Sweet Strawberries

Have I mentioned that I am SO SICK of the rain?

Some farmers here in southwestern Connecticut are tired of it too! Jamie Jones of Jones Family Farms in Shelton told me yesterday that the rain has been keeping people away from the farm during this very important time: strawberry picking season. Though he says the abundance of rain has made for large, juicy strawberries, if people aren't picking, they'll just rot on the vine. He needs the sun to come out because people only have a week or two left to pick!

I went out to the farm yesterday to shoot this upcoming weekend's "What's To Do" report - to remind people that strawberry season is very short- it begins in June and ends in mid July. When we arrived around 9:30 it was overcast and humid, but there were a dozen or so people already out filling their baskets. So we grabbed the camera and boarded the "Very Merry Berry Ferry" which takes you out into the middle of the farm for the best picking. As soon as we started shooting, it started pouring.  I got drenched. I looked like I had just stepped out of the shower... and I had to be at a news conference and do a live-shot in just two hours.

Of course the heavy rain that drenched me stopped in about five minutes, so we were able to do some picking of our own. At least while I was blow drying my hair via the car air-conditioner, I was able to eat breakfast.

You know how the strawberries you buy from the store often have a tasteless, hard white part in the middle and top near the stem? Not these. From top to bottom they are soft and sweet. Jones Family Farms shares some its favorite recipes for strawberries on its website, including strawberry salsa, strawberry soup and strawberry jam. Actually, that is what the fresh strawberries smell like to me- sweet strawberry jam.

Jones says the strawberries are at their peak now. They are less than two-dollars a pound.  The current special is all-you-can-fit into the Jones box pictured at the beginning of this blog for $20.30. Call the daily crop report at (203) 929-8425.

If you go out this 4th of July holiday weekend, be sure to visit Jamie in his tasting room at the Jones Winery. Oh, by the way, blueberry season starts soon- usually in mid-July.