8 Tips on Strawberry Picking in Perth (and What to Do with All Those Strawberries)

I went strawberry picking on the weekend. There's not a lot of Pick-Your-Own (PYO) farms here in Perth, which makes me all the more excited when strawberry picking season finally arrived. The season starts in September and ends sometime in November/December. I'd keep an eye on the farm's facebook page, they update it pretty regularly during the picking season. 

The farm I went to is called Ti Strawberry Farm in Bullsbrook, about 40 minutes drive North of Perth. Most of the strawberry varietal grown here is the Camarosa, but they do have a mixture of different types of variety.

The day I went was a cloudy breezy day, which helped a lot. When the clouds moved and the sun was bearing down, it was unbelievably hot. I had a lot of fun, but it can also be hard work. Here's a few handy tips that might help when you go off to do your own picking.

---- UPDATE 2017 IN GREEN ----

Tip no. 1 Check the weather. Go earlier during the day when the weather is still relatively cool.

There's plenty of verge parking. Drive slowly when you get there as there are a lot of kids running around. Though there were a lot of people when we were there at 11am, the crowd thinned out considerably at noon, maybe because of the heat, maybe because a lot came earlier in the morning?

Tip no. 2 Check the school holiday weeks, if you want to avoid the crowd.

You can buy the tray for the strawberries from the makeshift tent, located inside the gate. One tray can hold about 5 kg, and if you're ambitious 6 kg. There are two lovely ladies manning the counter. A tray costs $10, which includes 1 admission fee. Extra admission would be $2 per person (applies to kids as well as adults), with a maximum of 5 people per tray. If there are 6 of you, you have to buy another tray.

When I went in 2017, a tray now costs $10 on its own, and the entrance for every person is $2.

1 tray + 1 person = $10 + $2 = $12

1 tray + 2 people = $14

1 tray + 3 people = $16

etc....

I must admit the price keeps increasing every year. I may consider giving this other farm a try next year, their price is $7 per tray, $12 for 2 trays, with no entrance fee.

Apparently there didn't use to be a toilet in the premises, I don't know what people had to do when they really needed to go. Fear not, this year, they have two portaloos installed on site. I haven't tried using them myself, but you probably won't be picky with cleanliness if you really needed to go.

There was also a coffee truck parked at the premises when I arrived at 11am. I am supposing it's for those who were there in the morning. The truck disappeared by 2pm when I left.

This year they have an on-site kiosk that sells smoothies and ice creams.

Tip no. 3 Wear proper attire and sun protection.

I myself wore a very stylish print long pants (a style I call "ajumma farm fashion"), long sleeve shirt, wide brimmed hat and my trusted Hunter wellington boots. If you aren't in possession of a pair of wellies, I recommend a pair of your dirtiest sneakers. The farm is very sandy and your clothes and shoes will have sand all over and inside out, so don't wear your best clothes. I also brought with me a small hand towel to wipe my face when I'm sweating. It's also a good idea to bring some fly nets with you, they can be atrocious.

I see that some people are wearing singlets, shorts and sandals. Unless you're intending to get a tan going, I would highly not recommend it.

The first half hour of picking, I didn't really do much picking. I was busy taking pictures of all the cute strawberries. There are green and pink and red ones. There are even sun-dried ones!

I can hear bees (and flies) buzzing around me. But I didn't manage to take a picture of one.

Tip no. 4 If you're allergic to pollen, drink an antihistamine tablet before you go. You'll thank me for it.

I have a soft spot for the "ugly" ones. Ones that don't necessarily look textbook. If they're red and ripe, I didn't hesitate to pick them. They're like the kids that always get picked last at the playground and if I don't pick them no one would. This one, though cute as it might be, is not quite ripe yet.

Tip no. 5 Bring a pair of garden gloves.

Halfway through the picking, I discovered that the reddest, ripest, largest, sweetest strawberries are hidden from view. It was deeply satisfying peeling open the green curtain of leaves to find these huge red beauties staring back at me. Rummaging through the foliage means you'll need your sturdiest pair of garden gloves. I didn't have one with me, and by the time I finished picking, my hands were a bit itchy.

Tip no. 6 Bring snacks and plenty of water. And, don't forget to enjoy your hard work!

The night before picking, I froze some water in a couple of bottles. And in the morning topped it up with some water. Eventhough the weather was cloudy that day, picking strawberries was still hard work, the water really cooled us down a lot.

When I finished picking, I opened the trunk of our car, sat on it while I enjoyed the breeze and the view. After a few big gulps of the icy cold water, I was ready for lunch.

You know the classic combination peanut butter jelly sandwich? A couple of weeks ago I made myself some roasted almond butter at my sister's place -- she has a thermomix, it took me 10 minutes to make, which otherwise would have taken me half an hour with my food processor and even then the result wouldn't be as smooth. I brought some almond butter sandwiches, and I ate them with a couple of the strawberries I just picked. The strawberries were the sweetest and juiciest strawberries I've ever had, almost as sweet as jam. My theory about that is, the strawberries you buy from the store are slightly under-ripe because they need to have a longer shelf life. Whereas the ones I just picked will probably go off in a few days.

So what can you do with all these strawberries?! They're sweet, they're ripe, and they're going off fast! Here's a couple of ideas, all of which I did over the weekend. I did go a bit stir crazy with strawberries. I even saw them in my sleep.

When I arrived home I started by separating the bruised from the non-bruised strawberries. The non-bruised ones, I pack into containers unwashed and gave them to my family, friends and neighbours. Washing strawberries make them mushy and they won't keep as long then. For the bruised ones, I dumped into a washbasin filled with water. A lot of dirt and sand and dead leaves settled to the bottom while the strawberries floated to the top. This brings me to another tip.

Tip no. 7 Bring an eski that the strawberry tray can fit in. This will ensure your strawberries are transported home with minimal bruising.

Tip no. 8 Go picking in the later months, or as late as you can bear it (the later you go the hotter it is).

Ti Strawberry has been open for picking from as early as July. I have been going strawberry picking for three years in a row now. In 2015, I went picking in November, the strawberries were so sweet, with not a bit of sourness. In 2016, I went in October instead, I had to work real hard to find the overripe, sweet strawberries I dearly love, and in the end, only a small amount are, the rest of them were disappointingly sour like store-bought ones.

This year, in 2017, Ti Strawberry made a couple of changes, they're open everyday for strawberry picking (instead of just weekends), and they expanded the farm. I decided to go in November again, as last year's October harvest was disappointing. I checked their facebook page the night before I went picking, it said they're opening a new section of the farm for picking that weekend! The reward: red overripe strawberries were to be found effortlessly, so sweet and juicy, and the crowd considerably thinned out from last year so I could pick in peace.

A couple of pictures of the harvest this year. My sisters have taken as much as they wanted, yet there was still a lot left for me to do as I please. Do you see how deep the red colour is, from head to toe, no pink or white colour in sight.

For the recipes below, I used up the bruised strawberries first before using the non-bruised ones.

1. Let's start with an easy one first, frozen chopped strawberries. Hull the strawberries. Chopped them up and layer on a baking tray on a single layer. Cover with cling wrap and freeze for at least 24 hours before transferring them into a plastic container. They're very convenient. You can make strawberry milkshake with it, or topped your oats with.
2. Strawberry syrup keeps for a long time. You can use it to make a glass of refreshing strawberry soda, or even better, to make this giddy Indonesian drink, soda gembira.
3. You can't go past strawberry jam. I've collected a few used jars from when I bought sauces from the shop. Some of the jars have lids with a seal indication that pops up if the jar isn't sealing properly. These jars are safe to re-use for high acid foods like passata and jams. I used them for a batch of homemade strawberry vanilla jam.
4. Strawberry preserve. I haven't made this yet, but this looks so much easier than making jam. I'll attempt to do this today.
5. Strawberry bread. I made this with walnuts instead of pecans. I crushed the fresh strawberries by hand before adding it to the batter. And I only used 1/2 cup of sugar because I feel that if I used the recommended amount of sugar, what comes out will be a loaf-shaped sweet strawberry muffin, instead of strawberry bread. The half cup sugar I used, means the bread came out only with a tiny little hint of sweetness. The strawberries provided it with tangy surprises. You definitely cannot omit the nuts as they gave the bread some much needed texture. The bread didn't come out as pink as the original blogger's, so I think to remediate this, what I would do differently next time is to substitute the sugar with 1/2 cup of my homemade strawberry syrup instead.
6. Strawberry fruit roll-ups. As the strawberries I picked were so sweet, I didn't add any sugar, it's easy to make and satisfying to know these fruit leather are made of 100% strawberries with no added sugar or nasties.

I haven't made these ones, but they're really creative and inspiring.

1. Who wants boring cinnamon rolls when you can have strawberry cinnamon rolls.
2. And pink strawberry doughnuts.
3. Lucky last is a japanese mochi recipe called daifuku using whole strawberries.

Ti Strawberry Farm PYO

263 Old West Road

Bullsbrook WA

Open September-November

Website link here, facebook link here.

Packing Station at Lotte Mart

I wish we have these stations at my local grocery.

The Lotte Mart (Jamsil branch, near Lotte World) I went to has a packing station after the cashier counters where we can pack our stuff in boxes, sticky tape them and strap them up with the provided string so we can carry them more easily. All for the price of ₩0!

I'm not sure if this is the norm for bigger supermarkets or just in this Lotte Mart though. It's so convenient to have the boxes there for us since we were travelling, plus the store is also getting rid of boxes they no longer need. Win win I say.

I'm also darn envious of the variety of fresh asian ingredients they have, like the mushrooms and the fresh seaweed. It's a shame that seaweed is not a big food item here in Australia, knowing that seaweed is one the most nutritious food one can eat.

Seoul Street Food

I’ve found that Korea has one of the most exciting and diverse street food scenes in Asia. Not only do they dish old-school favourites like tteokbokki 떡볶이 but they also come up with new ones constantly. Tornado Potato 회오리감자 anyone?

Complimentary Breakfast: Vice & Virtue

I am somewhat picky with my choice of holiday accommodation. It has to have a clean bathroom. Cleanliness is next to godliness, as is with quietness. I avoid “party” hotels and hotels near them, of which there are a few in Bali. Quality of sleep is very precious to me. What don't factor in my decision are the complimentary breakfasts.

Japanese Influenced Pottery in Kuta

Being a food blogger, joy fills my heart whenever I see beautiful tableware. The same feeling came over me when I spent an hour (or maybe two) browsing Jenggala Keramik’s website prior to my Bali vacation.

Their pieces are influenced mostly by traditional Indonesian and Balinese pattern and colours, but I can see some are influenced by Japanese pottery -- clean and simple lines with muted colours. These sexy Japanese inspired ones are ones that excites me the most. I’ve been seriously coveting some of their pieces, but their price tags have so far stopped me from purchasing them online.

Subak: Rice Farming in Bali

A lot of Asians -- myself included -- won’t feel full without eating rice thanks to being brought up with the typical Asian diet of eating rice at least twice a day. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m addicted, but I certainly can’t picture my life without it. Last year in an effort to better my nutrition value, I’ve started adding grains, seeds and beans such as chia seeds, barley, soaked mung beans, etc. to make multi-grain rice. While I’m pretty much used to eating it without noticeable difference, once in a while I like to cook the pure unadulterated stuff. There’s this inexplicably satisfying feeling I get digging into a steaming bowl of fluffy white rice that multi-grain rice simply can’t give.

In Klungkung, One Salt Farmer Prevails

Artisanal salt farming is a dying trade in Bali. The Indonesian government has an incentive program to subsidise local salt farming in an effort to attract and retain this trade. Is it working? Is this primitive and labour intensive method of producing salt worth saving?

In Ubud, Cooking with New Friends

Bali can be many things for many different people. For the aussie school leavers looking for some fun, Kuta is party central. For the honeymooners, there's Seminyak. For the executives and families with slightly deeper pockets, Nusa Dua has its posh resorts. But Ubud, it always bill itself as the cultural epicentre of the island, where the yoga freaks congregate, where struggling balinese artists sell their work, where the Balinese organic and raw movements started.

phinisi in makassar, south sulawesi

The phinisi, a traditional two-masted sailing ship, is a wholly Bugis invention. The only place to view these ships in Makassar is at Pelabuhan Paotere.

(more) duck in québec

We visited Île d'Orléans in winter’s last breath, there’s no more ice on the ground, but cold enough to freeze you up if you don’t wear a thick jacket. Everything in the island is pretty much on reduced hours or closed. We went to a few venues, they were either on reduced hours or closed for an event.

how much is a thousand dollars? (pt. 2)

Last night we decided to procure some winter tyres to get us through the horrendous road conditions we were facing during our road trip thusfar. 

how much is a thousand dollars? (pt. 1)

It is only in the rarest of occasion when one is forced to assign a dollar value to a human life. A parent forced to pay for a ransom for a daughter taken in a faraway land. A son who's been given the bill for a surgery that saved his mother's life. A judge assigning the compensation for a negligent death.

Such dramatic occasion, fortunately, have not happened to us. A similar but less severe one did force us to think, is a thousand dollars really worth it?

the forks, where the rivers meet

Fresh snow, fluffy, like a bowl of freshly shaved slushie. Makeshift hockey nets are at the ready on the solid Red River surface. Not far away, so is the Assiniboine River.

on meeting the rock stars!

Who are these two asian chicks talking to Peter Kuruvita?

That guy with David Chang is hilarious!

May I take a picture with you, Matt (Moran)?

... were some of the things I said that Saturday a few months ago when I went to the inaugural Margaret River Gourmet Escape.

mbak mi's organic garden

Our backyard in indonesia used to be a feature garden, with palm trees and colourful tropical plants in bright yellows and reds. But since a few years ago, we did a very Michelle Obama thing and turn it into a vegie patch.

blog, revamped!

How do you like my newly revamped blog, peeps? I have been meaning to revamp it for a year now, but my separation anxiety won't let me do it for the longest time. But this week, I just said to myself, "Come on!!" and just did it. It's quite cleansing actually. Letting go the old, on with the new. Like donating your clothes for spring cleaning.

It took me a few days revamping it, picking out the light airy colour, editting the vintage background, uploading the really cute bunnies  (courtesy of my dear friend Maroo), changing fonts, etc. And voila, here it is, folks!

So long
Farewell
Au 'voir
Auf Wiedersehen
I'd like to stay and taste my first champagne


So long
Farewell
Auf Wiedersehen
Goodbye
I leave and heave a sigh and say goodbye

bublé at sandalford

I've never been one to go to concerts or events, what with the throngs of people squeezed in together. I'm agoraphobic that way. Just the thought of being crushed by a gazillion of other people is not very appealing to me. The only events I've ever been to have always been relaxed affairs. Events that are more like a picnic than a concert, like the Madeleine Peyroux performance at the Ottawa Jazz Festival. I'm quite lucky that my taste in music allows me to do that.

Last month I got tickets to a Michael Bublé concert at Sandalford Winery in Caversham, WA (Thanks, hubby!). I've wanted to go see him in concert since like forever (do I sound like a crazed fan?). Being overeager, I arrived at the venue way too early. But, there were people who were even earlier than me, most of them were General Admission ticket holders though. They brought all sorts of picnic things, deck chairs, huge eskies full of goodies, picnic blankets, etc.

xmas lunch 2010

Let me ask you a question, are you a pineapple snob? Do you always tut-tut your friends when they put pineapple in their savoury foods, like pizza? Well, you might as well close this blog post and read my other posts, because I’m about to commit a cardinal sin with this one.

The day before Christmas, my older sister and I have made a date for us to have Christmas lunch together. What could be more perfect for an Australian Christmas to have prawns for lunch, so I went to the local supermarket and bought myself a kilo and a half of prawns (Australian this time, not foreign). I also bought a pineapple and some garlic to go with the prawns.

semprit & durian nastar

Like most people who grew up in one country and lived in another as an adult, I have the constant pang of homesickness for the food of the country I grew up in. Actually it's not the food of the whole country that I miss, just the food from this one small town in Indonesia. If it's not the jajanan (english: snack) from the Javanese aunties who would go from house to house to hawk their products, it's the soto lamongan (english: yellow chicken soup) from this shabby shop with gloomy lighting, dirty floors and plastic chairs.

Second to flying back at the drop of a hat, all I've got to alleviate this gnawing craving are the occasional snacks that family and friends would bring from Indonesia. Only those that Customs deem safe enough to go into the country, of course.

Two weeks ago, my father brought with him two types of snack. One of them is called semprit and another is nastar. Semprit are these butter cookies shaped like teardrops. They come in different flavours, the ones I got given was cheese flavoured. They're crumbly and light. What I usually do is pop one whole piece into my mouth and wait for it to crumble into nothingness.

Semprit keju

halloween feast

I think the interweb is human's single greatest invention of the 20th century. Take this example. I was invited to a Halloween party yesterday (yes, it was a belated one) and the recipes for all the creepy delicacies that were served to us were obtained from the internet.

Just imagine what we would do without it. I suppose we'd probably have to go to the library and borrow a recipe book specifically on Halloween snacks. First of all, how many books exist that are that specific? There's probably quite a few, but how many of those would be available in your local library? Good chance that they're all going to be booked out months in advance.