Strawberries
Capturing the most pure and intense flavor of the inaugural fruit of spring
By Jordan Champagne
Photography by Patrick Tregenza, Carole Topalian and Patrice Ward
Oh, strawberries! They are the first jam fruits of spring and signify the kickoff of the intense summer work for the farmer, gardener and food preservationist. Strawberry jam is a classic, and one of the most popular jams of all.
Strawberry jam is also the first jam that I ever made. I fondly remember a summer spent in Norway when I learned how to make it. Much to my dismay, my Norwegian instructor mixed equal parts beautiful, pristine strawberries and white sugar. I was appalled, but when I asked if we could reduce the sugar, she replied, “No, you must add this much to preserve the fruit.” With horror, I added the sugar.
Fifteen years later, leading my own jam making workshops, I am happy to report that I use much less sugar in my strawberry jam, but, sadly, I have discovered that it is in fact difficult to make a low-sugar strawberry jam. This is because strawberries are naturally low in pectin, which is essential for jam to gel. Strawberries also tend to darken into a less desired maroon color if they are overcooked. Thus, with straw- berries, the freshness and quality of the fruits are especially important.
What makes a good-quality strawberry? It needs to be packed with strong flavors of sweet and tart. Unfortunately, in a world that is hungry for large quantities of strawberries, usually an increased yield of crop prevails over flavor. So many of the strawberries that are to be found here in our region are grown with seed varieties—and conventional methods that employ heavy use of toxic chemicals— that are developed with the goal of maximizing production for shipment around the country and the globe.
Luckily, there are also a lot of local farmers who aren’t concerned with growing strawberries for the anonymous world—they are concerned with growing strawberries for the people who live here. They grow a different kind of strawberry than the conventionally grown berry. Their strawberries are not pumped with chemical fertilizers and water or doused with pesticides. They raise their berries with sunshine and natural soil amendments, and their berries’ flavor will knock you off of your feet. These are our local organic farmers.
Farmer Pat DeYoung of Farmer Pat’s Labor of Love Farm has been growing strawberries for over a decade, and he’s very inspired by the challenge of succeeding at growing food without the environmental impact of conventional agriculture.
He admits that his yield per acre at his farm in the Corral de Tierra section of Salinas is likely 50% less than the conventional farms, but he saves money by not using so much water, fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides. Also, he keeps his crops for two years, which means using half of the amount of row covers and drip tape that he would use if he replanted every year. He helps our local ecosystem by decreasing the amount of plastics in our landfills and water runoff filled with sediment and toxic chemicals.
Farmer Pat says he’s tried using conventional seed varieties that produce 10 times the yield of the berries he grows now, but he found they had no taste! Now, he grows luscious Seascapes. He is in it for the flavor.
“People say these are the best strawberries they have ever had,” says Farmer Pat. “And it brings me great joy knowing you can share something like that. Let’s not talk about the environmental impact—tell me how that tastes.”
Farmer Pat’s berries are available through his CSA and can also be ordered by the flat through The Food Preservationists starting in late May.
Another local grower, Steve Pedersen of High Ground Organics, follows the same sustainable practices as Farmer Pat and farms a very unique piece of property in Watsonville. You have likely seen the dilapidated old Redman House just off of Highway 1 at Riverside
Drive. To me, it is a reminder of a bygone era when the farmstead used to be a 250-acre diversified farm. Today, the farm totals just 10 acres, but Steve grows a wide variety of crops for his CSA, including amazing strawberries. He plants delicious Albion and Seascape varieties and harvests only every five days so that the fruit is picked with a fully developed flavor. Many conventional farms pick more often in an effort to increase yields—but do so at the expense of taste.
During strawberry season, you can find Steve’s strawberries in his CSA boxes and at his farm stand, five days per week. There is also a patch of berries at the Redman House where you can pick your own during farm stand hours—and get the whole experience of the fruit from plant to jam!
Strawberries truly represent a great example of what we as consumers can do to help the local food movement. It is the one fruit that I absolutely refuse to eat if I am not sure it is organically grown. The trick to making great strawberry jam is the fruit that you start with. There are many great local farmers growing amazing berries! Do you know who grows your favorite strawberries?
Jordan Champagne is the co-owner and founder of Happy Girl Kitchen Co. She has a passion for preserving the local, organic harvest and loves sharing her secrets at the workshops she teaches across the region.
READ: For more on local organic berries in our region and why they’re important to the health of our community, see EMB Summer 2012.
Farmer Pat’s Labor of Love: sites.google.com/site/farmerpats/ High Ground Organics: www.highgroundorganics.com/ The Food Preservationists: fp.happygirlkitchen.com/
About the author
At Edible Monterey Bay, our mission is to celebrate the local food culture of Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey Counties, season by season. We believe in sustainability, and we believe everyone has a right to healthful, clean and affordable food. We think knowing where our food comes from is powerful, and we hope our magazine, website and newsletters inspire readers to get to know and support our local growers, fishers, chefs, vintners and food artisans.
