The sweet taste of summer - Farm Girl Friday

It's strawberry season!

 

There just are not enough adjectives to describe how delicious these are.

 

Sweet

Juicy

Flavorful

Amazing

Local

Farm fresh

Organic

Delicious {Oh, I said that one already}

Scrumptious

 

P.E.R.F.E.C.T.

 

 

Over the years I have enjoyed taking the children to the U-Pick farms to pick whatever berry was in season.  Each berry in succession has it's own, short season, first strawberries, then raspberries, then blueberries.  Depending on our Northwest weather sometimes the growing seasons overlap. Sometimes, I miss one.  That is always such a disappointment.

I still enjoy picking with the kids, but I'm a little wiser now that I'm a little older, and my back voices its own strong opinion about picking.  I still buy strawberries from the U-Pick farm, BUT, they are pre-picked.  Yesterday was our day for a visit to the local, organic berry farm.  :-)

I much prefer to buy from the farms instead of the grocery store because I don't just buy a pint of berries, plus organic berries at the store are expensive.
I bought a lot ~ just under 60 lbs.  BUT these are like candy! They won't last long in our home.  The house smells of sweet strawberries.  I'm thinking we just might need to have waffles with strawberries and whipped cream for dinner instead of our usual Friday night pizza.  YUM.  

You might think 60 lbs. sounds like a lot.  We won't eat them all fresh, though we probably could they are that good.  I did put some in the freezer and I tried a new jam recipe last evening.   It is delicious.  I read about it here.  I haven't made jam in a while, mostly because it typically calls for a lot of sugar, and because the pectin called for in the recipes is derived from GMO corn.   Even the brand I use, {Pomona's} has issues.  You can read more about why NOT to use pectin here.
This Strawberry Balsamic jam recipe doesn't use pectin, and since I could use organic sugar, and not a lot of it...I thought I'd give it a try.  I am so glad I did.  No doubt, I'll be making this one again.

Now I am looking forward to raspberry and blueberry season.  Candy, I tell you. Just like candy, but better!