Harvest Berries
I've had mixed results with my own crops. The strawberries were a raging success, as where some of the exotic hybrids. The blueberries and others were a complete disaster. Besides, the birds and other wildlife got to some of the other fruits before I could.
Not to worry, there are these farms in England (and elsewhere I'm sure) that allow people to come harvest their crops for a fee. No I don't mean picking crops for money (like a job). Effectively you are harvesting crops directly from a farm, rather than buying the crops at a supermarket. You pay an entry fee, and you get a fixed time and some kind of quota based on how much you pay. It varies from farm to farm, but that's the general idea.
It's kind of genius when you think about it. The farmer doesn't have to worry about harvesting, preserving, packing and transporting to a point of sale. Everyone wins.
Yours truly grabbed some berries, spinach and courgettes. The courgettes were the largest I'd ever seen. I'll post about that some other time. I've eaten on of them on the day to experience it at it's freshest, and my oh my, there's a big difference!
Talking about taste, I've said this before and I'll say it again. You haven't tasted good fruit until you've eaten it directly off the plant, or within an hour of it being plucked.
The berries tasted like heaven, simply put. Raspberries are my least favourite berries since they often disappoint, but goodness me, these ones tasted amazing. The strawberries were outstanding as expected. They still had the tangy taste that gets lost over time on the supermarket shelves. The blackberries were near perfection but the surprising winners were the redcurrants!
I couldn't eat them all on the same day so I froze some of them to preserve the freshness. I know they will never taste as good as they did on the first day. They were basically my snack throughout the day while sat at my desk working. I've also blended some into paste and made some ice lollies for tomorrow's heatwave (gotta be prepared people, gotta be prepared).
I did eat a lot yesterday, probably way more than I should. Fruits are high in sugar after all. At least berries are the most nutritious of the fruits and they're good for the immune system ;)
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The perfect food
Did you know that berries are good for the brain? They're also great for managing some chronic diseases like diabetes. They are high in fibre, so they help your gut do it's thing too. They are some of the healthiest foods we can eat, since they were designed by nature for us to pluck and eat just the way they are. Millions of years of tweaking means they are pretty much the perfect food for us - in moderation of course.
Check out this article about "9 Amazing Health Benefits Of Berries".
Peace & Love,
Adé