Sunday, April 11, 2010

Strawberry juice runs in my blood!

Today I received a flat of Strawberries for an outrageously low price. They were the biggest, reddest, Californian fresh strawberries sold by Bountiful Baskets!

So after everyone ate as many as they could for breakfast, I started making Jam.

First the freezer jam then the canned stuff. I don't know which one I like better. I like having both. My oldest son helped me make it and thinks he is entitled to eat most of it.


The next day after eating as many more strawberries as we could and having them on french toast we decided that we should make a pie. So we made two! One for the neighbors to thank them for helping me replace the section that flew off the barn this last storm and one for our family.



This strawberry pie making business brought back so many childhood memories. During strawberry season in CA my mothers fingers were always stained red.
It is from the secret ingredient in the strawberry glaze for the pies.

We would make so many pies to earn money for Scout Camp and Jamborees and whatever else the Scouts needed money for. I think we must have made over 500 pies. I didn't make them myself but it sometimes felt like it. Mountains of KFC boxes to fold, stacks of pie shells, huge vats of bubbling red glaze and of course so many flats of strawberries to wash, sort and pluck. It was pie heaven or slave labor, you decide. All done because my mother loved all her Boy Scouts and wanted them all to succeed. I liked it best because my brother would be gone for so long and not around to tease us.

These pies were special because ward members and community members bought them for 3 times the price it was to make them. I think they sold for $8.50. Now days that is nothing. They also didn't last, you either ate them fast or they would get so soggy and the strawberries would turn to rotten mush you had to chuck the whole thing. Never wait till the next day to eat. So all the pies had to be delivered immediately. My mom was really in business.

Looking back it is all like a dream. Did we really spend all that time and effort making strawberry pies? Someone pinch me quick!

2 comments:

bug girl said...

I totally forgot about the fact that we used KFC boxes to deliver the pies. I remember that we bought crusts from KFC...they were such yummy crusts. KFC was so good to us. I bet you couldn't swing that kind of a deal these days. I actually kind of miss those strawberry pie making days, red fingers and all.

kim said...

Your mom helped us do those for some fundraiser in 4th grade, too. I loved those pies!