Picking Strawberries: The Technique
1. Grasp the stem just above the berry between the
forefinger an the thumbnail and pull with a slight
twisting motion.
2. With the stem broken about ½ inch from the berry,
allow it to roll into the palm of your hand.
3. Repeat these operations using both hands until each
holds 3-4 berries. Carefully place -- don't throw
-- the fruit into your containers.
4. Don't overfill your containers or try to pack down
the berries.
Whether you pick strawberries from your own garden or at
a Pick-Your-Own farm, here are a few tips to keep in
mind:
- Be careful that your feet and knees don't damage plants
or fruit in or along the edge of a row.
- Use shallow buckets. Heaping strawberries more than 5
inches deep will bruise the berries.
- Only pick the berries that are fully red.
- Part the leaves with your hands to look for hidden
berries.
- Remove berries that show rot, sunburn, insect injury
or other defects and destroy them.
- Pick berries for immediate use any time, but if you
plan to hold the fruit for a few days, try to pick in
the early morning or on cool, cloudy days.
- Berries picked during the heat of the day bruise easily
and will not keep well.
- Keep picked berries in the shade and cool them as soon
as possible after picking.
- Berries that have been handled carefully will keep up to
three days in the refrigerator.
Freezing Strawberries
Strawberries are easy to freeze using a dry-sugar or syrup
pack. The dry-sugar pack is especially easy and gives the
best flavor and color for sliced or crushed berries. For
whole frozen berries a syrup pack is recommended because
it produces a plump, well-shaped berry after thawing. For
special sugar-free diets, strawberries can be frozen
unsweetened, but they will not be as high in quality as
sugar- or syrup-packed berries.
Twelve pounds or eight quarts of fresh strawberries will
yield approximately 13 pints of frozen berries. No matter
which type of pack you choose, follow these general
directions for preparing and packaging strawberries for
freezing:
- Use only firm, fully ripe berries.
- To avoid bruising and waterlogging the berries, wash
only a few at a time in cold water.
- Drain on absorbent paper or in a colander or sieve.
- Remove the hulls with the tip of a floating blade
peeler.
- Chill the fruit in ice water to lower the temperature
for fast freezing.
When packaging for freezing:
- Allow ½" headspace for pints and 1" for quarts.
- Add ascorbic acid (vitamin C) according to package
directions to prevent darkening.
- Label containers and freeze promptly.
Dry Sugar Pack
- Halve, quarter or slice clean berries into a bowl or
shallow pan.
- Sprinkle sugar over berries using 1/3 to 3/4 cup
sugar for each quart of fruit.
- Stir very gently until the sugar is dissolved.
- Package and freeze.
Syrup Pack
Make a syrup using 1-1/4 cups water to each cup of
sugar. Dissolve the sugar in either cold or hot water.
If hot water is used, be sure to chill the syrup before
using. Use about 1/2 to 1/3 cup of sugar for each pint
container. Place whole or sliced berries in containers
and cover with cold syrup. Package and freeze.
Unsweetened Pack
Pack whole, sliced or crushed berries in containers and
cover with water or berry juice. For better color
retention, add ascorbic acid to the water, berry juice,
or crushed berries. Cover crushed berries with their
own juice. Package and freeze as discussed earlier.
About the author:
Jackie Carroll an avid gardener and the editor of GardenGuides.com, and
e-zine for gardeners. You can subscribe to her newsletters here:
http://www.gardenguides.com/news.htm
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