Strawberries and Calamondins

What I'm Planting - Strawberries

There's a farm near my home that has pick your own strawberries around this time of year, and the berries are amazing.  They grow them as annuals, planting in the fall every year for a spring crop.  Even though they are a perennial, strawberry plants usually can't make it through the Houston summers.

I have a great area for strawberry plants.  The berry bed directly behind my garage stays shaded a good portion of the year and so my strawberry plants always make it through the heat of summer - most unusual here in Houston.  They don't bear heavily (and they bear at a different time of year than those from Froberg's Farm), but they do produce delicious berries every year for me, and they are perennial.  I've tried buying more expensive potted plants from nicer nurseries, and I've tried varieties that are supposed to be particularly good in the south, but the ones that always do the best from me are the cheap starts you can get at the big box stores for $4 for 10 plants.  After my garden clean up, I realized I had extra space in my berry bed, so I bought another pack to stick in around the blackberry brambles.

Sequoia Strawberries from Lowes

Berry Bed

The biggest problem I have with my strawberries is that other critters get to them before me.  The birds love them, and somehow I don't mind sharing so much with them.  The pill bugs drive me crazy though.  I'll think that I somehow made it to a berry before the birds only to find that's it's been eaten hollow from the underside.  I think I'm going to try putting down some diatomaceous earth around them this year and see if it helps.

They don't look like much after being planted.

What I'm Eating - Calamondins

I love these fantastic little fruits.  Their flavor is bright and vibrant, but very sour.  They make a great addition to drinks and salsa, and they work well in most recipes that call for lemon or lime.  I love them in beer.

Today I decided to try making an "orangeade" out of them.  I've made a limeade before that used the whole lime, peel and all.  Calamondins have a super thin skin with next to no pith, so I thought that might work well for them also.  They are seedy, though, so I sliced them in half to remove the seeds.

Then I blended them up with 1/3 cup of granulated sugar, 1/4 cup honey, and 6 cups water.

The end result was a little bitter.  I tried filtering out the pulp, which helped a little since it contained most of the bits of skin.  It has a bit of a kick, which really wasn't what I was going for, but it's not bad.  I added a few slices of fresh ginger to infuse the juice - I think the bite of the ginger will work well with the bitter kick of the juice.  We'll see.  My kids won't like it.  Next time I'll definitely peel the calamondins first.