Last night for supper, I had a big bowl of strawberries. That’s it, garnished with a little blob of plain Greek yoghurt nestled on top. In strawberry season, there is nothing better and nothing more to covet. We’ve waited all year, and now all is good in the world. This is summer, and we’ll have fruits all season now. Finally.
Berry seasons in New England
When I was a child, the summer was marked clearly by the berry seasons. Strawberries meant school was almost out and we’d have this seemingly limitless expanse of time ahead of us with no more pencils, no more books, no more teachers, you know the rest. Our strawberries were exclusively the wild ones we kids tediously picked for mom, and there was never enough for jam. The size of pencil erasers, no strawberry has ever been sweeter. I have some growing at the edge of the field near my barn here but it’s a ways away from the house so I seldom find any before the birds. Many years, I pick with my grandchildren but I have to admit they are my least favorite berry to pick; one has to either squat or kneel to get at these babies, and it is tiring. That’s why I bring along a short kid, they are closer to the ground and don’t mind at all.
Enter, blueberries in abundance
Next up was blueberry season, and in good years they overlapped a bit with the strawberries. Here, we had a gold mine. Mom and my grandmother would take us kids with them to an old abandoned farm that had a massive field of high bush blueberries. We would each have a pail strung on a rope round our necks, and we’d pick to our heart’s delight. It wasn’t as easy as it might sound because it was quite overgrown and infested with black snakes. I say infested even though I only once or twice actually saw one, but we knew they were there, and kept our eyes open, especially Mom. This was the first fruit of jam making for the canning season and mom could make enough to last all year, our bounty so great. We also indulged in pancakes, muffins, and luscious blueberry pies as well. I don’t think I’ve missed a blueberry picking season with the grandchildren. No one has to get on their knees, and picking is pretty quick if the berries are ripe, so no one gets bored.
A little sour with the sweet
Cherries arrived after the strawberries were done, but we only had the sour ones. Not good for kid eating, but them made good jam and sour cherry pie.
Blackberry memories
Blackberries and elderberries give me probably the most memories. Late summer, blackberries grew in profusion in the sandbanks across from our house and up the road. We’d go out every morning and pick big bowls full and mom would tuck them in the freezer, at least what we didn’t eat. This was hard and messy work as anyone who have ever dealt with brambles knows, and it seemed like the biggest berries were always in the middle of the dense, thorny clumps! Sometimes we were a little mean and sent my youngest brother Mike into the middle because he was the smallest. We always ate our share while picking, and when Mom got enough for a big batch of jam, the house would be filled with steam and canning jars and the aroma of berries. She made this every year, and I do as well now, although I usually have to buy my berries at the farm stand, having no wild brambles here, and I make a much smaller batch. They are still my favorite fruit because they bring back so many happy memories.
And now, chasing away the summer
The elderberries that grew along the stream behind our house were the last to ripen and we knew that our limitless days of summer were coming to an end and school would begin soon. We’d take paper bags out to the stream and gather as many berry clusters as possible, eating none of course because by themselves they are pretty terrible tasing. Mom would transform these into both elderberry jelly and elderberry wine, the first wine I ever tasted when I was a teenager and was allowed a tiny glass at Sunday dinner. It was a very sweet wine I never cared for, but drank it anyway because I felt so grown up.
Let’s start again
And here we are at strawberry season. How we wait for those luscious red through-and-through berries, so sweet you don’t need a speck of sugar. Just seeing those baskets of red lifts the spirits and makes the heart light. To honor this wonderful time of year, I thought I would offer a little reprisal of previous strawberry posts for you from which to pick and choose. I brought home a couple of overflowing pints yesterday, had some for my supper, and plan to make some seductive scones for dinner tonight. I’ll get no arguments.
It’s all good, as the long carefree summer stretches ahead like unchecked time!
Strawberry and Rose Crepe Tower
Strawberries that in gardens grow
are plump and juicy fine,
but sweeter far as wise men know
spring from the woodland vine.
No need for bowl or silver spoon,
sugar or spice or cream,
has the wild berry plucked in June
Beside the trickling stream.
One such to melt at the tongue’s root,
confounding taste with scent,
beats a full pick of garden fruit;
which points my argument.
~Robert Graves
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You are so lucky!!! I love the strawberry and rose crèpe tower!!!
That’s my favorite too Mimi! So much fun to make, and then to eat.
Thank you for sharing all the beautiful foods you created with strawberries! It made me yearn for strawberry shortcake and the strawberry scone, though all of them looked wonderful. I do love a strawberry cake, too. This reminded me of the times we picked berries with Mom. We would go to a farm outside of town where you could pick all you want of blackberries, and then she would make the most yummy blackberry cobblers with homemade ice cream for serving. I do not ever remember eating fresh strawberries; if Mom made strawberry ice cream, she used the frozen kind. I don’t think we ever knew anyone who grew them, even. I remember the first time as a young woman I ate a fresh strawberry and it was wonderful! My father-in-law grew blackberries, and I picked my share of those with my mother-in-law and Randy’s aunties. What great memories those are, so thank you for the reminder!
Ah, thanks Suz! Those blackberries do stay etched in the mind! Thank you for reminding me of the ice cream. One of mom’s specialties was the blackberry ice cream. She made it even during lean times when she used chilled canned (evaporated not sweetened) milk, whipped it up, then froze it. It turned out softer, but was quite delicious. Nowadays there are all these recipes using the sweetened condense milk, so I think my mom was a little ahead of the curve!
In one short post you managed to capture the essence of summer marching along from spring to the end. One summer the kids and I picked strawberries in the morning, stopped at an inn and for some reason I ordered a salad with strawberries. Got home and I made jam, and honestly I didn’t want strawberries again for long, long time! I guess I was over saturated!
That can happen, but not usually with berries! I remember never getting tired of them when I was a kid.
Now, we had asparagus tonight for dinner, and it is most likely the last we’ll see of it until next year. I have served it so much, I’m ready for its season to be done, I must admit!
As I look out the window at the cold rainy day and then read of your berry filled Summers I wonder if it will ever be warm again. But, of course, it will. Lovely memories. We had Plum trees and Apple trees so it was hot work with Mum producing many jars of jams and preserves for the next winter. I shall be patient and know that those ‘berry days’ are waiting round the corner. Yummy lineup of goodies you offer today!
Thanks Mary! It actually cooled off a little here today, had to wear a sweater when walking the dogs this morning, but then it got lovely again.
My mom also made applesauce and canned it, so good! Plum preserves sound wonderful!
Oh so jealous!
Ah, the seasons turn quickly and you will be there sooner than you think!
Am smiling at the comments so far – one can see who are reading this wondrous story from the Southern Hemisphere 🙂 ! Yes, I also can enjoy the season thinking of the berries winking at me 🙂 ! Remember being a post WWII small child in Europe – in those days of darkness from every direction, could not think of anything more fabulous than going to find wild strawberries . . . and I was low-enough-to-the-ground at the time not to mind the bend-and-reach 🙂 !
Wonderful memories Eha! Kids don’t mind, because the rewards are worth it. I actually don’t mind it either, to a point!
Fabulous reading about your berry adventures and memories, D! Everything has my mouth watering! Mmm! 😋
Mouthwatering good, sis!
Wow! I just said to sweet man what should I make with the fresh strawberries you brought home!
Well, the timing was perfect then!
Nothing nicer
Agreed!
I have one strawberry 🍓 and two flowers just starting here as they are a winter crop. What can’t to do with strawberries. All the recipes look mouth wateringly marvellous. A crepe tower! Wow.
Do you have a pic of the elderberries. I am interested in growing them.
My other wonderful memory is gathering the beautiful and highly fragrant flowers in the spring, only mom told me not to pick too many or we’d get no berries! The flowers make a delightful cordial.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambucus
Strawberries are divine! 🍃🍓
A spring gift from Mother Nature!
She’s the best!!!! 🍓🍓🍃🍓
This is a lovely post, Dorothy. It’s nice to read about your childhood in berries. The strawberry crunch cake looks amazing. I’ve benchmarked it.
I made it for my grandson’s birthday, and now he wants it all the time!
That’s good know 💛
I picked some strawberries over the weekend and was grateful they were in a raised bed. 🙂 As a child, I picked for my grandparents, but as you said I was closer to the ground then. Your dishes look absolutely delicious.
Thanks Judy! I always feel like celebrating when these rubies appear!
Nothing like fresh strawberries from a farm stand. Thanks for all these great recipes for the strawberry season! 🙂
My pleasure! It’s a wonderful time of year.
I love strawberries! Thanks for all of the delish recipes!
You are most kindly welcome! It is not hard to make something good when you start with beautiful berries!
Strawberry season is a magical time! It’s hard to choose what to make with them because they are so perfectly sweet!
i know! What to make next, or just eat them right out of the box!
My oh my, what a mouth-watering post! I could have some strawberries right now. Also, I enjoyed reading about your berry picking when you were young, especially how you forced your younger brother into the center of the thorny patch.
He was the smallest, in kid logic it was the best solution!
Tee-hee!
They all look good! I’ll be making freezer jam soon.
Oh, so much easier than canning!
Oh, I love how your childhood was a mixed bowl of berries! Strawberries are big at our house, thanks for all the wonderful recipes!
That’s a perfect way to put it!
I enjoyed seeing the newborns!
Always!
Bring on all the summer berries, please! Strawberry shortcake is my favorite dessert, hands down. All your desserts look so good. One of my first jobs was working at a U-Pick strawberry farm. It was the only time I ever got sick of strawberries, thankfully it didn’t last long. I also remember picking wild strawberries from my cousin’s lawn and tossing them into their chicken pen, it was a riot seeing the hens fight each other over those tiny morsels. 😂
What a funny little memory with the chickens! We had chickens growing up and they were always getting into mischief. I think they would eat just about everything!
Loving all your memories, and the images of your desserts are truly wonderful. My man K eats strawberries all year round; even when they are not at their best. On the other hand, Dorothy, I’ve never been a strawberry lover, yet I can imagine the joy of fresh berries as the year rolls around.
It’s a marvelous way to mark the summer!
I love the berry calendar of your childhood, sounds like a wonderful way to mark the passage of time. I was a fully grown adult when I discovered (and hand picked) those tiny berries you mentioned and you are correct, no berry has ever been sweeter! When I lived in Germany they had these little baskets you could buy outside farms with a little cash box for you to slide euros into on the honor system and those were just as tiny and sweet.
That’s a lovely memory, and yes, those strawberries are the best. We have a lot of those little self-serve stands around here, most of them just take cash or checks, but some have a little Venmo tablet set up! Times change slowly around here, but they do change!