Tips for buying seasonal strawberries

We have strawberries available to us all year around because of the mild winter conditions around Watsonville, Oxnard and Santa Maria.

Those three areas supply about 90% of the U.S. market for fresh berries, and they also sell to markets in Canada, Mexico, Japan and Hong Kong. Our California growers plant about 28,000 acres with young, bare-root strawberry plants in the fall that provide berries for the winter, spring and summer seasons. They make another planting of about 6,000 acres in those three regions in summer to grow berries for the fall season.

Many of the varieties for fall planting are day-neutral and short-day varieties that keep fruiting despite the low light levels of the cold months, but there are also varieties that will produce heavily in the warm times next spring and summer. They include the Monterey, San Andreas, Fronteras and Cabrillo varieties, among others produced by breeding programs at University of California campuses around our state.

Now in March we’re heading into the spring season of berries planted last fall, the soil is warming up, the days are getting longer and the berries are getting sweeter and more fragrant.

Once again though, strawberries top the Environmental Working Group’s list of conventionally-grown foods most contaminated by pesticides (The Dirty Dozen), due mostly to soil fumigants, since strawberry plants are very susceptible to soil-borne diseases as well as insects that like a sweet berry as much as we do. You may decide to pay a little more for organic strawberries, grown without toxic chemicals.

As warm weather returns, strawberries will show up in farmers markets. If the seller is the grower, he or she will know the name of the variety they’re selling. If the seller is just a vendor who bought flats from a farmer, he or she may or may not know the variety. Varieties vary in taste and overall quality. It would be good if our better markets like Oliver’s, Pacific Markets, Sonoma Market and Whole Foods would list strawberries by their variety names (hint, hint).

Here’s a rundown of some of the varieties to look for:

• Albion — These berries have a rich red color inside and out and are known for their consistent sweetness. They are a high-yielding variety, too.

• Aroma — The berries are large and firm with bright color and good flavor.

• Chandler — Probably the best-tasting commercial berry you can grow in California. Look for it in farmers markets or choose to grow it in pots at home.

• Diamante — Big, firm berries with an excellent sweet flavor, making them a good choice for making chocolate-covered strawberries.

• Earliglow — Buy this one if you can find it. They are widely planted in the mid-Atlantic states and Midwest but can be grown here, too. They are medium-sized and bursting with flavor and sugar.

• Hood — They have a short season of just a few weeks in June but such fine flavor they are the standard for making strawberry ice cream in the Pacific Northwest, and that includes northern California.

• Seascape — A standard at roadside stands and farmers markets. Not overly sweet, but full-flavored. They produce a spring and fall crop.

• Ventana — Developed in California, so you know it does well here. It has excellent quality, large size and is a June bearer. Excellent choice for freezing.

To have really good blintzes, you need a good crepe pan. One serving is two blintzes. If you have any left over, consider yourself lucky and freeze the leftovers for another day. Prepare the filling and have it ready before you make the first blintz. And have the sliced strawberries and sour cream ready, too.

Cheese Blintzes with Strawberries and Sour Cream

Makes 6 servings (12 blintzes)

For the blintzes:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole milk

3 large eggs

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Pinch of salt

For the filling:

1 pound small-curd cottage cheese, drained in a sieve for 1 hour before using

3 ounces cream cheese

2 eggs

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon sea salt

Grated zest of ½ orange, preferably organic

For the blintzes: Combine all the ingredients in a blender or whisk by hand until the batter is very smooth, with no lumps. Pour it into a pitcher or measuring cup with a pour lip. Cover and let rest on the counter for 30 minutes.

Place the crepe pan over medium heat and add ½ teaspoon butter. When the butter is melted and covers the bottom of the pan, and after the bubbles subside but before the butter smokes, add 3 tablespoons of the batter, remove the pan from the heat, tilt it and rotate it so the batter covers the buttered bottom and return it to the heat for a minute or a minute and a half. Don’t flip the blintz. The top should be unbrowned but dry. Peek under an edge of the blintz to make sure the bottom is golden brown.

Cover a plate with wax or parchment paper. Gently lift the blintz from the pan and place on the paper. Then cover it with another piece of the paper. Repeat until you have made 12 blintzes, each about 7½ inches in diameter.

For the filling: Combine all the ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth. Transfer the filling to a bowl.

Spoon 3 tablespoons of the filling into the center of each blintz. Fold the left and right sides over about a third of the diameter, then fold up the bottom the same distance. Then roll up the blintz to make a log.

Set a large skillet over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon canola oil.

When the butter has melted and the bubbles have subsided and the pan is coated, add the blintzes, seam side down, and cook, turning once, until both sides are golden brown, about 3 minutes on a side. When done, transfer the blintzes to a paper towel to drain.

Set two blintzes on a warmed plate for each person and nuzzle 2 to 3 tablespoons of sliced strawberries and a heaping tablespoon of sour cream next to the blintzes. Serve immediately. (Freeze the unbrowned blintzes if any are left over and thaw them overnight in the fridge when used later.)

Jeff Cox is a Kenwood-based food and garden writer. Reach him at jeffcox@sonic.net.