes for strawberry's in the store I could see her point. I maintain if she had ever had a vine ripe fresh strawberry that wasn't bred and engineered to be picked green and shipped 2000+ miles she may have a different opinion.

[Bmi48219]

Nothing beats wild raspberries and blackberries for flavor. Or mosquito bites.

[redriverhunter]

I have fond memories of picking strawberry with grandma, we went somewhere in Wis.. They did not mind if I ate any while I picked I am unsure how much sand/dirt I ate along with the strawberry's. There was also what we called wild strawberry that were not very big at all and grew the in ditches along the road. The wild strawberry's were always seem sweeter to me. Those where the day.

[gc45]

The best cantaloupe you will ever eat grows in Cody Wyoming..

[Bmi48219]

I’ve read that strawberries are a native North American plant that were sent back to Europe by colonists. The Europeans cultivated them into the strawberries we have today. As per redriverhunter, the wild strawberries we used to find were tiny but far more flavorful than the domesticated ones.

[contender1]

I have a friend who gets strawberries to sell. He buys from a supplier, that he travels to,, where he knows when they are picked. Locally grown mostly.
I get mine from him.
I got a gallon not long ago,, and promptly made a good batch of jam. My better half swears I make the best strawberry jam she's ever tried. My secret? Getting the good flavored, locally grown, left to properly ripen fruit.

[MaryB]

I’ve read that strawberries are a native North American plant that were sent back to Europe by colonists. The Europeans cultivated them into the strawberries we have today. As per redriverhunter, the wild strawberries we used to find were tiny but far more flavorful than the domesticated ones.

I grow an alpine berry. Tiny but so flavorful 6-8 are all you need in a bowl of ice cream! Aromatic, when ripe I can smell my strawberry bed form 20 feet away!

[jlm223]

Beulah Mountain Children's Home in Parkers Lake KY, they grow the best strawberry, my sisters make freezer jam out of them it's awesome on a hot biscuit, just as good over ice cream! They do have black bear in the area.

[gwpercle]

Take those not so sweet berries and make Strawberry Jam . It's not hard ... just follow the directions on the box of Sure-Jell .
May not be the sweetest berries for eating out of hand ...But , that home made Strawberry Jam you make will put anything that you can buy in a store (including Smuckers) to shame !!!
Pushed for time ... remove the green leaves and freeze the strawberries in a zip lock ... when you have time ...take them out , they thaw in a few minutes and you make some of the best Jam you will ever eat .
The suger you add for Jam making makes up for the not so sweet berries ... Good Stuff !

Hint: You can double the Sure-Jell Strawberry Jam recipe and it will take a proper set ... I do it all the time .
Gary