You-Pick Berry Recipes

Prepare plentiful meals and treats with your berries

You picked a healthy bounty of berries at your favorite you-pick farm. Now what do you do with all of them? To avoid wasting your hard-earned harvest, here are a few recipes and ideas to enjoy Portland berry season.

For this post, I am focusing on strawberries. Besides the strawberry rhubarb pie recipe, all the other recipes can be swapped for your favorite you-pick berry. If you’re looking for a farm to harvest your bounty of fruit, check out our list of you-pick farms nearby.

Do I claim to be a professional cook? Of course not. These are a few of my favorite you-pick berry recipes to help you enjoy your summer harvest to the fullest.

Tips for berry picking:

• Don’t over pick. When you get home, there will be quite a bit of washing and removing stems. Be sure to pick the amount you need to ensure you do not waste your harvest.
• Before you visit, check the farm’s website and social media page(s) for up-to-date information on what fruits and vegetables are in season.
• Save money by packing your own berry basket or box for picking.
• You are going to a farm so be prepared with the right clothes for the job.
• Go early to beat the crowd. Check the farm’s website for hours.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

What you’ll need:

• 2 cups rhubarb sliced 1/2 in. thick (about 5 large stalks)
• 2 cups strawberries halved or quartered (depending on berry size)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1, 9-inch double crust pie dough
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp butter, cut into small cubes
• 1 egg yolk (plus 1 tsp water)
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 2, 2-inch sheets of tin foil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, mix rhubarb, strawberries, sugar and flour. Let sit for 15 minutes or until ingredients are absorbed. Once set, stir in cinnamon, vanilla and salt. Pour mixture into pie crust. Dot top with butter cubes. Cover with top crust (I like a lattice top on mine).  Seal crust edges. Brush egg yolk onto top crust, then sprinkle with sugar. If top crust is a solid sheet of dough, be sure to cut slits for steam to escape. Place the tin foil around the edges of the crust. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove tin foil and bake another 10 minutes.

Freezing Berries

What you’ll need:

• Clean berries
• Plastic freezer bags

After you have washed and removed stems, place your berries on a baking sheet to dry. Once they have dried, scoop them in freezer bags. Frozen berries can be used for jam, pies, salads, smoothies, etc.

Tip: Write the date on your freezer bags. Your frozen fruit should last up to 9 months. 

Strawberry Jam

What you’ll need:

• 8 cups of strawberries, quartered
• 3 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 6, 8 oz canning jars with lids and seals

Make sure your canning jars, lids and seals are clean. Place seals and lids into a medium sauce pan with water. place on stove at medium low heat. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Put canning jars on baking sheet in a shallow pool of water. Place in oven. Put a plate in the refrigerator for later.

In a large pot, smash strawberries with a potato masher or immersion blender. I prefer mine chunkier, so I use a potato masher. Add sugar and lemon juice. Stir well.

Place pot on stove and bring mixture to a boil, stirring frequently. Boiling for 15 minutes. Take plate from the refrigerator and place a small amount of jam on the plate. Return to fridge for two minutes. If the jam is still runny on the plate, it is not ready. If it has thickened on the plate, remove the pot from the stove. This process can take up to 25 minutes of boiling.

Once the jam is thickened, remove the jars from the oven and the tops from the stove. Place a covered pot filled halfway with water on the stove and bring to a boil.

Put jam into each jar using a canning funnel. Fill to 1/4 inch from the top of the jar. Once all the jars are filled, wipe the rim and ridges with a damp paper towel. Put on the lid and screw seal down the seal to finger tight (do not seal tightly).

Once your pot with water has come to a boil, put in your jam-filled jars. Make sure water is 1 to 2 inches above the jars. Boil for 12 minutes, then turn off heat and let jars sit in water for 5 minutes. Remove jars and place on a towel. Repeat process for all remaining jars.

Leave jars on towel for at least 12 hours. Then tighten the seal. Do the push test on the center of each jar to make sure it is sealed. If a jar doesn’t seal, put it is the fridge to enjoy. Store the rest in your pantry for up to a year.

Tip: I label all of my jam before I put it away with the type and date.  

Pre-made Smoothies

What you’ll need:

• 1/2 cup clean berries (fresh or frozen)
• 1 banana
• 1 scoop of protein powder
• 1/2-1 cup almond milk (depending on your desired thickness)
• 1 box of small freezer bags

Place berries and banana into a small freezer bag. Put in freezer until you are ready to make your smoothie. Add fruit, protein powder and almond milk into a blender. Blend and enjoy!

Tip: Plan ahead for a week’s worth of smoothies by picking at least 3 1/2 cups of berries and buying 7 bananas.

You may also like:

You-Pick Farms In and Around Portland

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What’s your favorite you-pick berry recipe? Share in the comments section below!