Subj : Pick Your Own
To   : Dave Drum
From : Ruth Haffly
Date : Tue Feb 14 2023 14:21:09

Hi Dave,

 RH> We used to find wild strawberries in the land surrounding the house
 RH> where we grew up. They were much smaller than the commercially grown
 RH> but they were much sweeter. That's why I was disappointed to find that
 RH> the "strawberries" we had were so bad tasting; I was hoping I'd be able
 RH> to get some good ones.

 DD> That's were we (my Granddad and I) got the strawberries for the truck
 DD> garden. They were growing wild in the woods. We dug up "starts" from

Our strawberries were in open fields. One neighbor had had a horse at
one point; the berries from the field where the horse was pastured
always had the biggest berries.

 DD> several places and transplanted to the berry patch. Then encouraged
 DD> the rizome-like runners to reach out and root, filling in gaps. Our

We never tried transplanting any, just let them spread on their own.


 DD> berries were no bigger than the first joint of my thumb (1 1/2"
 hull DD> to tip). DD> Unlike the huuuuuge hybrid berries I see in some
 Stupormarkup DD> displays.

Berries we found were maybe a third of that size. Took a good number of
them just to have a few for all of us in the family (7) some on our
cereal.


 DD>       Title: Strawberry Preserves
 DD>  Categories: Five, Fruits
 DD>       Yield: 5 half-pints

 DD>       2 lb Fresh picked strawberries
 DD>   3 1/2 ts Lemon juice
 DD>       1 c  Sugar
 DD>     1/2 oz Butter

I go the faster route, using sure jel, the lower sugar recipe.

 DD>   Take your strawberries and hull them (use a spoon its DD>
 faster) In large bowl or pan, mash the strawberries to a DD>   release
 their juices.

I picked up a little gadget some years ago--rounded spoon shape with
teeth around the bowl of the spoon. Deborah, when working at Taco Bell,
used a similar one to de-stem tomatoes; they called it a "shark". She
saw mine and christened it a shark also. (G) It really works well.


---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


.... OH NO!  Not ANOTHER learning experience!

--- PPoint 3.01
 * Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)

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