Berry-Basics  

One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste.

Goethe

 

            Berry-Basics. That’s what this column is about on this, my 3^rd anniversary with the Cape Codder, providing me a beautiful subject to celebrate with you. What could be a better way to begin than with a deep rosy-red Fragonard, a Bellini-kind of drink, as Nigella Lawson, the beautiful English chef and  N.Y. Times columnist suggests in her new book, Forever Summer. Purée a pint of strawberries in a blender with 2 tablespoons of crème de fraise (optional) or a little sugar if the berries are not perfectly red and ripe. Mix with a bottle of sparkling white wine such as Prosecco. That will provide about sixservings to share with friends.

            This first week of June is at last a time of blooming, one that our hearts longed for in May. Let’s not quibble, but be glad, and bless the beginning of warm days, casting off our winter mind-sets along with our winter garments. It’s time to turn our thoughts to lush, fragrant strawberry desserts.

Namskaket Farm in Brewster on 6A opposite Nickerson State Park, used to be a place where, at the end of June, with a little bending and squatting you could pick your own quarts of this healthful fruit. No longer. I visited there last weekto learn those fields have been gone for four years. If your heart is set on a strawberry outing, as mine is, there is a grand place on Cape Cod, but you’ll have to do a little traveling. Tony Andrews Farm, located at 398 Old Meetinghouse Road in East Falmouth, (508) 548-5257. In speaking with Tony Andrews’ wife, Marina, I learned that they were the first to have a pick-your-own-fruit farm. They began that practice in 1942 when manpower was short, although the farm itself started in the 1920’s. The farm has 3 acres of strawberry plants for picking – that’s about 6 –7 thousand plants per acre - and they hope picking will begin around June 15^th. They charge by the pound, but you’ll have to call to get the price and the start date when it gets closer to picking time. You should also know that they have peas, coming about the same time as the strawberries, as well as beans, tomatoes and pumpkins, all available for the picking.

Did you know that just eight strawberries have more Vitamin C in them than an orange and that the America Cancer Institute believes they reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease?  What could be better? Eat them plain and enjoy the perfumed flavor on your tongue and know what a good thing you’re doing for yourself. Or dip them in sour cream and then into a little brown sugar, or wrap them in a warm crêpe and dust them with powdered sugar, but whatever you do, eat them and smile.

            If you find the journey to Falmouth too much, you can purchase good juicy strawberries, grown in California, at the newly relocated Phoenix Market on Cove Road in Orleans, (508) 255-5306, or Ring Bros. in Dennis, (508) 394-2244. Think merry times, berry times, and try some new ways of preparing them.

            One of the first things I learned to make as a child, after scrambled eggs and terrible granulated fudge, was strawberry shortcake made with Bisquick biscuits and vanilla flavored whipped cream.

            Lastly no article on strawberries would be complete without discussing that powerful taste-bud-tingling dessert, ‘pandowdy,’ an old-fashioned deep-dish New England fruit dessert made with maple syrup, molasses or brown sugar, and related to a cobbler, a grunt and a slump! Don’t you love those names? Slump was a culinary term immortalized by Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women. Both grunt and slump refer to the relative messiness of these succulent desserts when dished up on the plate. Served with some thick cream or vanilla ice cream the eye won’t care and the tongue will rejoice. Strawberries combined with rhubarb make a powerful treat. You’ll find recipes in many traditional cookbooks such as the Fannie Farmer Cookbook or the Joy of Cooking, so check them out.

            And by the way, don’t worry if you or anyone in your family get berry stains on your cloths. I have a super simple trick. Put a kettle of water on to boil. Place the garment in the sink over a bowl and, holding the kettle of boiling water high in the air, pour it onto the stained garden. Magic! The stains will come right out. I promise.

Come celebrate my anniversary with me and pop another berry in your mouth.