Kids Dish

We went berry picking last week at Linvilla Orchard, a local pick your own that has a wide variety of fruit available throughout the year. Last week was the end of strawberry season, the height of raspberry season, and we missed blueberries, which were closed for ripening after the first of the season were picked out.

This was Sam’s third trip to the orchard- fourth if you count a trip when I was pregnant. Last summer we picked blackberries, tomatoes, and peaches. In the fall we went with a group of friends and skipped the apple picking but we went for a hayride, drank apple cider and walked through the pumpkin patch. Sam remembered the place and kept insisting that he was picking strawberries in the pumpkin patch.

We got there later than we’d hoped and ate lunch at a picnic table before taking the hayride out to the strawberry patch. It was hot and humid and Sam hadn’t had a nap. Ben was strapped to my chest in a wrap with built in SPF. The rest of us were slathered in sunscreen and sweaty. Sam didn’t know where to find the strawberries so I picked up the leaves and showed him how to find them. We got to work with our separate boxes. Sam preferred to “pick� strawberries from mama and dada’s boxes, transfer them to his box, and eat them immediately. He was soon covered in strawberry juice.

Three quarts (and about a thousand strawberries consumed later) we took the hayride back to the raspberry bushes, adjacent to the parking lot. Sam was still in good spirits but he was tired. The raspberry picking appealed to him because the raspberries were at a good height where he could pick them without bending or searching. He ate a ton and ran up and down the rows before asking to go home. We got about two quarts of raspberries before paying and heading home.

It’s been a week and we’ve consumed all five quarts of fruit. I planned on freezing some of it, but I never got around to it and it was so good we just kept eating it. I’ve been eating granola with yogurt and berries every morning for breakfast and eating berries every time I open the fridge.

A few ideas for berry storage:
Berries should be washed before storing. Rinse them in 3 cups of water mixed with 1 cup of vinegar then run under fresh water from the tap. Drain in a colander. Line a salad spinner with several layers of paper towels and spin the berries until dry.

Store the berries loosely covered at the front of the refrigerator. They are cold sensitive and will last longer.

To freeze, put the berries on a baking sheet in rows so they’re not touching. Freeze, then transfer berries to freezer bags for storage.