Canning with Mehu-Liisa

After my enjoyable bike ride through the West Eugene Wetlands, I headed up Royal Avenue toward Fern Ridge Reservoir on my way to Green Hill Aire Blueberry Farm. There was a large down-homey sign on the corner with an Oregon Blueberry Growers Association banner on it pointing the way to the orchard.

They have a nice setup with white buckets that they insert a blue plastic bag into for ease of transfer. They sell by the bucket load instead of by weight so that they don’t need a certified scale. Each bucket weighed about 6.5 lbs.

I enjoyed the visit as the blueberries are planted on the slope of a pleasant pasture covered hill. The bushes were bursting and the berries sweet and rich flavored. It is the closest u-pick blueberry site to Eugene so it was very busy. There was a nice community feeling to the visit with lots of families with kids (teens even!) chatting and picking and laughing.

Here is the rightfully happy and satisfied farmer (i believe his name is Stan Hunsdon) with his wife at the check out stand. They were quite friendly and we had a lengthy discussion of digital cameras. We’ll be back next year for sure.

TIP:

If you have a lot of fruit coming on, especially berries and soft stone fruit, and not enough time to juice it all, put the produce in gallon freezer bags and place in the freezer till you have more time. Then juice the berries frozen. There is minimal difference in results (a bit more pulp perhaps) and you don’t waste any precious fruit.

Take Care

Daniel

I went out to J & M Strawberry fields (part of J&M Farm 541-747-0065) to u-pick midweek. They are located out Seavey Loop near Mt. Pisgah Arboretum and Buford Park along the Coast Fork of the Willamette River.

I have driven by this farm many times on my way to the Arboretum to hike or swim. This is the first time I have stopped to pick their berries. I believe they grow and process peppermint for oil and alfalfa as well.

I believe this is the processing shed for the pepper mint oil (on the L). Beautiful field of alfalfa being mowed for bailing.

They have a pleasant little sales and field processing area to the north of the beds. Every thing was on wheels or skids so they could be moved along as the picking progressed through the field. There was a beautiful cottonwood towering over the beds to the east toward the river. I love these trees and their “snow” of seeds with cottony tufts.

The strawberry beds are raised a good 6-8 inches high and the paths between are sown to Fescue. This makes for very comfortable picking as the plants are higher and the grass pads the knees when kneeling. The variety was Shuksan and they were doing their 3rd pass through the field. Even so, I had no problem picking 3 buckets (about 18lbs.) in no time. The folks tending the sales area were very pleasant and helpful. They use a very efficient colored flag system for managing the beds. I really appreciate this technique as it assures good picking for all and higher yields for the farmer. So, be sure to follow your farmer’s instructions so that everyone gets good picking.

I put most of these berries in the freezer and made shortcake for dessert that evening. I went back on the weekend with my youngest son Aodan and my wife Patricia. Even though the plants were on their last legs, they still had quite a few good berries left on them. The folks at the farm dropped the price $1 a bucket and we went away with 3 buckets and 1/2 a flat already picked. I highly recommend this u-pick farm.
Mehu-Liisa Tip:

I juiced most of these berries.No need to hull! Just rinse and juice.
One full basket yielded 5 quarts of super dark thick luscious juice. The juice is so thick that it takes thinning up to 50/50 with water or seltzer. We had strawberry juice with seltzer for dinner. The kids love it.

During juicing I added about 2 cups of sugar in two layers of berries (1 cup each) to the fruit in the basket. This resulted in a relatively sweet juice. I might use less next time. Processing time was about 35-40 minutes. Short and sweet.
That’s it for now. Next will be cherries no doubt.

Take Care ’til next time.

Daniel

We went strawberry picking Monday with our boys at a local farm along the Willamette river. Beautiful country down in Creswell OR rolling hills on either side of the river. Nice fertile bottom land, perfect for market farming. Along the way we saw turkey vultures, great blue herons, and other water fowl along the waterways and sloughs. Hansen’s Coast Fork Farm has a great setup for strawberry u-pick. We picked in the no-spray field, they also have an organic field that wasn’t ready for picking.

It has been a cool, drizzly last few weeks after an unseasonably warm and dry spring. The berries were small but good flavored. Lots of misshapen ones that my boys named: mitten, purse, and boxing glove berries. The field is very well cared for with obvious cultivation keeping the ground clear between rows. Lots of prickers and low thistle plants that kept things interesting!

The boys both fussed about getting up (at 9:30!) and to the field before noon. Ciaran said he didn’t like strawberry picking but preferred cherry and blueberry picking. Aodan agreed. We got them in the car, fed them some yogurt and hauled them down to the farm with us. They are the ones who eat the most frozen strawberries during the year so they need to earn their keep.

Ciaran and Mama heading out into the field. Ciaran is trying to look grumpy. They have a nice kiosk set up for check in and check out. All in all a well run, tidy field. While we were picking I chatted briefly with a woman who was working hard filling 2 buckets by herself. She said it was hard work for an old lady like her but that she loved coming to u-pick because she gets to enjoy everyone’s kids. One of the many pleasures of u-pick.
We got the berries home and soaked the dirt off of them (lots of dirt due to the recent rain), hulled them and put 10 quarts in the freezer. We will definitely head out again to get more strawberries as the boys love to make smoothies out of them all year. I make jam and strawberry sauce as well. I think last year we had about 50 quarts.

Mehu-Liisa tip: Remember that you can put frozen berries on top of fresh fruit that you juice later in the year to make wonderful flavor combinations. Apple, peach, and pear go well with berries mixed in. White grapes are also a good base fruit for combination juices.

Take care ’til next time.

Daniel

We have been out to our favorite cherry and blueberry farms this past week or so. The cherries were Queen Anne varieties. Beautiful and flavorful but not too abundant due to some challenging spring weather. The dark sweet cherries were very minimal and were picked out before we got back from our summer vacation on the Oregon Coast last week. Oh, well. That means they will taste that much better next year!

Blueberries seem to have come on well. We did our first pick yesterday at Bear Fruit (541-995-3445, 521-7721) in Harrisburg. Not at their peak yet but still were able to pick about 20 lbs in short time. It was a beautiful evening with a slight breeze (we got there a bit late but they graciously allowed us to pick as long as we needed). A bull frog was GUNKin’ in the irrigation pond and a small green heron was fishing in a slough.

   
We will freeze this lot and get another for our cherished Blueberry jam later this week. I will also get a bunch for juicing and syrup making. Blueberries are easy to freeze. Place them on a cookie sheet and freeze flat for a while then place frozen berries in freezer bags. Easy to add to muffins and pancakes later in the year!

Blueberries shouldn’t be washed (unless they were sprayed) before processing as they have special qualities that may be lost with washing. They are known for exceptional health benefits.

Mehu-Liisa Tip:

I will process a batch of Blueberries for about 50% of the regular time. At that point I drain the juice into jars and cap them. The pulp left in the colander (fruit basket) is then run through a foley food mill into a heavy bottomed sauce pan. I then process for Blueberry fruit spread using Pomona Pectin. If necessary, to correct the consistency or to increase the amount, I will add some of the fresh juice I have just drawn off.

You can also process the usual amount of time, foley mill the pulp at that point and add juice as above (you will have to add more juice at this point to get that great Blueberry flavor). Or, compost the left over pulp and make beautiful clear jelly with the juice using the Pomona Pectin.

Both of these methods work for cherries as well.

Take care and as always give a ring if you have any questions. 800-450-6081

Daniel

Strawberries are late this year in the Willamette Valley around Eugene, OR. For that matter, so are all the other berries and stone fruits. We have been enjoying hot, sunny mornings u-picking strawberries at various farms along the Willamette: Bear Fruit in Harrisburg; Hansen’s fruit farm in Creswell; Still Point Farm in Veneta. Berries have been from good to better quality. Still, none of those exquisite, dark hyper-strawberry flavored gems that one can find every few years when the combination of moisture and heat has been just right.

We have picked enough berries to freeze 30 quarts, jam 30 cups and make several pies, galettes and shortcakes. This will allow approx. 2 ½ quarts of frozen berries and 2 ½ cups of jam to be consumed every month until next berry season. I think for our family that is enough. Especially when I add in all the other fruits we will be processing. I try not to overdue the amount I put up so that nothing goes unused. Still, I try to factor in extras for gifts. There’s nothing like giving some tasty result of your labors to a friend or relative so they can, as Greg Brown says, “taste a little bit of the summer…”.

Also, prices have not been bad…very affordable in fact, even organic. No artificially inflated food prices when you buy local and support local agriculture.

Mehu-Liisa Tips:

1.) Freezing berries for later juicing:

I like to freeze strawberries and other small, fragile berries (raspberries, gooseberries, currants,etc.) for later juicing with other fruit. I will toss a quart or two of these frozen berries on top of the primary fruit during processing (peaches, pears, apples, white grapes, etc.). There is no need to defrost the berries. It is best to place them on top so they thaw slowly and drain through the other fruit giving a good blending of flavors.

2.) Juicing strawberries

Strawberry juice is very thick and silky. It is lower in sugar than when fresh and can be sweetened during processing by adding your choice of sweetener to the fruit in the basket prior to steaming. Although strawberries are very juicy, it takes quite a few berries to produce enough juice for consumption. For this reason, I like to use the juice as a base for other products:

a.) Jelly is easily made from strawberry juice and can be made in small batches throughout the year if you want to cut down on processing time. I use Pomona low-methoxyl citrus pectin when I make jams and jellies. With Pomona you can make the jam/jelly as sweet as you prefer (including no sugar) as the setting process is not dependent on sugar. For jelly making, I suggest not sweetening the fruit in the basket before processing but rather to sweeten when you make the jelly.

b.) Syrup (a flavored simple syrup actually) can be made from the juice by adding sugar in a 1:1 ratio and bringing briefly to a boil to dissolve sugar. Do not overboil or the syrup will crystalize. Let this cool, then bottle and store in fridge. This can then be added to seltzer water for a very refreshing drink. This syrup can be used in mixed drinks as well (alcohol).

Well, I hope folks are getting out and enjoying the start of the season. As always please let me know if you have any questions regarding the juicer and its uses: 800-450-6081

Take Care and Good Juicing

Daniel