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Some Juicy Gossip: Strawberry Season in On in Full
- Bob Benenson
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Its Peak Time Can Be Short, So Do Some Gorgeous Gorging Now
As you'll see in the photo of my Saturday haul from The Lincoln Park Farmers Market, there is so much (truly) beautiful produce already flowing in from Chicago region farms. But the story of the day is on the table in the photo above.
After some fits and starts, the local strawberry season is on in full. The public service announcement is that the length of strawberry season is unpredictable, as these fragile fruits can be undone by unseasonably hot temperatures, heavy rain and other environmental factors. So get out to the markets while the getting's good.
There were at least a couple of vendors who had strawberries at the market. But while I was doing my initial walkabout, I overheard a conversation about Noffke Family Farms of Coloma, Michigan — a longtime pillar of the Chicago farmers market community — includes a number of folks who studied agriculture at Michigan State University... my alma mater.
So making my berries purchase there was a no-brainer. Did you know that when the school was started as Michigan Agricultural College in 1855, it served as the model for the Morrill Act that in 1862 established the land-grant college system? The school was renamed Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science in 1925, and then, during its post World War II boom, became Michigan State University in its 100th anniversary year of 1955.
Now, please notice the round green container on the lower left in the photo. It's mine and its time for one of my helpful reminders on how to keep your fragile produce perfect on your way home. When I know I'm going to be buying items that can be easily bruised or crushed, I bring hard-sided containers to protect them in transit.
True farmers market geekiness, but you'll be glad you did.
Here's my May 31 haul from The Lincoln Park Farmers Market.
From left, sour dill pickles from Pickled Prince (Chicago); hothouse heirloom tomatoes, big spring onions and asparagus from Los Rodriguez Farm (Eau Claire, Michigan), mixed spicy microgreens from Meraki Urban Farm (Chicago), and those strawberries from Noffke Family Farms.
