PEAS AND STRAWBERRIES!!!

Oh this is what we wait for all winter long.
I spoke with 2 growers today, one pea grower and one Strawberry grower.
My strawberry grower intends to deliver a few pails of berries tomorrow afternoon and my pea grower intends to deliver several hundred pounds of peas this afternoon.

The peas just arrived and look fabulous!

Everything about strawberries!!!

Strawberries will be coming in very small quantities at first so we will not be selling in Pail amounts, just pints and quarts. Why is this? Well the first berries of the season take longer to pick as the workers have to search the whole field to gather the few berries ready. This means that my price is higher at the start. I could sell in pails for the first few days of picking, but the cost per pail for my customers would be well over twenty dollars per pail. A much better solution is to sell the very early berries in pints and quarts so that everyone can get a taste, the bulk quantities of berries will be coming in in another 7 days or so. It's not that long to wait!

With the rainy wet weather that we have been having, I expect the berries to come in from the field wet, possibly dirty. Strawberries HATE wet weather and will not keep for as long as if we were having dry weather. Be certain to curb your appetite and only purchase enough berries to last you and your family for 2 days of eating. I will be ordering short on strawberries, making certain to sell out each day so that we can start the next day with a fresh batch of berries. This means that we may sell out before the day is out. If you have your heart set on making jam, be certain to order the number of pails that you would like so that we can keep our rotations tight, AND have berries for you when you want them. We will begin taking orders for pails of berries as of July 1st or 2nd, if we get some heat, that date will move up and we can start taking orders for pails of berries sooner.

STORING
Store your strawberries, unwashed, with the green caps on, in your fridge for up to 3 days. With this years wet weather, storage time may be shortened. Eat them or cook with them as soon as you can.

USING
Wash your berries with the green caps still on, THEN remove the green caps, this keeps the berry from becoming water logged.

FREEZING
Clean your berries as listed above, then bag up in sizes to suit your families needs and toss in the freezer.
If you are feeling fancy, you can lay the berries out on a cookie sheet to freeze, then bag and put back in the freezer once they are frozen. This technique keeps the berry's shape but does not affect taste at all.
To freeze sliced strawberries, I just wash, hull and slice up a big bowl full of berries. Sprinkle sugar over berries (I use about a half cup of sugar for a 4 litre pail of berries), stir, once the sugar melts into the berry juice I place in freezer bags and chuck into the freezer.

PEAS
The same goes for Peas. This is not the time to be asking me for a bulk case price. When I only get 4 cases of peas delivered, and I have hundreds of customers who are anxious for a taste, I can't put out a case price. In about 10 days or so when the season is in full production, I post case (25 pound) prices for the peas in case people would like more for fresh eating.

Once the pea season is well underway, out pea grower sometimes takes out his mechanical harvester. If that happens, the harvester goes through the field, scoops up the whole pea plant, tosses the plant into a pea sheller. The sheller turns the plants end over end breaking open the pods sending the peas flying into a catch basin. As the labour costs for this venture are very low, pre shelled peas, when available, end up being the most affordable way to freeze peas for the winter.

Prices for peas in the pod stay high throughout the season as all of the pod peas are hand picked. Our minimum wage in Manitoba is now $9.50 per hour. Depending on the field conditions, it can take a long time to pick a pound of peas and the labour costs keep the price high. Keep this in mind if you ever wonder why Manitoba produce isn't drastically cheaper than imported goods. Labourers in Mexico are paid between 10 and 20 dollars per 12 hour work day.

STORING PEAS
Store peas, in their pods, in the refrigerator, for up to 5 days. As with the strawberries, peas HATE wet weather. What they hate even more is wet hot weather. I expect today's peas to come in with lots of markings on their pods. Being out in a field in the middle of thunderstorm after thunderstorm will not have done them any favours. Luckily for us, we don't eat the pea pods, just the peas! Marking on the pods rarely affect the taste of the peas themselves. If we get a rash of hot weather, the wet pea pods will start to spoil quickly. If I find that this is happening, I will stop ordering peas until the fields dry up or the next planting of peas is available.

EATING PEAS
I always eat pod peas raw, fresh out of the pod. I consider cooking these wee green pearls a bit sacrilegious, but to each their own. To open a pea pod, just hold the pod in your hand, press your thumb along the front seam of the pod, this should split the pod open. Be sure to press along the front seam, rather than the back spine of the pod. The back spine will keep the pod together while the front opens like a cupboard door, allowing you to run your thumb down the length of the pod, scooping up the peas along the way.

If you do manage to shell enough peas to cook, be sure to just boil (in non salted water)or steam them lightly until they turn bright green, a maximum for 2-3 minutes. If you cook them for any longer than that, the sugars will boil right out of the pea.


This is getting exciting folks. With the first of the Peas and Strawberries coming up, that means that the potatoes and cucumbers aren't far behind!!!

Take Care everyone!
Erin