Over the next few months, I’ll be lucky enough to follow strawberry season north, as we go from Alabama, through New York and Massachusetts, to Vermont, where we’ll look forward to going to the strawberry festival at Cedar Circle Farm in Thetford. Here in Auburn, we had our first local organic strawberries yesterday, from Miles Berry Farm, in Baxley, Georgia. Jack found a Siamese twin:
Kids love strawberries, and for that reason, it’s particularly important to buy the organic ones. Strawberries are at the top of the list of “the dirty dozen”—the fruits and vegetables most likely to be contaminated with pesticide, herbicide, and fungicide residues. Here’s what Cindy Burke writes, in her meticulously researched book To Buy or Not to Buy Organic:
Some organic growers joke that conventionally grown strawberries are so full of chemicals, you could grind them up and use them as pesticide. But pesticides are no laughing matter. Sixty-five different pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides are registered for use on strawberries.
Strawberries are the most chemically intensive crop in California. Most commercial strawberry growers use methyl bromide, a toxic, ozone-depleting chemical, to eradicate all fungus, nematodes, microorganisms, and weeds, effectively killing every living thing in the soil where strawberry plants are grown. For the remaining growth cycle, the berry plants are drip-fed chemical fertilizers. Because methyl bromide can cause poisoning, neurological damage, and reproductive harm, the EPA classifies it as a Toxicity Category I compound, which is a classification reserved for the most deadly substances it regulates.
Nonorganic strawberries are highly likely to contain pesticide residue after harvest. When the Pesticide Data Program releases its annual list of produce samples with residues that exceed tolerance levels, strawberries appear more often than any other fruit or vegetable. (84-5)
Wow!
Perhaps the best way to enjoy (organic!) strawberries is just to bite into them and slurp up the juice. During rhubarb season, clearly, it’s pie time. When I visited Spain in high school, the three sisters in my host family ate strawberries and cream for dessert every day.
But strawberries can be delicious additions to savory fare as well. A classic salad consists of arugula tossed with goat cheese, strawberries, and a tangy vinaigrette. A surprising appetizer can be made with a variation on this theme. Here’s a little recipe:
Toast thin slices of baguette and drizzle a few drops of olive oil on them.
Spread goat cheese on the slices.
Top with thin slices of strawberry and a few leaves of rosemary.
When I make this later today, aside from the bread and olive oil, everything will be local. I’ll use my Georgia berries, goat cheese from Fromagerie Belle Chèvre in Elkmont, Alabama (217 miles away), and the rosemary Jack and I planted out back.
The Roving Locavore 
Wow, local berries and goat cheese– could it get any better?! Can’t wait for your next post, Amy!
Ooo, I was lamenting the fact that it felt like we’d jumped right into summer, but that description of the strawberries and goat cheese makes me think of all the excellent local summer dinners. (It might sound odd, but I also like balsamic vinegar on strawberries)
balsamic on strawberries is classic!
One additional comment on the dirty-dozen list. It only takes into account the chemical exposure risk to the people who are eating the produce. For those who are easing in to an organic diet on a budget (and predominantly interested in reducing their chemical exposure) it can make sense to focus on the dirty dozen list, but for everything grown that isn’t on the dirty dozen list there are still enormous chemical effects to all the non-human organisms. If you can, it makes sense to try to buy as many things as possible produced organically (although the certified label only really applies to food, “organic” body products are mostly bogus since they can claim that with a minimal organic component).
As an aside for those who think they don’t have the budget to buy mostly organic items, simply limiting eating out will free up a considerable amount of money. The extra couple of cents or even dollars you pay for the organic raw produce/grains/meat/dairy is nothing compared to the fees at restaurants.
So true, Matt. Eating locally, or organically, is quite the opposite of narrowing your scope ; it’s a way to take into account the whole systems in food production and consumption.