sprinklefingers

i know for a fact that at least three readers of this food diary live their lives in the crazy/wonderful state of oregon. there’s lots to love about this place (coffee! beer! books!) but there are other things oregon has to offer that i am completely obsessed with. namely: oregon berries.

in my opinion, there is no better time to be in oregon than during strawberry season. an additional opinion of mine goes like this: oregon grows the best strawberries. seriously. if you live here, you know what i’m talking about. if you don’t live here and you’ve never visited here, i’m so sorry. but you should plan a trip - sometime between early-june and mid-july.

why?

because according to the magical & mythical people who know about things such as oregon strawberries and their growing season, we’ll start to see strawberries at the farmer’s markets, road side stands and u-pick farms in early june. EARLY JUNE! that’s only a little over four short weeks away! sweet jesus!

and equally as alarming: oregon’s strawberry season is crazyshort. shorter than that. nope, shorter.

so, i’m here to give you oregonians a warning AND some helpful tips.

• first, strawberry season will be here in four weeks.
• next, strawberry season only lasts until the middle or end of july (sure, there are some berries available later than that, but the reddest & the sweetest berries are the early berries. trust me.)
• last, you should clear out some space in your freezer to prepare. don’t not do this. if you don’t have extra freezer space, berry season in oregon is the perfect excuse for going out and getting one. nothing fancy. just a freezer.

when it comes to freezer space, i am the queen of it. as i’ve mentioned before, freezer space is not something i’m short on. i list freezers & freezing things as my hobbies on a regular basis. i love freezers.

mostly, i love that my freezers allow me to extend the strawberry season as long as i’d like to - which is great because without my magical freezing machines i’d be making & canning strawberry jam everyday for like 6 straight weeks during strawberry season.

buying as many berries as your freezer will fit will allow you to enjoy the season. you pick, you buy, you freeze - you pick, you buy, you freeze (you do this as many times as possible during strawberry season,) and later you can come back to the berries - all frozen at the peak of sweetness - and you then make jam, syrup, smoothies, ice cream, yogurt, popsicles, cava cocktails, shortcake, margaritas, parfaits - any time you want. brilliant!

just to refresh your memory:

best method for freezing berries

• wash berries well, but very gently
• allow berries to dry completely
• place berries in a single layer on a sheet tray
• freeze berries on tray for 24 hours
• place completely frozen berries in containers or ziptop bags.
• repeat until all of your berries are frozen & bagged

with strawberries, it is extremely helpful to hull the berries BEFORE you freeze them. taking the time to tackle this step now will make using the frozen berries a snap in the future.

strawberries! just a few short weeks away…i’m already planning our first oregon strawberry shortcake of the season. cannot wait!