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You’ll never forget the day you walk through a field of green and pick and eat your first strawberry. The experiences that fresh food gives us are magic moments of taste, color and scent that we hold onto long after summer has faded.
Growing up in a small Oregon town, my parents used our one acre property to grow a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Corn grew tall down by the road, tomatoes loaded up vines on the south side of the house next to sugar peas and raspberries, and blackberry bushes were on the constant march to take over the entire valley! I would eat my way through the yard while Mom and Dad fought the weeds, watered the beds and harvested salads for dinner.
Still, we had the same problems that any New Yorker deals with today when confronted with healthy eating and quality family time. There simply wasn’t enough time or room to grow all of the crops that we wanted.
Every year we made several weekend trips out of town to the u-pick farms where, for a small fee and a little effort, we could fill up as many boxes as we wanted with the season’s crop. We would wear our oldest clothes, take plenty of water, and I would secretly hope that this farm would have a petting zoo. My brother and I usually ate more berries than we picked for the first hour. Dad would get the heavy jobs, like climbing a ladder up into the cherry trees, and Mom would supervise, sort and pick. After a few hours in the trees or bushes, we would load up our old van with boxes of cherries or strawberries, pumpkins or hazelnuts, content to relax in the car and snack on our efforts.
U-Pick operations have come a long way in the last 20 years. Websites and information lines allow families to find out ahead of time whether or not the petting zoo will be open, what crops will be available for picking, and what, if any, prepared foods can be purchased. Some farms operate small cafes and bakeries selling hand-made treats like pies, cider and preserves.
Using up all the strawberries we picked in one weekend could take months! Try these tips for fun, easy ways of preparing and enjoying your u-pick fruits this summer.
Freezing Berries for Storage:
1. Wash and drain the berries, removing any stems and leaves.
2. Place berries on wax or parchment paper lined cookie sheets, leaving enough space so that the fruit isn’t jammed together.
3. Leave the berries in the freezer on a level surface for ½ an hour, until completely frozen.
4. Take the berries out of the freezer and scoop or pour into freezer bags or plastic containers.
5. Berries will remain edible if frozen for months, but they won’t last that long in most houses! Berry Good Smoothie:
1 banana
½ cup berries, frozen or fresh
1 cup of orange juice, soy milk or milk
1 Tb. honey, optional
1. Place all ingredients in a blender, puree until smooth, about 1 minute.
2. Enjoy! Excellent alternative to sugar sweetened snacks and wonderful for breakfast.
Fruity Maple Pancake Syrup:
1 cup pure maple syrup
½ cup frozen or fresh berries
1. Place syrup and berries in a blender.
2. Puree until smooth, about 1 minute.
3. Will keep in refrigerator for 2 weeks.
For information on U-Pick farms close to NYC:
These websites offer crop availability, phone numbers and directions.
For Organic U-Pick farms in New York state:
http://nofany.org/dbapplet/certfarms.html
For Organic U-Pick farms in Connecticut:
http://www.ctnofa.org/programs/farms.php
For all New York State U-Pick farms:
http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/AP/FFGResults.asp
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 Chef Alexandra Jamieson is dedicated to creating healthy delicious food... |
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 Let me run and take care of your meals. Full assessment and menu planning is available. |
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