Bitter Cold Hurts a Sweet Harvest

by Expat Chef

Store-bought berry on left dwarfs the local berries on right, but only in size. The winner in taste is still local, despite a tough season.

We got very spoiled last year. Each week of summer meant bringing home a basket filled with blueberries, blackberries, and fresh peaches. It was heaven. I was anxiously awaiting a bumper, early fruit crop with the record temperatures in March. And then the freeze hit over Easter. I awoke to snow on the ground the first weekend of my local farmer’s market. Three days of record lows created havoc with plants that had an early start.

According to an MSNBC article, nearly 95 percent of the Missouri peach crop was lost this year. Fresh berries also took a hard hit. This is not good news for me, or for my child who can easily polish off a quart of berries a day given the chance. Only a few farmers were offering berries the last couple spring weekends, one with a dire warning that the crop would only be for these two weeks. No more.

I bought a couple quarts each weekend. I also bought a quart of the ginormous California-grown ones (you know the label) from the store. I thought, let’s just see if peak season in a good year for the store-bought ones is as good as a rough season for my local berries.

Obviously, there is a difference in size. And texture. The store-bought ones are grown for size, shape and the ability to survive shipping. The flavor they had was as good as any I have bought at the store. A bit dry in the center and firm-fleshed.

The local berries were irregular in shape, much smaller and a few were bruised, some were shaped quite odd. If it were a beauty contest, you can definitely see why the store-bought giants would win. But the taste. True, they were not as good as last year. But nearly all the berries were sweet and juicy and perfectly ripe.

The winner? No contest. Local. Which is good news despite this season. And, rather than making me question my Eat Local ways, this experiment just gives me all the more reason to support my local farmers, good season or bad. We are in it together.

It also gives me more reason to look forward to next year. One of my favorite farmers is putting in both strawberries and blackberries for a u-pick farm that will be ready then. We’ll be in berry heaven once again.

In the meantime, how do I break the news to my kiddo that the festival of fresh berries is going to have to wait until next year? I won’t even try to explain why there are no peaches. She loves peaches. Maybe I can sell her on a good melon.

Comments

[Vicki Moonsinger]

There were beautiful U-pick peaches in Brentwood last Thursday. That's local to me! About an hour's drive away.

We picked 40 pounds of cherries and a few peaches and apricots.

[Ed Bruske]

You need to make sure you are comparing the same breeds of strawberries. There are many different ones. Not all local strawberries are necessarily small and delicious. They can also be large and delicious, large and not so delicious and small and not so good.

By the same token, not all store bought strawberries have to be huge and bland.

Different breeds have different characteristics.

[MARY]

http://www.zazzle.com/product/128905177770174349
Cool bumper sticker, shop locally. eat seasonally.

[expatchef]

Good point on the varieties of berries. I had some of the larger variety (local) last weekend. Also great flavor, better than the shipped version. I'll sample as many as I can! The main difference I notice in all the produce is the flavor from a fruit allowed to fully ripen as nature intended, versus the ones that are harvested too soon to allow for shipping.

[Calli]

I lived in Southern California last year, and purchased both supermarket and fresh, local strawberries. To be honest, I'm not sure where the supermarket berries came from. That experience made it clear that I need never buy supermarket berries again. There's just no comparison when it comes to taste and texture. I completely agree with you that it's the natural ripening that makes all the difference. I hope next year your area will have a great growing season.