Strawberry Season
Do your kids have a favorite fruit? All three of our kids love strawberries. Strawberry Season passes us by quickly in the Midwest (it run mid June - early July) and I wanted to make sure we took advantage of it this year. So we went strawberry picking! It was our first time and I have to say I think we will make it an annual tradition. Read on for my TAKE on where to pick strawberries and what to do with your bounty.
We went to the Thompson Strawberry Farm in Bristol, Wisconsin. It's a bit of a hike outside of Chicago (60 minutes) but a really easy drive. I love that the farm's website provides an update on picking conditions each morning. We went mid week to help avoid the crowds. The strawberries were beautiful. I could have spent hours picking (the best strawberries) are under the leaves but I was wearing Maggie in a carrier, trying to supervise the older two and failing miserably; so we lasted an hour. We were able to combine our baskets into one and then I purchased another pre-picked basket as I wanted to share the strawberry wealth with friends.
George and Lucy ate strawberries throughout the hour of picking and once I took Maggie out of her carrier she went after them hulls and all. I don't think the kids will ever forget the taste of those sweet juicy strawberries!
After stuffing our faces with strawberries for the better part of the week we still had a good amount leftover. Approximately, 4.5 cups to be exact and I wanted to do something with them before they went bad. My kids love the fruit leather strips at Trader Joe's and I always wanted to try making a healthier version. Previously, I'd been so intimidated by the time commitment and complexity of fruit leather recipes that I shied away but with the help of my husband I decided to face my fruit leather fears.
We had a low key Sunday on the horizon and a fridge full of ripe strawberries so on Saturday afternoon I took to my Pinterest account and started looking for homemade fruit leather recipes. We don't own a dehydrator so we planned to use our oven to make the leather and I found the perfect recipe from Baked by Rachel. The recipe is simple only three ingredients but it is nice to have a few key kitchen utensils to help make the baking process simpler. Baking Silpat Mats and an Offset Spatula would be on the top of my list.
We opted to strain the seeds from the blended mixture so this added about 15 minutes to the prep process. I would also advise to spread the strawberry mixture evenly across the silpat as it will affect how the fruit leather bakes. The recipe calls for a bake time of three hours but with our oven temp it ended up taking almost four. Next time I may set it at convection to see if that helps speed along the baking. I was shocked how easily the leather peeled off the silpats and was quickly able to be cut into strips and rolled onto wax paper.
Final verdict: The kids loved the fruit leather and I liked that we were able to use the rest of our berries. Fruit leather is easy but time consuming to make. Depending on how you cut the leather your yield may be a bit discouraging based on the time involvement. I think we will make fruit leather again but maybe not until our next strawberry picking adventure.
