How to freeze strawberries

 Our strawberry season at Waterberry, will soon be just a memory. It's sad to see the berry season wind down and the last of the berries picked. Luckily, we know we've got berries put away that we'll enjoy through out the rest of the year. Strawberries can be made into jams or preserves, but the easiest way to preserve strawberries is freezing. There are a couple of different methods that can be used for freezing your fresh strawberries.
The first, and by far the most simple way to freeze your strawberries is, freezing the whole berries. This is the best method for very ripe, red berries. Wash and sort the berries, discarding any bad berries. Hull the berries (remove the green tops and stem) and place the whole hulled berries into plastic freezer bags. Lay the bag flat and try to have the berries in a single layer. Gently push as much air out of the bag as you can, taking care not to crush the berries. I stack mine on a cookie sheets and put them in the freezer. This way they stay nice and flat and be much easier to stack in the freezer, once frozen.

Another way we like to freeze our strawberries is, sliced with a little sugar. This method is great for slightly under ripe or not very sweet berries. It's also great for berries that you plan on using in smoothies. Clean the strawberries the same as for the whole berries, removing the stem and tops. Then slice or quarter the berries into a large bowl. Add about 1/2 cup of sugar for each quart of strawberries you have in the bowl. If your berries are already very sweet you may want to use only about 1/3 cup sugar per quart of berries. Gently stir the sugar into the sliced strawberries. Bag the sugared berries in plastic freezer bags immediately, laying the bags flat on a cookie tray. Gently press out any excess air  form the bags. Place in the freezer. The sugar will begin to draw the juice out of the strawberries, so you want to get them in the freezer fairly quickly.

There are a couple of other freezing methods for strawberries, but these are the two that we use and have found to be the most successful for our needs.
Freezing strawberries is so easy, you have no excuse not to have your own stash of frozen berries!

Weekend Breakfast on the Farm

Spring has sprung here on the farm, the azaleas are blooming the trees are budding out and the air is a buzz with bees doing their business.

And what could make a beautiful spring more complete than a lazy breakfast on the porch. This morning we enjoyed fresh bagels with strawberry butter.

Home made bagels fresh from the oven, chewy on the outside with a tender interior, these may the best bagels you will ever eat!

Strawberry butter:

1 stick butter, room temperature

1/2 C sweetened fresh strawberry puree

In bowl of a stand mixer whip the butter until light and increased in volume, slowly add the strawberry puree continuing to whip until fully incorporated. Add sugar and salt to taste. Whip until doubled in volume.

Enjoy on bagels, toast, pancakes or fresh bread.

Lemon curd is pretty high on my list of favorite things. So a while back when I came across a recipe for strawberry curd, I definitely wanted to give it a try. A curd is usually made of citrus combined with sugar, butter and eggs. It's thick and has sort of a pudding like texture. They can also be made from fruit combined with citrus and eggs. Since strawberry season is in full swing at Waterberry Farm, we're on the lookout for new ways to use them. Of course when I went to make the strawberry curd, I couldn't find the recipe I'd seen originally. It's out there somewhere on the world wide web!! I adapted this recipe from one for I'd found for a raspberry curd. I had some leftover cake I want to use up so I decided to put it between the layers of cake. The cake I used was just a basic vanilla cake. I liked it with the curd, but I think a lemon cake would have been even better. If you'd rather not go to the trouble of making a cake, you could just serve it as is with a dollop of whipped cream on top.
Although I really like this curd, I think that I'm going to try making one that doesn't have whipped cream and is more like traditional lemon curd. So stay tuned for strawberry curd part two!

The strawberries are here!

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In spite of the frigid temps we've had over the past few evenings, we've started picking the first of the ripe berries! So what did we do with the first berries? Well we ate quite a few, but some of them got dipped in rich dark chocolate. Chocolate dipped strawberries are a quick easy treat, but they look impressive. Roll the chocolate dipped berries into nuts or sprinkles and they look like something that came from a candy store.
Method

Melt 5-6 ounces of semi-sweet or white chocolate chocolate

Microwave directions for melting chocolate:
Place coarsely chopped chocolate in a microwave-safe container and microwave at MEDIUM (50 percent power) for 1 1/2 to 4 minutes, until the chocolate turns shiny.
Remove the container from the microwave and stir the chocolate until completely melted. Be careful not to overheat or the chocolate can burn.
Dip strawberries in the melted chocolate, lightly shaking the berry to remove any excess chocolate. Roll the dipped strawberries in chopped nuts, chocolate sprinkles, or toffee bits. Place on parchment paper and let chocolate set-up. The strawberries are best eaten within a few hours of dipping them in the chocolate but can be kept overnight if refrigerated.
Note: make sure your strawberries are completely dry when you dip them into the chocolate. Any water on the berries will ruin the chocolate.

Our strawberries are sold by the quart and can be picked up by appointment at Waterberry Farm in Slocomb. They can also be purchased at The Butcher's Block on Westgate Parkway in Dothan. Get some of our wonderful pesticide free strawberries and start dipping!

Give Waterberry Preserves this Christmas

Lots of preserving has been going on at Waterberry over the last few weeks. We've made all kinds of chutneys, relishes, jams, and preserves.

Pictured here left to right: Cranberry, Pear, and Lemon, Jam, Pear,Apricot,Pineapple, Preserves, and Waterberry Strawberry Preserves

We've had lots of people asking to buy the jams and preserves for Christmas gifts. All of our preserves, jams, chutneys etc., are in bottled in 8 ounce jars and cost $5.00. The strawberries, pears, and figs are all grown on our farm.

Here is a list of all our preserves:

Fig Chutney

Cranberry, Pear, and Lemon Jam

Cranberry Rum Relish

Pear, Pineapple, Apricot Preserves

Waterberry Strawberry Preserves

To order e-mail: waterberryhydrofarm@yahoo.com or call 334-886-2454

Rhubarb in the South!?!

Yes, you can grow rhubarb in lower Alabama! Typically, rhubarb is a cool weather plant and hates the hot humid summers we get here in the South. However, it has been thriving in our hydroponics system. Look at these lovely stalks!

Rhubarb and strawberries are a marriage made in food heaven and we just happen to have both right now! So naturally we've been cooking up some wonderful desserts.
I made a rhubarb strawberry clafoutis. Clafouti, pronounced kla,foo,Tee, is a french counrty dessert with a custard like batter baked over fresh fruit. Traditionally the French make clafoutis using fresh cherries. We don't have any cherries, (which also hate our hot humid summers) but we've got plenty beautiful rhubarb and strawberries.

Ingredients:

1 cup cleaned rhubarb, cut in small sticks
6 oz strawberries
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp sour cream
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar for the rhubarb
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 teaspoon light rum (or vanilla)
1/4 cup blanched almonds (optional)
Confectioner’s sugar, to sprinkle

Method:

Place the rhubarb in a colander and sprinkle with 1/4 cup sugar. Let rest for 1 hour so that it releases some juice.
Preheat your oven at 400 F. Butter an oven safe baking dish or pie pan.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar. Add the cornstarch and flour and mix together.
Mix the sour cream in with the milk and slowly add the milk to batter.
Arrange the fruit, in a buttered oven safe dish, and pour the batter over and sprinkle nuts over top.
Cook for about 30 to 35 min, or until golden in color. Remove from the oven and let cool a little before eating. Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar. Best when eaten while still warm. Enjoy!

Perfectly Pink

Looking for perfect pink lemonade this Memorial Day? Look no further, made with fresh lemons and strawberries this is the perfectly pink summer cooler.



11/2 C granulated Sugar

1 C coarsely chopped fresh Waterberry Farm strawberries

Zest of 2 lemons, peel off with vegetable peeler avoiding the white pith

2 C Fresh lemon juice

Combine the sugar and strawberries with 2 cups water in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil over med-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the berries begin to release their color and soften slightly, about 3 min. Stir in the lemon zest. Let cool completely

Strain the cooled syrup through a fine sieve set over a pitcher or bowl, pressing lightly on the berries to extract most of the syrup. Discard the solids

Add the fresh lemon juice and 2 1/2 cups cold water to the syrup stir until well blended.

The lemonade can be served immediately over ice or refrigerated for up to two days.

Ahhh Enjoy Summer!

taken from Fine Cooking

In the news..

Our farm was featured in The Dothan Eagle, our local news paper, today. Check it out here.

Quick Strawberry Preserves

This is a quick old fashioned recipe for strawberry preserves that uses no pectin. Making preserves is a great way to use up extra, less than perfect, or even frozen berries. These preserves really capture the strawberry flavor without being overly sweet. They bear little resemblance to the high fructose corn syrup variety found in the supermarket. Once you try these preserves, you'll never want the grocery store preserves again!

This recipe only makes about three cups of preserves, so I skip the canning and just use it fresh. However, it does freeze well if you wanted to make more at one time.

Ingredients

3 1-pint baskets (about 6 cups) fresh strawberries, hulled. Frozen strawberries will also work.
2 cups sugar
Lemon juice from one lemon

Method

Place hulled strawberries in heavy large saucepan and mash coarsely. Cook strawberries over medium heat until beginning to thicken, stirring frequently, about 6 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Add 2 cups sugar and stir until dissolved. Increase heat to medium and boil gently until mixture thickens and mounds on spoon, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes.

Skim any foam that rises to the top. You can skip this step, but your preserves will be much nicer looking without the foam.

Remove saucepan from heat. Stir in the lemon juice. Cool. (Preserves can be prepared 1 week ahead. Refrigerate in airtight container.)Makes about 3 cups.

Serve the preserves over ice cream, on pancakes or muffins, spread between the layers of a cake, mixed into yogurt...

Baking with Strawberries

The classic flavors of sweet strawberries and tart rhubarb have always worked well together and here they are quite delicious as a topping for this light, buttery coffee cake. As the name suggests it is meant to be eaten in the morning with a cup of coffee which is delightful, but served with a cream sauce or ice cream it makes a lovely simple dessert.

I first made this last Spring and have now waited longingly for a whole year to make it again, finally that day has arrived

Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee Cake

Ingredients:
Filling:
3 cups fresh sliced rhubarb or 13-ounce package frozen
16oz strawberries, sliced- you can use frozen
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch

Topping:
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup butter, softened

Batter:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter a 9 x 13 baking dish.

For filling:
Combine rhubarb, strawberries, and half the sugar in saucepan; simmer, covered, about 5 minutes. Add remaining sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch to fruit mixture. Cook and stir until thickened. Set aside to cool.

For topping:
combine all ingredients until crumbly; set aside.

For batter:
Combine dry ingredients.
Cut inbutteruntil mixture makes fine crumbs.
Beat together the milk, eggs and vanilla.
Add to dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.
To complete: spoon the batter into prepared pan. Spoon cooled filling over batter. Sprinkle topping over batter.
Bake at 350 degrees fo 40 - 45 minutes or until cake tests done.
Cool slightly before cutting.

16 servings or this can be easily halved

Hints of spring

I know Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and promptly dove back into his hole for another six weeks of winter. Here in the South however, we've got his less famous cousin Beau (short for Beauregard) Lee. Beau disagreed with his Northern counterpart and didn't see his shadow, meaning an early spring this year. Based on the weather we've had since the lesser famous rodent hopped out of his hole, I'd have to say Beau was right! The dog agrees...Spring fever?!?

Anyway there are signs of spring everywhere around the farm.



Pear tree's first bloom

We've been busy around here lately. The strawberries arrived right before Christmas and all 6000 had to be planted. They are planted under a high tower greenhouse in a hydroponic stacker system. We use a planting medium made up of rice hulls and pine bark. It's the first year using this particular medium so it should be interesting to see the differences in our crop.

From this...

To this...we should be getting our first ripe berry any time now!

Now that should really give you spring fever.