Strawberry fields for the next 3 weeks

What a surprise.  I was told that the berry season would only start around July 5th, and here we were on Canada Day with a surprise delivery of 100 pails of berries.  Delicous.

Why the change in plans?  It got hot!  And those berry plants must have been just itching to get going because there is none of the usual starting off selling in pints and quarts.  Nope.  We have TONS of berries available for your devious plans.  The pickers can't pick in the rain but as long as it stops long enough for people to get in the fields, the berry season will continue on for the next 2-3 weeks.  The time to get busy with berries is NOW.

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.