Grow your own or grab a pint at farmers’ markets, CSAs, and in local stores this summer.
If summertime had a flavor, it may be the sweet juiciness of strawberry. Its color? Shades of red polka-dotted with seeds. Strawberry season in the High Sierra means the berry-laden plants reach their leafy tendrils toward the sky and begin bursting with sweetly tantalizing fruit. In California, peak strawberry season spans May and June, while in Northern Nevada, the beloved fruit is found ripe come June or July.
Growing your own strawberries can be deeply satisfying while also offering the most flavorful fruits possible. But you also can head to your local farmers’ markets, CSAs, and grocery store to find baskets overflowing with edible enjoyment.
Dan and Rachel McClure, founders of Sierra Edibles and Nevada’s Own, have been growing strawberries since 2013 in Wellington, Nev., with such success that one of the world’s largest strawberry producers recruited Dan in 2014 to build clean stock facilities (which undergo a process to make them disease-free and ideal for raising true-to-type crops) that allowed them to export globally. In 2016, Dan returned to his beloved Northern Nevada home and restarted his and his wife’s own nursery with his newly expanded knowledge.
“Here in North America, [strawberries] are a common language. Everyone knows what a strawberry is … It’s an experience that most everybody’s had,” he says. “Everybody has had a store-bought strawberry, but most people also will have had a farm stand-fresh strawberry out of their own [or someone else’s] garden, and that is a different experience. And that’s coming from somebody who has grown 40 percent of the strawberries in North America. I was the propagator in 2015 and 2016 for literally tens of millions of plants.”
The McClures start their 20 varieties — from pink to heirloom — of strawberries from tissue samples, the truest genetic form, in their laboratory, excluding pests and diseases from the plants’ onset. Nevada’s growing season gives them about 90 to 120 days to get the berries to optimal ripeness.
“Once you’ve had a really fresh strawberry, the idea of it can make you salivate,” Rachel says.
Now the McClures’ family business has expanded, with their 15-year-old son, Atlas, launching his own strawberry business to sell their tasty fruit throughout the region. His parents say it’s a great way for him to learn valuable life skills while also helping pay for his high school tuition and extracurricular activities.
Strawberries from Atlas Berry Farm are available through online ordering, strawberry vending machines (yes, you read that right) at locations listed on the website, the Great Basin Community Food Co-op in Reno, Carson City’s Greenhouse Garden Center and Gift Shop, and pickup at the family’s honor-system farm stand in Wellington.
You also can taste their strawberries at restaurants around the region, such as Restaurant Trokay in Truckee, or in its luscious strawberry shortcake recipe you can make at home!
Strawberry Shortcake
(courtesy of John Weatherson, chef/co-owner, Restaurant Trokay in Truckee. Serves 8)
1¾ sticks butter
6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
2⅓ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tablespoon high-quality vanilla extract
2 pints fresh strawberries at the peak of ripeness
½ cup sugar
1 pint heavy cream
3 tablespoons confectioners sugar
1 pinch fine sea salt
Melted butter, as needed
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Clean and remove the stems of the strawberries and wash them in cold running water. Set on clean towels or a rack to dry.
Cut berries as much or as little as you like, and in whichever fashion you’d like. Pick one cut (half, quarter, slice, etc.), but keep in mind that a consistent cut will promote consistent and even maceration.
Place cut berries in a bowl with the sugar and toss to combine. Cover and let sit at room temperature to macerate the berries. Over the course of 30 minutes to an hour, they will release their juices (which will become part of the sauce), their texture will soften, and the flavor will intensify. Next, it’s time to make the shortcake.
Mix dry ingredients and set aside (flour, baking powder, salt). Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla extract in a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment until just fully incorporated. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time. Once all yolks are incorporated, add dry ingredients in 2 additions. Once the flour mixture is fully incorporated, the dough is ready to roll and bake. If you don’t need the whole recipe batch, you can wrap part of the raw dough in plastic wrap, parchment paper, or foil, and freeze for use at a later date. The strawberry shortcakes are great with morning coffee and tea as well.
Roll out dough to ½-inch thickness and cut circles using a cookie cutter. Place on silicone baking mat or parchment paper-lined sheet pan brushed with melted butter. Brush tops of the shortcakes lightly with melted butter. Bake 7 to 10 minutes, or until lightly golden brown on the exterior.
In a stand mixer fitted with the whip/whisk attachment, whip cream on high to create medium peaks, then gradually add confectioners sugar and 1 two-finger pinch of salt (thumb and index finger only, but as much as you can achieve with those two fingers). Once stiff peak has been achieved, stop the mixer. Now, you’re ready to plate.
To assemble, plate the dish in layers, starting with some whipped cream on bottom to provide a stay for the shortcake and strawberry layers. Keep going until multiple layers are achieved, using the strawberries and their juices to soak the cake.
Optional garnishes:
Sieved powdered sugar
Mint leaves
Anise hyssop flowers
Basil leaves
Balsamic roasted strawberries
To buy Nevada-grown strawberries, visit Atlas Berry Farm at 263 Artesia Road in Wellington, or order online at Atlasberryfarm.com.
