Strawberry Picking

Picking Strawberries | June 20, 2020

We've never picked strawberries before. In Germany we are in the peak of strawberry season. There are strawberry fields all over Germany. I read there were many strawberry fields near Kassel. The goal today was to get to Kassel, but on the way there we seen a strawberry stand. We just had to pull over the side of the road.

Before I get into the story, Germany is one of the strictest countries in the EU about using chemicals for farming. The EU in general is strict on the use of GMOs to enhance farming crops. German law also states that when using fertilizer, the farmer must follow strict guidelines under a Plant Protection Law. Not only that if the farmer uses a fertilizer that meets the guideline, they must also pay a fee for using the fertilizer on the crops and it also gets documented when the crop sells to retailers. German transparency is crazy ridiculous.

When we first arrived in Germany, we realized that the produce quickly goes bad. Part of the problem is that I don't understand how to properly handle the product for preservation. Of course we didn't need to in America especially Hawaii because the produce last for a long time due to the amount of chemicals farmer's use in the states. This is definitely not the case in Germany where produce might only last a day. It is like everything ages like a banana. Even the potatoes don't last as long as it should.

One benefit is that we know we are getting things fresh here and that is a good thing. We probably are getting real nutrients and not fake nutrients.

Jared didn't want to pick strawberries so Michelle, Malia, and I went into the fields to pick strawberries. For me, picking strawberries was an experience. It was harder than I thought. The plant is low to the ground and the leaves cover the strawberries. The difficult part is to find the ripe strawberries. Some strawberries touch the dirt exposing it to insects. Some strawberries are easily bruised or moldy. What made things more difficult was that we only had a bag. Using a bag is not the smartest thing to do while picking strawberries. A long flat bucket is probably the best thing or maybe even a picnic basket. Having the strawberries in a bag is a bad idea, the strawberries smash each other because they are bunched up and it squeezes the juice out. The best thing to do is have the strawberries air out so it can lose some moisture. Too much moisture and the strawberry tends to bleed.

We were able to harvest about 8 pounds of prime crème de la crème strawberries. The strawberries taste so good. The bad thing was that we went to Kassel, we had to leave the strawberries in the car. I left the window slightly open so the strawberries could air out. That worked a little bit, but we lost some strawberries in the process.

In the end these strawberries died out quickly. The best experience was to eat a strawberry right after it was picked. It was so ono.