Yesterday I picked up some local strawberries. I have to admit that I
wondered about them. They didn't seem to be red enough and there were a
lot of seeds on the outside. I must have become accustomed to those big
red imported monsters and had forgotten what some of the local berries
are like. I had some with my dessert last night. I was not expecting
wonders. What a surprise to find out ho good they were. Despite the
pale colour and seedy appearance, they were incredible.

On Fri, 26 Jun 2015 17:44:10 -0400, Dave Smith
> wrote:

>Yesterday I picked up some local strawberries. I have to admit that I
>wondered about them. They didn't seem to be red enough and there were a
>lot of seeds on the outside. I must have become accustomed to those big
>red imported monsters and had forgotten what some of the local berries
>are like. I had some with my dessert last night. I was not expecting
>wonders. What a surprise to find out ho good they were. Despite the
>pale colour and seedy appearance, they were incredible.


I wonder if anyone else has noticed a difference in Strawberries from
California compared with Strawberries from Florida? My wife only buys
the ones from one state and says the others are always "bitter"
tasteing.


William

On 2015-06-26 19:11, Bruce wrote:

> Doesn't a lot of fruit get sweeter from heat/sunlight? I once had an
> apricot tree with a sunny and a shady side. The difference in the
> fruit from both sides was very clear.
>
> But I'm sure variety has a lot to do with it too.
>

I don't know the names of the different varieties of strawberries but
the berries that are imported here tend to be at least three times the
size of the local berries, and they tend to be bright red. They are much
better than the imported strawberries that we used to get, but they are
bland compared to fresh local berries.

On Fri, 26 Jun 2015 17:44:10 -0400, Dave Smith
> wrote:

>Yesterday I picked up some local strawberries. I have to admit that I
>wondered about them. They didn't seem to be red enough and there were a
>lot of seeds on the outside. I must have become accustomed to those big
>red imported monsters and had forgotten what some of the local berries
>are like. I had some with my dessert last night. I was not expecting
>wonders. What a surprise to find out ho good they were. Despite the
>pale colour and seedy appearance, they were incredible.

We've had local strawberries here for about a week. We only buy them
from a couple of specific farm stands, because we know they are going
to be fresh-picked, and we know they'll be sweet because we can taste
before buying.

Expensive this year - $5 per quart. I think they were $4 last year.

Doris

On Fri, 26 Jun 2015 18:24:29 -0400, William > wrote:

> On Fri, 26 Jun 2015 17:44:10 -0400, Dave Smith
> > wrote:
>
> >Yesterday I picked up some local strawberries. I have to admit that I
> >wondered about them. They didn't seem to be red enough and there were a
> >lot of seeds on the outside. I must have become accustomed to those big
> >red imported monsters and had forgotten what some of the local berries
> >are like. I had some with my dessert last night. I was not expecting
> >wonders. What a surprise to find out ho good they were. Despite the
> >pale colour and seedy appearance, they were incredible.
>
>
> I wonder if anyone else has noticed a difference in Strawberries from
> California compared with Strawberries from Florida? My wife only buys
> the ones from one state and says the others are always "bitter"
> tasteing.
>
I thought supermarket strawberries were fine until I went to the
farmers market and tasted their organic. Wowza what a difference!
They cost a small fortune too - so you get what you pay for around
here.

--

sf

On Sat, 27 Jun 2015 09:11:50 +1000, Bruce > wrote:

> But I'm sure variety has a lot to do with it too.

Agree. We can get winter strawberries at the farmers market here that
were grown in SoCal and they defy expectations for "out of season"
berries.

--

sf

On Fri, 26 Jun 2015 21:24:02 -0400, Dave Smith
> wrote:

> On 2015-06-26 19:11, Bruce wrote:
>
> > Doesn't a lot of fruit get sweeter from heat/sunlight? I once had an
> > apricot tree with a sunny and a shady side. The difference in the
> > fruit from both sides was very clear.
> >
> > But I'm sure variety has a lot to do with it too.
> >
>
> I don't know the names of the different varieties of strawberries but
> the berries that are imported here tend to be at least three times the
> size of the local berries, and they tend to be bright red. They are much
> better than the imported strawberries that we used to get, but they are
> bland compared to fresh local berries.

That probably has more to do with the amount of water they were given.
Farmers are dry farming tomatoes now. The tomatoes are said to be
fewer per plant and smaller, but more flavorful than tomatoes raised
the conventional way.

--

sf

On 2015-06-27 8:22 AM, sf wrote:

>> I don't know the names of the different varieties of strawberries but
>> the berries that are imported here tend to be at least three times the
>> size of the local berries, and they tend to be bright red. They are much
>> better than the imported strawberries that we used to get, but they are
>> bland compared to fresh local berries.
>
> That probably has more to do with the amount of water they were given.
> Farmers are dry farming tomatoes now. The tomatoes are said to be
> fewer per plant and smaller, but more flavorful than tomatoes raised
> the conventional way.

I have always preferred the fresh local strawberries to the imports. The
imports we get are much better quality at this end than they used to be,
and they are much cheaper than they used to be. They have more flavour
than they used to have. The local berries have more and better flavour
and a nicer texture. Water content is a factor in size. Berries picked
after a good rain are always plumper than those picked in a dry spell.
I once made the mistake of making jam with berries picked after a couple
days of rain. They were nice and plump and easier to pick, but they jam
was disappointing.

While we had a dry spring, we have had lots of rain throughout our berry
season. Strawberries grow very quickly. Once the flower is pollinated
it turns into a green mini berry within a day or two and the the berry
grows and ripens within a matter of days.


On a related note.... I drive by a cherry farm every day on my at to the
dog park and it looks like we are going to have a bumper crop of cherries.

On 2015-06-26 11:07 PM, Doris Night wrote:

> We've had local strawberries here for about a week. We only buy them
> from a couple of specific farm stands, because we know they are going
> to be fresh-picked, and we know they'll be sweet because we can taste
> before buying.
>
> Expensive this year - $5 per quart. I think they were $4 last year.


$4.50 here.

On 6/27/2015 9:38 AM, Dave Smith wrote:
> On 2015-06-26 11:07 PM, Doris Night wrote:
>
>> We've had local strawberries here for about a week. We only buy them
>> from a couple of specific farm stands, because we know they are going
>> to be fresh-picked, and we know they'll be sweet because we can taste
>> before buying.
>>
>> Expensive this year - $5 per quart. I think they were $4 last year.
>
>
> $4.50 here.
>
$6 here in CT

On 2015-06-27 12:28 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

>>> Expensive this year - $5 per quart. I think they were $4 last year.
>>
>>
>> $4.50 here.
>>
> $6 here in CT

And they really are fresh and local? I live in a fruit producing area
so there are lots of strawberrie produced locally. In fact, there is a
pick your own berry farm around the corner from me. There used to be one
behind me. The owners decided to limit the PYO to raspberries and
started a tea room instead of doing the berries so now they rent the
land to a local farmer who grows corn, pumpkins and squash on it.

On Sat, 27 Jun 2015 09:38:09 -0400, Dave Smith
> wrote:

>On 2015-06-26 11:07 PM, Doris Night wrote:
>
>> We've had local strawberries here for about a week. We only buy them
>> from a couple of specific farm stands, because we know they are going
>> to be fresh-picked, and we know they'll be sweet because we can taste
>> before buying.
>>
>> Expensive this year - $5 per quart. I think they were $4 last year.
>
>
>$4.50 here.

Last week I bought one pound of organic strawberries for 2.80

koko

--

Food is our common ground, a universal experience
James Beard

On 6/27/2015 12:40 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
> On 2015-06-27 12:28 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
>
>>>> Expensive this year - $5 per quart. I think they were $4 last year.
>>>
>>>
>>> $4.50 here.
>>>
>> $6 here in CT
>
> And they really are fresh and local? I live in a fruit producing area
> so there are lots of strawberries produced locally. In fact, there is a
> pick your own berry farm around the corner from me.

Picked earlier in the day about five miles from me. Our Farmer's Market
is restricted to local CT grown products. Mostly produce, but also
beef, eggs, ice cream, bread, cheese.