Just like over the last few years, it is that season again, though it is a little earlier in the year than it has been in previous years. The berry-picking season for strawberries has already come and gone far earlier than normal, and now, the raspberries are out and about and that is what we went after.
32 containers/ 8.5 kg = €66
Plus whatever we ate as we picked.
That is a bargain and it is always a bit of fun to do it as a family each year and this time, Smallsteps was smashing it. She was far more capable this year and was filling as fast as her parents, though she had an advantage - she didn't eat as many as us.
These will likely last us at least through the winter and perhaps even all the way until next season, as we did about the same amount last year and we still have two small containers left - which we just found in our chest freezer, otherwise they probably would have been eaten in the last few weeks too.
The raspberries are incredibly sweet, but once they are frozen they become much more tart, so we sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar into the box before freezing. Though of course, for the next couple days we have a few boxes that we can have fresh, and right after I finish writing this, we will drop a couple boxes to my in-laws so they can enjoy some of them too, since they are too old to go picking themselves these days.
There are these kinds of farms all over Finland that people take advantage of, and of course they sell their produce in stores and marketplaces also. This time of year there is a lot of fantastic berries that have taken advantage of the very short growing season and the long days to become super sweet. In August and September, the bilberries (wild blueberries) will be in season too, and we will likely grab a few of those as we walk around the forest, but not enough to store. However, they are always easy and cheap to get from the store all year round.
For now though porridge, yoghurt or ice cream in our house won't suffer being berry-less for a while.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]