free trailside snack: strawberries, u-pick, Mt St Helens Blast Zone

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Chip Down
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free trailside snack: strawberries, u-pick, Mt St Helens Blast Zone

Post by Chip Down » July 12th, 2020, 3:48 pm

If you told me you saw strawberries growing in the Mt St Helens blast zone last week, I would have said you're crazy or dishonest. So I understand your skepticism. But I swear I saw them yesterday, and they were fantastic. Sweet, juicy, tender. Not like those styrofoam strawberries that come from California or Mexico. Only downside is they were small, so hard to spot. And soft, so soft they were hard to pick. Oh, and I saw ferns too. Ferns in a desolate volcanic wasteland! The world's going crazy!
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walrus
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Re: free trailside snack: strawberries, u-pick, Mt St Helens Blast Zone

Post by walrus » July 12th, 2020, 7:46 pm

Only able to find one ripe one on Tuesday, but it was such a delight.

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Bosterson
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Re: free trailside snack: strawberries, u-pick, Mt St Helens Blast Zone

Post by Bosterson » July 12th, 2020, 7:51 pm

Oooh nice. I found some out there a couple weeks ago, but not clusters as big as those. Wild alpine strawberries are so tiny and delicious!
Chip Down wrote:
July 12th, 2020, 3:48 pm
Not like those styrofoam strawberries that come from California or Mexico.
You realize they have to pick them unripe to ship them up here, right? That's why the centers are white - they were picked too soon and "ripened" in the box. Same reason the tomatoes you get in a store are mealy and taste like nothing.
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adamschneider
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Re: free trailside snack: strawberries, u-pick, Mt St Helens Blast Zone

Post by adamschneider » July 12th, 2020, 9:42 pm

Bosterson wrote:
July 12th, 2020, 7:51 pm
You realize they have to pick them unripe to ship them up here, right? That's why the centers are white - they were picked too soon and "ripened" in the box. Same reason the tomatoes you get in a store are mealy and taste like nothing.
It's not just that they're unripe; they actually have to breed varieties that are tough enough to be shipped all over the world. I once read an interview with a Driscoll's exec who admitted that there are much better raspberry varieties out there, but they just don't travel well.

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Bosterson
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Re: free trailside snack: strawberries, u-pick, Mt St Helens Blast Zone

Post by Bosterson » July 13th, 2020, 7:43 am

adamschneider wrote:
July 12th, 2020, 9:42 pm

It's not just that they're unripe; they actually have to breed varieties that are tough enough to be shipped all over the world.
I wasn't even trying to get into cultivars, but yeah - imagine a plastic box of Hoods shipped somewhere. (They'd be goo.)

Next thing, you're going to tell me there's a better apple than the red delicious, or a better banana than the Cavendish... :lol:
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wildcat
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Re: free trailside snack: strawberries, u-pick, Mt St Helens Blast Zone

Post by wildcat » October 21st, 2021, 6:52 pm

Yes, I encountered many wild strawberries on last year's accidental scramble across the lava boulder fields between the Swift Creek and June lake trails with the dude from work (a couple weeks or so after this thread was started). I even found a few where we were camped last time this summer but only a few, I guess because this summer was drier than last (but then, the snow on the south side lingered much longer, at least it seemed to when observed from east Vancouver). They're little flavor bombs.

At at least a couple of the Vancouver Shari's restaurants, years ago, they use(d?) them as ground covering in the raised beds around the buildings. I don't know if they still do since I haven't been to one in ages but I used to see them growing out there. Never did get up the courage to taste one, are you kidding? Who knows what sort of chemicals those beds were treated with.
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