Red, Ripe and Renegade: Berries That Break All the Rules

[elleng]

OXNARD, Calif. — It ought to be easy to find a single ripe strawberry to sample in a 20-acre field. But Rick Gean picked two bright-red specimens and looked dubious.

“This one should be O.K.,” he said, sounding not quite convinced. Then again, his definition of ripe is more stringent than most.

Mr. Gean and his wife, Molly, own Harry’s Berries, a strawberry farm on the inland edge of this coastal city north of Los Angeles, where they do nearly everything wrong, at least according to the gospel of modern commercial berry farming.

The Geans grow Gaviota and Seascape strawberries, known for sweetness and flavor but not for productivity or the ability to survive shipping and days in a supermarket produce department. Until five years ago, the only place to find Harry’s Berries was at Southern California farmers’ markets — and today, the markets still make up 70 percent of the farm’s sales.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/17/dining/strawberries-harrys-berries-california.html?

This is for information ONLY. I only buy LOCAL strawberries, NO MORE the 'pretty' ones from CA and FL.

[Voltaire2]

1. I did too until last summers crop was a bust.

The local farmers mostly had nothing in New England because of the shitty weather.

[elleng]

2. Very sorry about that!

We had weird, I wouldn't say shitty weather, so I hope ours in the DC area are OK. Last year was 'ok.'

[shraby]

3. We only buy local strawberries too. I call the ones in the stores "cardboard strawberries".

Wouldn't think of eating them. I do without first.

[Galileo126]

4. I buy local too.

I live in SoCal.

It does depend on the grower - regarding texture, sweetness and color. I prefer my berries underripe, unless I'm making a puree. Then overripe is OK. Cooler nights do make sweeter strawberries, so the northern states kick butt in that department. I grew a single plant in Rhode Island as a kid, and it lived for eight years until my dad "ripped out that weed". It overgrew the garden area!

Now you got me thinking of the Oxnard Strawberry Festival (May 20-21). Coming soon!

[Warpy]

5. I avoid the California cardboard, also

Back in the good old days when I lived someplace with rain, I'd go to a "you pick 'em" strawberry farm in June, spend a day in the sun, and pick enough to eat, enough to make preserves and jams, and enough to freeze for February ice cream.

Now if I want strawberry, I go for health food store preserves and jams rather than pay through the nose for those big, beautiful, tasteless things that stole the name "strawberry" back in the 50s.

Same reason I'll go for canned or frozen peaches.

They haven't managed to foul up watermelon and d'Anjou pears are still pretty good.

The rest of it looks nice on a table. So does wax fruit. And they taste about the same.

[Galileo126]

6. Not sure where this "cardboard" meme comes from

but it sure sounds like either (a) we keep all the good stuff and export the crap. or (b) we export green strawberries in the hope they "mature" on the way to wherever, thus never ripening on the vine. Or (c) they are gassed with ethylene to hasten the red color, but without the flavor to match.

Either/or, makes no diff to me...

[Warpy]

7. Well, you do rather keep the good stuff because it doesn't keep

well enough to export unless it is turned into jams and preserves, which is how I buy it.

And the cardboard berries are picked hard and green so they will last longer under refrigeration. Then they are gassed with ethylene to redden the outside, but it's still an unripe, tasteless berry that was picked too soon.

Fruit and veg picked at perfect ripeness are much better than commercial stuff picked green. Unfortunately, the well ripened stuff is a lot more perishable. Hence, the continued popularity of the backyard garden and the tastelessness of supermarket fare.

[japple]

8. I do buy Florida strawberries, but they are considered local for those of us in Georgia. The ones

grown in this county are highly superior and our own homegrowns are the best, but we haven't been getting many from our plants since my Dad died in 2007. Shitty weather, drought, etc.

[nadine_mn]

9. Minnesota isn't known for their growing season but

Whenever I can buy local I do. When we used to go visit my mom, there were these 2 ladies that had a little stand and sold stuff they picked that morning. My first experience with heirloom tomatoes - and wow I was hooked. What amazed me was the variety of stuff they would grow...you really get used to just seeing 3-4 types of tomatoes, 2 types of cucumbers etc. Since they were a small farm, they would try out new strains of veggies every year to see what worked in our climate. And they would let try before you bought. - which is the best way to sell because we never said no.

What also stood out to me was their passion - they knew their product, they would get so excited about a variety of seeds they got from another grower in a another state, frustration at bad weather and they would educate us on their food. So many Americans have become detached from their food, and we were definitely in that group of buying bland out of season commercial crops. This article really highlights that same feeling of quality over quantity- thank you for sharing it.

[elleng]

10. Good to hear.

My daughter found a lot of that in New Jersey, and I visit a local purveyor in southern MD regularly. My Dad grew tomatoes from seeds of his choice in Florida; very fussy about tomatoes that actually had FLAVOR!

[dem in texas]

11. Bad Luck growing them in my garden

Here in my Texas garden, I tried them for two seasons and it was a slug war, never so anything the slugs liked as much as strawberries. Tried all the traditional organic remedies, beer, grape juice etc, even copper strips to keep them from crossing, finally gave up.

I grew them in my garden in Alaska, had a bumper crop of the pale salmon colored variety that grows so well up there - but I couldn't beat the kids to them. Once the word was out in neighborhood, the kids scaled the fence to steal the strawberries, so I gave it up there, too.