Strawberries!

I think I've mentioned before that there just isn't a lot of fruit in the farmers' markets here in Ames. In Indiana, we had the folks who brought in apples and pears and quince and peaches, which was wonderful. There was watermelon and canteloupe, of course, and raspberries and blackberries on many days. And cherries and currants and gooseberries! One person had black raspberries, these tiny little things that haunt my tastebuds. And blueberries. So many blueberries--I'm imagining great bushels of them, though my memory probably exaggerates.

Here in Iowa, there are a couple of orchards who do some pretty solid apple work, but nothing fancy. The folks who do squash later in the season have melons earlier in the season--I'm just not super-fond of watermelon. Usually there are a couple of folks who have some raspberries, but not a lot.

Except for one farmer, who only sells at the Wednesday North Grand market. Along with a respectable variety of vegetables, he's got apples and berries. SO MANY BERRIES, shifting throughout the season. Raspberries and blackberries and blueberries, and right now, he's got strawberries. He wasn't around last week--the frigid rain prevented the usual harvesting--but hoo boy, this week he had a table full of strawberries.

The Wednesday North Grand #farmersmarket haul: two quarts of strawberries, a pound of tomatoes, spinach garlic lasagna noodles, ten braided Swedish (?) cookies, and five chocolate-dipped peanut butter sandwich cookies.

A photo posted by Patti P (@voleuseck) on May 27, 2015 at 4:56pm PDT

When I got there, a bit after five, he had even put two quarts aside for me, because sometimes I'm not able to get out of work until close to six. TWO QUARTS. And he tossed in a couple of extra handfuls, which was sweet. Since I'm leaving for C&W tomorrow, I won't have time to bake them into anything. Instead, I did my usual prep for freezing--a quick couple of rinses in ice-cold water, and then slicing off the tops. Since these were pretty magnificent, I sliced them up for easier handling when I defrost. I did put aside a bowl full to eat, because duh. Sometimes I eat strawberries just as they are, but sometimes I toss them in lemon zest and a bit of turbinado sugar. Tonight, I dusted the strawberries with a bit of Cha-Cha Lima from Saltlickers: sugar, lime, and chipotle pepper. It is a bit weird, but I like the little kick of spiciness. This bears further investigation.