CHEF’S TABLE: There’s nothing like a freshly picked strawberry

“Strawberries that in gardens develop are plump and juicy fantastic. But sweeter considerably as wise adult males know, spring from the woodland vine. No need to have for bowl or silver spoon, sugar or spice or product, has the wild berry plucked in June beside the trickling stream.” – Robert Graves

In the thirty day period of June, the entire moon is acknowledged as the “Strawberry Moon.” A name given by the Algonquin tribes, the visual appearance signalled the time when ripening fruit was at its peak and prepared for collecting.

I like strawberries. They have a exclusive spot in my selection of foodstuff recollections. From watching my grandmother accumulating wild Muskoka strawberries to make a table full of jam to sharing my son’s first flavor of the sweet summer berries in the subject. These minor bits of pleased arrive to the entrance of my mind this time of the calendar year.

A member of the rose relatives, strawberries are indigenous to North America. Indigenous peoples employed them in many dishes and were being a person of the initial sweet treats accessible to be gathered in early summertime. Early North People did not trouble cultivating strawberries mainly because they had been so plentiful in the wild.

In the 1600’s, North American colonists delivered propagated strawberry vegetation back again to Europe for cultivation. A further assortment was also located in Central and South The us, and is what the conquistadors referred to as “frutilla” or Chilean white strawberries.

The crops can past for five to 6 years with thorough cultivation, but most farmers use them as an once-a-year crop, replanting annually. Strawberries involve both a male and a feminine plant to develop fruit.

For me, strawberries are at their very best eaten clean. I necessarily mean who can argue with a crisp glass of bubbly paired with a luscious ruby crimson berry. But they lend them selves to any amount of dishes, the two contemporary and cooked.

Refreshing tarts and dwelling-baked double crust pies are common techniques to cook with them, but muffins, jams, preserves, and sauces are all excellent decisions. In our home we have been enjoying fresh berries in savoury salads and as a important component for our early morning smoothies. I do make an exceptional strawberry and crimson wine sangria — a best libation for the again deck on a sunny summer time afternoon.

Our community strawberry-growing time is generally quick but distinctive types allow that time to be prolonged. But not to be concerned, strawberries can quickly be frozen for usage any time of 12 months. It’s as effortless as just washing and hulling them, lay them out on a parchment-lined baking sheet so they are not touching and freeze them until sound. After frozen, you transfer them to a resealable freezer-safe zip-top rated bag and continue to keep for up to 1 calendar year.

Considering that having our son Tyler for his initial picking and tasting encounter 15 a long time ago, our spouse and children has created the journey out to our berry picking spot of option and it’s just minutes absent.

Barrie Hill Farms is a next-generation relatives farm, owned and operated by the Gervais Household. They improve about 200 acres of fruit and vegetables with about 25 acres of strawberries.

Barrie Hill is one of the biggest and, in my view, very best-run functions for strawberry choosing offered. They improve a number of versions of strawberries for pickers. Annapolis, Jewel, and Albion are readily available and all have distinctive features that make them stand out. It’s an wonderful sight to see when the tractors are functioning and the fields are complete of satisfied people choosing berries.

I first satisfied Morris Gervais when I was involved with Simcoe County Farm Fresh as a regional chef supporting community producers. Farmer Morris and the group at Barrie Hill Farms are massive supporters of the nearby food stuff and sustainability in our location and have worked diligently for a lot of a long time on many of the initiatives began listed here in Simcoe County.

My occupation is a minor unique now. I’m not the restaurant chef out purchasing nearby and creating those genuine dining activities. I’m doing the job from a diverse side — a single that I hope will support mentor the future era of younger cooks and cooks to be motivated by the foodstuff we discover regionally.

As a chef concerned in the hospitality packages at Georgian School, I get to do the job side by aspect with our college students as they start out the journey to becoming our up coming kitchen administrators, eating area captains, cooks and bakers.

Supporting neighborhood meals producers and encouraging “field to fork” education and learning has constantly been a large aspect of who I am as a chef and it’s a actual privilege to be able to share that with the students.

This summertime, with the help of our hospitality section and an eager team of culinary pupils, we have put jointly an added curricular discipline vacation job identified as the “Field to Fork Discovery Tour.”

The target is to get our students out and go to a few various agriculture producers in the location and see what they do, how they do it and how it impacts what we can do as cooks.

Barrie Hill Farms was a organic match for our first quit. So, one Monday afternoon a number of weeks in the past, just as the berry choosing season opened up, myself and a number of students went out to test out the crop of 2022.

The strawberries did not disappoint! It was really remarkable to observe them all consider some time and see what it is like. There was plenty of excellent thoughts and our conversations lined so several food stuff and farming topics.

Many of our college students have never seen nearly anything like a you-select farm or experienced the option to style a clean berry correct from the field. It was intriguing to them how our community producers have made the farm into a competition like ambiance.

My favorite part… Properly it was just like it was with Tyler 15 decades in the past. I obtained to look at each of them decide and style that initially berry and see the spark of discovery.

Now provide on the raspberries and blueberries!

For extra information and facts on Barrie Hill Farms look at out: https://barriehillfarms.com

Daniel Clements is the chef technologist at Georgian College’s University of Hospitality and Tourism.