The "It's Strawberry Season!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  And, it's the most wonderful time of the year, for you see it's strawberry season in the northeastern part of the United States.  Strawberries and peaches are my favorite fruits and they happen to come in back to back seasons during the spring and summer.  

Sign in front of Kreider's Strawberries.

I have already made five shortcakes to go with the couple that my wife has made for me.  My favorite location to buy my fresh strawberries is Kreider's farm in Manheim Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  I wrote a story about the place a few years ago and ever since then they have treated me extremely well.  

The strawberry fields are being picked by workers who
place the results in this antique truck.

I ordered two quarts of "seconds" yesterday and when I went to pick them up they saw who the two boxes were meant for and the owner grabbed a few more of berries and added them to the order.  After picking them up I had to head home and make another shortcake to go with the two quarts of berries.  Most of today's shortcakes are usually either of the biscuit or sponge-cake variety, but earlier American recipes called for pie crust in rounds of broken-up pieces, which was a variety still enjoyed in the 21st century, particularly in the South.  The very first strawberry shortcake appeared in an English cookbook as early as 1588.  

My strawberries await my arrival.

By 1850, strawberry shortcake was a well-known biscuit and fruit dessert served hot with butter and sweetened cream.  In the USA strawberry shortcake parties were held as celebrations of the summer fruit harvest.  This tradition is upheld in some parts of the country on June 14, which is the day designated as Strawberry Shortcake Day.  Japanese-style strawberry shortcakes use a sponge base, and are a popular Christmas treat.  For me, I love making what is known as a Dinette Cake and can be found in the 1961 Betty Crocker's Cookbook.  On Saturday, April 9, 2011 I posted a story about the Dinette Cake and added the recipe from the cookbook on my post.  Check it out if you care to try what I make.  

The Strawberry Shortcake cartoon character.

A couple of other facts about strawberry shortcake are: the average strawberry has 200 seeds, there is a museum in Belgium dedicated solely to the Strawberry, the largest strawberry shortcake ever made was in the town of La Trinidad, Benguet in the Philippines on March 20, 2004 which weighed 21,340 lbs., and if you were a parent of a child in the early 1980s you would know that "Strawberry Shortcake" was a cartoon character originally used in greeting cards and later expanded to include dolls, posters and other products.  Well, I must be going since the buzzer has sounded indicating my shortcake (Dinette cake) is ready to be taken out of the oven.  Another hour and I'll be ready for a big piece of the cake with a couple of spoonfuls of strawberries on it.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.