Ottawa Foodies

It's that time of year again.

Time to get the knee pads out.

Time to get the sunscreen and sun hat ready.

I've only ever picked at the Shouldice Farms Bells Corners location.

www.shouldicefarm.com/

The website has a 1 buck off a 4 liter basket coupon.

I wonder if all this rain is going to effect the local strawberry crop ?

Does anyone know the cheapest local strawberry u-pick out there ? Then again with the cost of gas .... Bells Corners may be the most economical.

I had shouldice this weekend... most delicious... I think the rain made it even tastier!

Acorn Creek offers strawberries for picking. They have two varieties if I recall. We did it there last year and they were excellent. I don't know if they are ready for picking at the moment but the time of year is right; you can call ahead to be sure. They are not usually the cheapest but the quality is always there.

I've found the shelf life of the strawberries I've bought to be very, very short, probably due to the residual moisture from all the rain on the berries & stems/leafs. Acorn Creek is where I got mine - very tasty.

OVENS BERRY FARM, Osgoode
Out of town but closest to me. Been going here for over 20 years.

www.ovensberryfarm.com

Definitely heading to the Richmond Nursery this weekend to get a bunch. I'm going to make jam until it comes out my ears.

Momomoto - What kind of strawberry jam, regular or freezer. Do you just do straight strawberries, or any combos? Inquiring minds want to know.

If I find the time (and the energy) I might want to make some sort of jam or preserves this weekend. I'm hoping to find some rhubarb and do a strawberry-rhubarb combo. Nothing says summer in the middle of winter like the tart taste of rhubarb!

Gonna make me the regular kind. Boiling water and everything. Probably going to do straight strawberry, and save the rhubarb for crisps and crumbles and whatever.

OK, maybe a *little* bit of strawberry rhubarb.

Since you mentioned freezer jam, F+T, maybe you can help me with a question. I'm a huge fan of freezer jam and can't imagine why anyone would choose regular jam over it (unless they simply don't have room in their freezer). The flavour is so much fruitier!

All I have is the freezer section of my fridge and I make freezer jam space a priority there. In fact, I still have some of last year's strawberry and blueberry freezer jams there. I probably don't need to make any this year!

So I'm just curious if anyone who has tried both regular and freezer jams and actually prefers the regular jam? There's nothing wrong with that of course -- I'm just trying to understand people's preferences! :-)

Fresh Foodie - For me I see these as two seperate things... I actually have 4 different categories when it comes to toast accompaniments:
1. Jam & Jellies
2. Freezer Jam
3. Preserves (liked stewed fruits and applesauce)
4. Sweets (maple syrup, apple butter, brown sugar & cinnamon)

If I can get really really fresh (preferably local) fruits, then I'm most likely to make freezer jam, if I can only get average fruits (say Ontario Peaches or Eastern Blueberries) then I'm more likely to make regular jam.

And because making jam is so time consuming, I have no qualms about purchasing homemade jams from a variety of sources. One of my favourites is Pat's Jams in Prince Edward County, www.pec.on.ca/patsjams because she makes delicious jams, jellies & pickles with high quality ingredients and in so many variations. See my review at www.ottawafoodies.com

Funny, I just had this discussion yesterday about jams. I like both freezer and regular, but hubby and kids prefer the regular jam, particularly for strawberry. Since jams are a bit of work and the majority tends to rule, we make the regular jams in our house. I find they have a different texture, not just taste. The freezer is more grainy and regular has a smoother mouth feel. When I make raspberry jam, I definitely prefer my cooked version. I use Rose Levy Berenbaum recipe for raspberry compote which is the absolute best raspberry "jam" I have ever had (and we have tried a LOT of raspberry jams - local, imported, brand names etc).

Picked up some strawberries from the Richmond Nursery yesterday, and jammed all morning.

Easy recipe:

3 pounds strawberries
4 cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp unsalted butter

Since this is my first time canning by myself, I am just hoping and praying that I cooked it long enough that it'll set nicely. The vacuum seal seems to be working, which is even more rewarding than "testing" to see if it's set.

This is "cross referenced" from the recent Ottawa = Bad Food Forum topic, where HipFunkyFun wrote:

i also noticed that the local strawberries tasted watery this year. i had two good batches out of many. i buy at the farmers market, the in-city roadside stands and directly at the farmers fields. i assumed the increase in the water had to do with all our rain. i found shouldice farms, who have the stands on the street corners, the worst. they were great during week 1 of berry season, but went downhill. i am also disappointed that a number of farms have opted to grow the larger size strawberries this year. they are supposed to be sweeter, but i find the water content too much. i spoke with a few of the farmers themselves and they say it is because of the public's demand for bigger berries
:(

I agree this year wasn't the best weather conditions for strawberries, they could have used more rain in May, and ton less in June (they needed more sunshine that month for sure). The result was indeed watery berries.

HipFunkyFun, interesting about the info on larger berries vs. smaller ones. I guess it is true the consumer has become used to those huge imported berries that we now see pretty much year round that are grown in greenhouses. I remember when I was a kid, we'd find wild-strawberries when we'd go for a walk... these now I guess are called heirloom berries. They were much much smaller, but packed full of flavour!

Some of the pick your own spots grow several varieties that ripen at different times. I know that Dekok Berry Farm on the March Road (north of the Queensway) still has strawberries, also now raspberries. Owners like the earlier berries best but are still picking the later varietals . They all still beat imported--I saw people at Farmboy yesterday with California imports when there were local berries right there!

I'm not usually one to point out things like that, but I was FURIOUS (no, really!) to see that Hartman's only had US strawberries. The heck?

I too have found the strawberries on the watery tasting side this year (especially Shouldice). However, that said, we have had some very tasty berries. We usually get (pick) our berries from Acorn Creek and they have at least 2 varieties right now, small, red and larger, pink - both good but quite different tastes. I know that they also have the ever-bearing varieties. Last year I picked in late September, the last day of the strawberry season as there was frost that night. Rideau Pines (out by Manotick) also has several varieties and they don't spray. It is kind of fun to mix the different varieties when jamming or making strawberry desserts and getting really interesting and tasty results.

I LEARNED SOMETHING NEW TODAY !!

Gardener Mom - Thanks to you I've now discovered that there is a type of strawberry plant that bears fruit all summer long... WOW, I am definitely going to check this out. Thanks.

Yet another who was disappointed in the Shouldice berries. I figured it served me right for picking with the city folk. :P

We visited Dekok Farms on March Rd, but did not pick any raspberries because they were $10 per quart for pick your own. We decided to try Shouldice, but when we finally found the location, the person at the front entrance acted as if we were an annoying disturbance to his music listening, then we followed the arrows to the spot where the pick your own action was at, and found that although the price was $8 for a pick your own quart, we were expected to pre-pay. I understand from some that this is perhaps common practice in this area, but frankly, I feel that it is a bit insulting. The high price and the pre-pay practice were just enough to convince us to forget the whole pick your own and support your local farmer idea and head back to Farm Boy. I understand the higher cost when the berries are already picked due to the extraordinarily high cost of labour in Canada, but I do not understand why pick your own is so much. In case you are wondering--I grew up picking berries for a local Ontario farmer in my teen years. I think there is some price gouging going on.
Discouraged.

I thought this was a painting by Rembrant .... but no ... It's a picture of The Ontario Berry Growers Association's board meeting.

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Link ---> www.ontarioberries.com <---

A quart was six bucks and change at the Richmond Nursery, if you're looking to not get totally ripped off at a PYO joint.

Hooray! We found some great PYO blueberries. No luck with raspberries yet, but still looking. The PYO blueberry patch was located in Edwards, ON (hang a left on Mitch Owens when you are way way south on Bank St.) The people at Patterson's Farm were super nice, and the berries were bountiful and cost $2.75 per lb. We picked 23lbs from 6:30pm - 8pm last night, so ran out of time to check out the raspberries. Will perhaps go back today. Thanks Captain Caper for the link to the Ontario Berry Growers Association website, where I found the info on Patterson's.

What kind of blueberries? The small wild ones (I think they're called low-bush) or the large high-bush ones?

I love blueberries (mainly the small, wild variety) but their appearance in the market also indicates that summer is coming to a close, so it's kind of sad too. :-)

They are the large high bush ones, but these were really sweet. Easy to pick if you have children or are impatient.

Does anyone know where to find raspberries??

Truly Scrumptious - For a comprehensive list on Pick Your Own locations check out this WebSite:

www.pickyourown.org

If you are in the west end, you might check out Richmond Nursery as I remember reading in their Newsletter recently, that they have Raspberries growing in one location (Steeple Hill Crescent & Rushmore) but are in the process of relocating them (a little at a time) to the same field as their Strawberries. I suggest you give them a call (613) 838-2282

Incidentally, I once asked at Shouldice why the pick-your-own prices were only a tiny bit cheaper than the already picked ones. They said it's because everyone "samples" while they pick!

Being someone who prefers to try to rinse residual pesticides (and highway dust) from my berries before consuming them, I find nothing appealing about this type of pick-your-own activity.

Ha ha. I think the real reason Shouldice charges the same price for 'you pick' is that they can. The encouragement to people to eat as they pick, is really just an encouragement for recreational pickers, rather than people who are serious about picking their own berries. That being said, I bought a wooden basket of strawberries from Shouldice in the market, and made the mistake of not taking them out and cleaning them immediately. The very next day, all the berries below the top layer were covered in mold. (I can only assume they had already been in the basket for a while...).