Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
ectors be Japanese American - an extraordinary move during a period so virulently anti-
Japanese.
Certainly, today's small strawberry growers do not face anywhere near the same
hurdles as the Japanese American farmers did a century ago. But that is not to say that
their lot is a walk in the park. In particular, they have to deal with sometimes cranky neigh-
bors, for whom the realities of agriculture - dust, early mornings, lots of workers coming
and going, occasional spraying - do not quite mesh with their idea of the good life. But
because strawberries are so valued by fruit lovers - especially good strawberries, picked
ripe and shipped only across town rather than across the country - these farmers are able
to earn enough to make it worthwhile.
When you do get those perfect berries, remember that they almost always taste best un-
cooked. The red color of berries comes from the pigment anthocyanin, which is not heat
stable. If you cook strawberries by themselves, that lovely crimson color will turn to a
bruised purple. But acidity will stabilize the pigment, so add some lemon or orange juice
(or bake them with rhubarb), and the color will remain red. You can "cook" strawberries
without heat, though. Sugar draws moisture out of strawberries and mixes with the extrac-
ted juice to form a delicious sauce. In some cases, this can be bad - if you want the berries
to remain slightly firm, don't sugar them too far in advance of serving, or they'll go limp.
In other cases, the sugaring is a big help - sugar strawberries for ice cream well in advance
of freezing, and because of the extracted moisture, you won't end up with ice cubes in your
ice cream.
WHERE T H E Y ' R E GROWN: The vast majority of commercial strawberries are
grown in California. But strawberries are one of the leading "small-farm" crops around the
country. Varieties that are grown for the local market - without the necessity of shipping -
are almost guaranteed to be better than most commercial berries.
