My Step mom has a friend and this is her strawberry patch!
I have never seen such a huge patch in someones yard.
I am starting to freeze pea pods. Last summer I froze half then blanched half to see the taste difference. The unblanched were bitter and the blanched were tasty, so blanched it is!
So Tuesday evening I candled Bandits eggs. I used a high powered flashlight. Three of the six were a no go, but on the other three there was something growing and we saw movement. The kids were in awe. Pretty cool.
So Wednesday, I used major child labor, they had more fun working as a team, humming songs in 2 part harmony, they cut off the stems and cut out any squishy parts. The chicks loved the scraps.
Then I made 4 bags of Strawberry pie filling.
Three frozen in 2 cup portions of puree for a tasty lemonade add in this summer.
I froze seven 2 cup servings of Strawberries in a sugar syrup for smoothies, crisps, shortcake, or anything else i can think of.
Then I canned 4 pints of strawberry syrup for winter pancakes. Delish. Also 10 pints of jam.
We had shortcake for desert and have enough berries in the fridge for at least 3 more evenings of shortcake.
The only cost was 2 1/2 bags of sugar, 3 boxes of pectin and 1 1/3 cups flour for the pie filling.
Now I have about 2 weeks rest and sugar re stocking till the wild raspberries are in.
A berry good week indeed.
10 comments:
Oh my, I'll be right over! I'll bring the ice cream maker and all the ice cream fixin's. You bring the strawberry sauce! :)
Oh, I like the idea to freeze strawberry puree!!!
Were you at the boy scout sale in Dexter this morning? I wondered if you would be there.
ceecee- Oh how I wish we lived closer, you have such great ideas.
lynn- Hooray! You can leave a comment. When did that start?
Now I'm thinking I should have put the puree in icecube form for single serve portions.
I missed the sale, the kids vacuumed and did laundry while I sewed, not a bad trade.
Did you find any treasures?
Oh for Pete's sake...this post is so awesome, my mouth is watering. I LOVE roller coasters!! (and strawberries - lol). I noticed you mentioned your extreme motion sickness, but you didn't say whether or not the two-time ride on the roller coaster made you hurl. :-)
Now, a question: you did all those awesome things to the strawberries, but was there a different recipe for each thing? Strawberry pie filling vs. syrup vs. smoothie concoction? I neeeeed to know...and will you do the same things to all the raspberries? Inquiring minds...
farmgirl-Thank you for your concern. I didn't hurl but I wanted to, I made hubbie track me down a pretzel to settle my stomach. Maybe cookies and a cola wasn't the best breakfast idea.
Different recipes, the pie filling I just used the recipe from Betty Crocker, 1/2 c sugar 1/3 c flour and 4 cups berries, I'll dot it with the butter when I bake it.
I just taste tested the puree and berries and syrup so I cant give an amount. I like to taste the berries so I don't go crazy with the sugar. The jam I follow the pectin recipe and the canned syrup, I just used half the sugar from the pectin recipe and it is just unset jam.
When raspberries are in I usually make more fresh pies (my fav), jam too and then I just freeze the berries whole, unsweetened to make muffins over the winter and for this awesome jello/pretzel/cream cheese/cool whip dish that I get requests to bring to family parties.
Do you get wild raspberries at your place?
Ooooh, tons of lovely information...thank you so much! I'm so glad you didn't hurl, I really hate that and one smells funny afterwards.
Now for my dumb question: is there a difference between wild raspberries and the cultivated raspberry bushes that I have growing out in my garden and below our deck? We are going to be overflowing in raspberries this summer (and blueberries here shortly), but none are "wild".
Ok now...1 dozen eggs for 8 full containers of delicious, juicy, fresh, organic, ripe strawberries???
Jeez, girl, you got some deal there!
Your post reminded me of the summers in SC and my dear friends tat I'd go strawberry picking at U-pick local farms. Such laughter and such fun! I usually ended up with red circles on my bum from sitting down on the job to munch sweet berries. hehe
I love all that you do with your berries, though. I don't know what I do wrong, but when I bring berries home, they never last even a whole week.
One time I brought home 4 large containers of strawberries and my husband, sons and daughter at all the berries on the counter and fridge and then we all went for the berries in the freezer.
I honestly don't think there is anything more wonderful on a hut summer day then frozen strawberries,
Beats a popcicle 100 times over.
I can't wait to keep following up to see how Bandit's fertile eggs grow and hatch. She is so pretty, too.
Is there a story behind her name?
Are blanched pea pods similar in flavor to Edamame? I love munching them steamed with a bit of salt. Yum!
Oh and I love riding rollercoasters, too. But as I've gotten older I find that my eqilibrium has changed and I, too, am affected by motion sickness.
The worse cases happen on those upside down and corkscrew coasters. My head feels like it might explode with my eyes popping out of my head. Not pleasant.
But I still love riding the old fashioned wooden coasters. Fun!
I almost forgot! You took a really cool photo of that bridge. The most talented photographers always know to choose the best perspectives.
ps....I think your fortune will come true. You are already on the road to success.
farmgirl-The wild ones that grow out back are a deep purple, almost black, and are sometimes called blackberries. There is only a sublte taste difference, wild ones are a bit sweeter but I personally never met a raspberry I didn't love. Have you ever had amber raspberries? Delish too!
twinville-I know I got the better deal, she wanted us to pick the berries so she wouldn't have rotten berries. She had already picked over 100 quarts herself. I just brought the eggs as a thank you.
We love to eat as we pick, when you find that perfect juicy berry you can't resist, then you find another perfect berry...
That is why your family cleaned out your berries, they didn't get their fill at the patch.
Next time I'm bringing a bucket to sit on, the old legs get tired.
I have turned the puree into popsicles, the best of both worlds.
Bandit should have only a week to go. When she was little she was mostly black with a tan mask around her eyes, no mask now just one of the darker hens.
I never tried edamame, but i love raw peapods while I'm standing in the garden and also steamed and salted, so they must be similar.
I have never liked the big rollercoasters, too scary, but rode the smaller ones only if I had a chance to recover between rides. I inherited my motion sickness from my dad, he's worse than me, luckily my kids didn't get it.
I was looking at the bridge coming up from a long ways away, humm de dumm, realized at the last second that I wanted a picture, grabbed the camera and that is what I got, the one and only shot as we were under it. I am definately not a talented photographer, I just lucked out on that one.
Thank you so much, I hope to be succesful but am limited with time since my family comes first.
Ahhhhhh, one of the first very clear "part of the country" differences makes itself known to me! Wild raspberries = blackberries in your part? Out west here, we've got wild blackberries (those huge, big, nasty, thorny, invasive bushes that put out lovely, sweet black, blackberries) and cultivated raspberries (reddish to dark purple berries), and marionberries (have you had these? They are wonderful).
Your response fascinated me so much (I'm a nerd, aren't I?), I "googled" berries. Check out the little chart on the right side here (http://www.oregon-berries.com/berry_history.cfm) that shows the "parentage" of various berries (e.g., blackberries + raspberries = loganberries!).
Bottom line, yes, the wild raspberries that you have growing out back, we have growing out back, too, only we call them blackberries! (sorry this was so long).
farmgirl- whew, I learned a lot. I went to that site and our wild raspberries are definately the ones labled black raspberries. I'm so glad that we cleared that up and I'm so glad that you have them out in your parts of the country. They are my all time fav. Come the 4th of July you'll find my family wearing jeans and longsleves, sweating while we dive into the thorny mass just to get that fruit. Don't forget your hat to protect your scalp from the deer flies (google away).
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