Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Strawberries
Several springs ago I was desperate to get my hands on some fresh wild strawberries. Un-
less you are a star chef with a secret supplier who hand-carries them to your back door, this
is not an easy thing to do. In the first place, there aren't many farmers who grow them any-
more. The ones who do tend to have only a few because the plants take so much labor and
bear so little fruit. The season is vanishingly short, and the fruit is incredibly fragile. This
last turned out to be the biggest sticking point.
After much research I actually did track down someone who had them, in hand and in
season, but he was several hundred miles away. I told him that I would be happy to pay for
shipping, but he refused. They were too delicate to ship, he said. I would pay for overnight.
No way, he said, they'd never get to me in decent shape. I persisted: I wouldn't hold him re-
sponsible for any less-than-perfect berries. Finally, he caved in - probably just to get me off
the phone. The next day, a big box arrived. I opened it, and there, nestled among shipping
materials, was a smaller box. I opened that, and wrapped in a mound of tissue paper was a
tiny pint-size box. I opened that and found the most fragrant jam I've ever smelled. Even
with all that care, the berries had been smashed beyond recognition.
And therein lies the paradox of the strawberry. In its wild state, it is a highly seasonal,
wildly flavorful fruit that is as fragile as a soap bubble. Yet in our passion for it, we have
managed to turn this dreamy berry into a year-round staple as resilient as Styrofoam and
only a little more flavorful. It wasn't so long ago that strawber ries were a food you an-
ticipated all through the winter and then gorged on in a brief frenzy that was a ritual of
spring. Today it's a year-round garnish, the parsley of the breakfast plate. You can buy fresh,
American-grown strawberries at least eleven months out of the year. More than 80 percent
of them come from California, which produces more than a billion pounds in total. That
means the strawberries have to be able to withstand a four-day truck ride to make it to the
East Coast.
To provide a year-round supply, farmers harvest strawberries from one end of the state
to the other, beginning in San Diego and Orange County in the south right around Christ-
mas and gradually moving north as the season progresses and the weather warms, finishing
up around Watsonville, just south of San Francisco, around Thanksgiving. In a good year,
one with a mild and extended summer, strawberries never go out of season.
