A Strawberry for Plucking - Missouri vs. California

Right now you can pluck strawberries at Lakeview Farms’ strawberry fields for the duration of the Missouri strawberry season, which lasts from about May 17 to June 20, weather permitting. All of the berries produced there are pick-your-own, so visiting the farm is truly a delicious adventure. Carl Lask, the farmer there for the past 25 years, has a lot of insight into growing strawberries in Missouri. “Missouri doesn’t have a great environment for growing strawberries like California. California tends to be a drier climate, which means you can control the water and the worst thing for strawberries is water. And in Missouri we don’t have sandy soils like California,” he said. At Lakeview, they grow four varieties of strawberry, each of which has its advantageous characteristics. Lask said that they grow “Cabot, which comes from Canada and is very large; Darselect, from France, which is not as firm, but is tastier; Mira, which is tart, acidic and dark colored – its forte is for the jam maker; and Mesabi, we haven’t really found its strength yet.” According to Lask, most strawberries grown in Missouri are smaller, more fragile, softer and tastier than their California counterparts. As he said, “The California berries are picked not totally ripe and can ship well. They have a distinct advantage this way. I would say kind of avoid those; they tend to be harder and less tasty.” The moral of the story is that if you can buy local strawberries (and you often can’t) you should. But what exactly is a strawberry and how do you know you’ve got a good one? According to the Strawberry Harvests and Horticulture Web site, “Strawberries are not really berries or fruit in the ‘botanical’ sense (i.e., the end result of a fertilized plant ovum). A strawberry is actually an ‘aggregate fruit’ – the ‘real’ fruit are the objects we think of as the strawberry seed.” Each seed is actually its own fruit, and according to the California Strawberry Commission, “On the average, there are 200 tiny seeds on every strawberry.” This means that, in effect, each strawberry is actually an aggregate of 200 tiny fruits. When asked how you should choose a strawberry in a field, Lask commented, “You want them totally red with no white showing. Strawberries do not ripen after they are picked.” But don’t fool yourself into thinking that the bigger the berry the tastier it’ll be, for this is not the case with strawberries. After you’ve picked your berries, you should then protect them from sunlight and excessive heat – put them in the refrigerator as soon as possible. Lask’s Web site recommended: “Discard any berries that are not shiny or are dull looking – these are berries on the road to rotting and one or two bad berries can spoil your whole recipe.” You can successfully freeze berries, and if you add a little acid and sugar before you freeze them, their color will be better preserved. However, Lask said not to “wash the berries until you intend to use or freeze them.” This is because the water will make them rot more quickly. When asked about selecting berries at the store, Lask commented, “In the grocery store you’re going to have another problem. They’re going to have been picked before they were ripe and then shipped. So, you’re going to have to figure out how much shelf life they have left. The major thing is when you pick your berry you have to get them cooled down real quick. And if there’s any mold, the berries are not long for this world.” And neither is strawberry season. Pick your own this year and savor one of the Missouri summer’s sweetest flavors.