Sign of summer
Friday, June 27, 2008 | 11:28 AM ET
by Kevin Yarr, CBCNews.ca
"There are Nova Scotia strawberries here."
These were words that lifted my heart last Saturday. The coming of Maritime strawberries is a sure sign of summer, and that it happened on the actual first full day of summer this year was just a bonus.
I don't eat California strawberries, not through any extreme locavore tendencies, but because their flavour is too pale to tempt me to shell out for them. Even if I'm not paying for them, eating them is a disappointment: like moving closer to get a good look at flowers that turn out to be plastic.
One of the joys of living on P.E.I. is the extra-long strawberry season. The Nova Scotia berries come a week to 10 days ahead of P.E.I.'s, giving us close to a month of peak season.
While I was happy to be greeted at the market with news the season had started, I didn't need to be told. I would have noticed instantly myself given the box. Strawberries from outside the Maritimes invariably arrive in pressed green paper or plastic boxes. Maritime strawberries, and only Maritime strawberries, are packed in boxes made from thin strips of wood.
Maritime strawberry boxes are iconic. (CBC)
It has been this way for decades and has become, entirely by accident I'm certain, branding as recognizable to me as the Coke button. So I was disappointed to see while many of the Nova Scotia strawberries came in wood, some were in green, pressed paper boxes. As it turned out, the man at the stall in the market knew why.
A distant relative of his used to make these boxes as part of his business, but not any more. Farmers are becoming reluctant to use the wooden boxes, which cost a few cents more than paper.
I'd hate to see this sign of summer go. I know times are difficult for farmers, and a few cents a box can add up, but I hope Maritime strawberry farmers will take note of the importance of having a product that is instantly recognizable.
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Amber Hildebrandt writes for CBCNews.ca in Toronto. Growing up on a farm in Manitoba, she acquired an insatiable appetite, but it was during a stint in Japan that she developed her discerning tastebuds and "foodie" ways.
Andrea Chiu is an associate producer at CBC Radio Digital. Though she loves to eat, cook and discuss food,
don't ask her to bake. It never turns out well. She tweets as @TOfoodie on Twitter and organizes food and wine events in Toronto called FoodieMeet.
Tara Kimura is the consumer life reporter for CBCNews.ca, covering a wide range of issues that range from rising food costs and the growing organic movement, to new trends in the marketplace.
Andree Lau is a CBC web reporter in Calgary. Her journalism career includes seven years as a CBC-TV reporter. Her own blog called "are you gonna eat that?" chronicles her eating adventures (including sampling snake and camel hoof tendon).
Jessica Wong is a CBCNews.ca writer who loves to eat and cook, as well as discuss, read and watch programming about food, sometimes all at once.
Kevin Yarr, CBCNews.ca's writer in Prince Edward Island, wrote about food and beer for national and regional magazines before joining the CBC. He acquired a desire for new tastes on his first trip to Europe, and an appreciation of eating locally and in season when he finally settled down on P.E.I.
Elizabeth Bridge is a writer with the CBC Digital Archives in Toronto. She first ventured into the kitchen as a child to indulge a sweet tooth by baking cookies and making fudge. A student budget compelled her to be a vegetarian (for a while) and instilled in her an ongoing curiosity about food and cooking.
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