Strawberries from Boone Hill Farm
Well I sure hope so! There is nothing as sweet and tasty as a fresh farm strawberry. Farm strawberries are generally slightly smaller than the ones that are in the grocery store, they are also red all the way through as you can see in the photo of the strawberries I cut this morning (ever notice that when you cut into a store strawberry the inside is white and the berry is tart?). Farm strawberries actually smell like the artificial strawberry smell in candy! I’m crazy about them, and really will only eat them when in season because the ones imported from California out of season don’t begin to compare. I learned something last year when I went to San Francisco in April, California farm strawberries aren’t that much bigger than ours, so I have no idea how they are cross germinating to get those huge tasteless ones that Godiva and Stew Leonards dip in chocolate. The family just got back from our annual trip to South Carolina to visit relatives and I’ve eaten 5 quarts of Charleston strawberries in the last 10 days. According to the farmers at the Charleston Farmers Market and at Boone Hill Farm store they are at the end of the strawberry season in Charleston, which is very early (usually the season doesn’t really get into swing until the second week of April). One lady exclaimed that strawberries were available locally since January! Like New York, South Carolina had an extremely warm winter so their growing season is in full swing (yes I’ve already had summer corn last week!). For those of you who venture to the NYC Greenmarkets (which I frequent until Catskill Maison Bed and Breakfast is open for business next weekend and I can get them from Bohringer Farm or Eger Bros Farm), you will see that local lettuce has been available since the last weekend of March and asparagus has been available for the past 3 weeks! I would anticipate that strawberries are not far behind. I’m so excited about strawberry season, for us in the Northeast it’s usually in season from about Memorial Day (on a good year) until 4th of July and then back again in early September. It will be interesting to see if they are available this weekend at the market or if the recent cool weather has slowed the season a bit. Regardless, I will hedge a bet that we will be able to serve strawberry french toast to guests this Memorial Day weekend!!!!
Tags: Boone Hill Farm, catskill maison bed and breakfast, Charleston Farmers Market, NYC Greenmarkets
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