- Author: Jennifer Codron, UC Master Food Preserver Volunteer
Spring has sprung and not only are the birds and bees stirring, but humans on the Central Coast are out and about after a much-needed rainy winter season.
There are parties, garden workdays and spring cleaning to attend to. All of these activities leave very little time for working in the kitchen! When my rhubarb started coming in, I decided I wanted to use the fresh stalks without spending too much time in the kitchen. So, I made strawberry rhubarb jam with low-sugar pectin. (Ball Realfruit Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin)
Friends and family often ask for a lower sugar product so no-sugar/low-sugar pectin is a great solution to use with a berry jam recipe. The peel-off label on the jar of pectin provides a useful table of ingredients listing the amounts to multiply by the number of jars you wish to make. My water bath canner fits about 7 jars, so I multiply the recipe by four to make about 8 - 8oz. jars of jam. That eighth jar is always my sampler that I do not process and just store in the fridge.
Strawberries can often be found at the farmers markets on the Central Coast, sometimes year-round! These were purchased at Cal Poly while I was in the orchard u-picking citrus fruit.
I grew up with rhubarb growing in our garden in Michigan. My Finnish grandmother always had a patch in her garden, too. It is not always easy to find here on the Central Coast, so I decided to plant my own. These stalks came from my second plant which did much better planted in full sun.
The people of China were the first to use this plant as a medicinal herb over 5,000 years ago. When the English discovered rhubarb, they began eating the leaves which caused great stomach discomfort as the leaves contain oxalic acid and should never be eaten. Two hundred years later, Europeans discovered the tart stalks and used them to make tarts, which gave rise to the nickname “pie plant.”
University of Wisconsin Horticulture
Now let's get started. First, follow this link to read up on how to properly prepare your jars.
Once your jars are preparred, clean and remove any blemishes and stems. Chop your strawberries, arranging them in a single layer. I use an old-fashioned biscuit cutter for chopping the berries. I leave it a little chunky as I like pieces of fruit in my jam.
Then, measure the chopped strawberries.
Chop the rhubarb into equal sized pieces.
Then, mix the chopped and measured fruit into heavy bottom pan and add water or fruit juice.
Gradually stir in pectin and bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly.
Then add sugar. It is important to fully dissolve the pectin before adding the sugar.
Return to a full rolling boil and boil hard for 1 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and skim any foam off the top that has formed.
Pack jam into prepared 8 ounce jars and measure the head space. There should be ¼ inch from the jam to the top of jar.
De-bubble each jar by sliding the tool down the sides of each jar.
Process the jars for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath canner at a full rolling boil. Steam will escape through the side of the lid during this process. At any point, if the water drops below the boiling point, start your timer over for the full processing time as directed by the recipe. After 10 minutes, turn off the heat, remove the lid and let the jars stand for 5 minutes.
After the 10 minute processing time and 5 minute standing time, carefully remove the lid and let the steam escape away from you. Leave the jars in the water bath canner for another 5 minutes.
When removing the jars, be careful not to tip the jars. Leave any remaining water collected on the lid in place. Water spots will likely form on the lid, which is ok. A little vinegar on a clean towel will easily remove those water stains.
Remember to label and date the jar and remove the band for storage. Store for a max of one year.
This recipe is a quick process and perfect for a teacher gift or host gift for spring parties, or to include with your beach picnic in the summertime!
- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
A new study that can help growers and other readers estimate costs and potential returns for Central Coast organic strawberries was recently released by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, UC Cooperative Extension and the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
“This study provides growers with a baseline to estimate their own costs, which can help when applying for production loans, projecting labor costs, securing market arrangements, or understanding costs associated with water and nutrient management and regulatory programs,” said Brittney Goodrich, UC Cooperative Extension specialist and study co-author.
The cost study models a management scenario for a 30-acre farm, 27 acres of which are planted to organic strawberries. The remaining acres are for the irrigation system, roads, and buildings. The study describes the cultural practices used in organic strawberry production and harvest, including land preparation, soil fertility and pest management, irrigation and labor needs.
The 20-page study shows costs for each operation, material inputs and costs, and cash and non-cash overhead costs in a variety of formats for one production and harvest cycle. A ranging analysis is also included and shows potential profits or losses over a range of prices and yields.
The new study, “2024 Sample Costs to Produce and Harvest Organic Strawberries,” can be downloaded from the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics website at https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu.
For a detailed explanation of the assumptions and calculations used to estimate the costs and potential returns for each crop, readers can refer to the narrative portion of each study.
Sample cost of production studies for many other commodities grown in California are also available at https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu.
For more information about the organic strawberry cost study, contact Mark Bolda, University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisor, at mpbolda@ucanr.eduor Jeremy Murdock in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at jmmurdock@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
A new study that can help growers and other readers estimate costs and potential returns for growing strawberries on California's Central Coast was recently released by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, UC Cooperative Extension and the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
“This study provides growers with a baseline to estimate their own costs, which can help when applying for production loans, projecting labor costs, securing market arrangements, or understanding costs associated with water and nutrient management and regulatory programs,” said Brittney Goodrich, UC Cooperative Extension specialist and study co-author.
The cost study models a management scenario for a 50-acre farm, 45 acres of which are planted to strawberries, located in Santa Cruz, Monterey or San Benito counties. The remaining acres are for the irrigation system, roads and buildings. The study describes the cultural practices used in strawberry production and harvest, including land preparation, soil fertility and pest management, irrigation and labor needs.
The 19-page study shows costs for each operation, material inputs and costs, and cash and non-cash overhead costs in a variety of formats for one production and harvest cycle. A ranging analysis is also included and shows potential profits or losses over a range of prices and yields.
The new study, titled “2024 Sample Costs to Produce and Harvest Strawberries” can be downloaded from the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics website at https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu.
For a detailed explanation of the assumptions and calculations used to estimate the costs and potential returns for each crop, readers can refer to the narrative portion of each study.
For more information, contact Mark Bolda, University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisor, at mpbolda@ucanr.edu, or Jeremy Murdock in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at jmmurdock@ucdavis.edu.
Sample cost of production studies for many other commodities grown in California are also available at https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Emily C. Dooley, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Strawberries selectively bred for Fusarium wilt resistance and high yields
The University of California, Davis, is releasing five new strawberry varieties that are resistant to the soilborne disease Fusarium wilt, have high yields and improved fruit quality.
UC Eclipse, UC Golden Gate, UC Keystone, UC Monarch and UC Surfline will be available for sale to California nurseries from Foundation Plant Services in April.
Roughly 88% of strawberries grown in the nation come from California. Fusarium wilt is one of the most common reasons for crop loss and death and yet 55 to 59% of cultivars planted in the state since 2014 have not been resistant, according to UC Davis research.
This is the first release from the UC Davis Strawberry Breeding Program where all the cultivars have Fusarium wilt resistance. They are meant to replace susceptible plants on the market such as Monterey, UCD Royal Royce and UCD Valiant.
Monarch was also developed specifically as a prototype for mechanical harvesting – another first out of the breeding program, which dates to the 1930s and has released 72 patented cultivars over the decades.
“These provide the same yield or better and they are Fusarium resistant,” said Steve Knapp, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences and director of the UC Davis Strawberry Breeding Program. “They have a better collection of traits. They're superior.”
Knapp is a faculty member based in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis and shares the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources land-grant mission of the Agricultural Experiment Station.
Dangerous pathogen
Fusarium wilt didn't present much of a danger to strawberry crops until after the fumigant methyl bromide was phased out of use in the United States in 2005. But the pathogen had always been in the soil, and cases of wilt appeared a year later and increased over time, leading to concerns that a Fusarium wilt pandemic could destroy the crop in California.
“The disease has taken off fast and we need to react quickly to address the need,” said Glenn Cole, a breeder and field manager with the Strawberry Breeding Program.
Knapp said the program tries to “encourage people to consider things like disease resistance” and routinely invites growers and other experts to events showcasing research breakthroughs and improved cultivars.
Varieties for the seasons
The new strawberry varieties each have improved flavor and characteristics that allow for near year-round growing around California, where about 1.8 billion pounds of the fruit are harvested each year. Some of the cultivars are adapted for production in the southern part of the state while others do well under the long daylight hours of summer along the coast.
Eclipse, a “summer plant” cultivar, has the potential to increase grower profitability as it produces in the fall and winter, and yields during research testing were 54% higher than similar cultivars. “We expect this cultivar to have wide commercial appeal,” Knapp said. “Eclipse is going to eclipse them all.”
Golden Gate and Keystone are “day neutral.” Those type of cultivars grow throughout the summer on about 60 percent of strawberry farming acres in the state. The “short-day” plants Surfline and Monarch are resistant to Verticillium wilt and Phytophthora crown rot.
Surfline and Eclipse are firmer and promise longer shelf lives. Monarch provides growers with improved fruit qualities relative to other mass-producedcultivars and has characteristics needed for advances in mechanical harvesting, Knapp said.
Genetic tools
Breeding program experts have long been researching ways to improve strawberry cultivars so the crop can withstand pests, disease and other stressors. To find plants that had Fusarium wilt resistance, they obtained the DNA of thousands of plants in field studies. The scientists also developed genetic tools to screen the plants and identify the genes that have resistance to the Fusarium pathogen.
Knowing that information allowed the team to breed resistance into and develop new cultivars, at a faster rate than previous efforts. “These tools have allowed us to sweep out the susceptibility and bring in resistance,” Knapp said.
- Author: Emily C. Dooley, UC Davis
The $6.2 million grant centers on protecting crops in the future
The federal government is awarding $6.2 million to University of California, Davis, to study how to use breeding and genetic information to protect strawberry crops from future diseases and pests.
The four-year grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) centers on addressing expanding and emerging threats to strawberries, a popular fruit packed with Vitamin C and key to the diets of many Americans.
Enhanced plant breeding, gene editing and other technologies will be key to ensuring strawberry crops are sustainable in the face of climate change and possible restrictions on chemical use, said Steve Knapp, director of the Strawberry Breeding Center and a distinguished professor in the Department of Plant Sciences.
“We need to have the technology so that we can deal with the challenges strawberries face around the world,” Knapp said. “Can we use genetic knowledge to change the DNA in a specific way to get the resistance we need?”
USDA funding
The grant award was one of 25 announced Oct. 5 by NIFA – an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture – as part of the Specialty Crop Research Initiative program, which addresses “key challenges of national, regional and multistate importance in sustaining all components of food and agriculture…,” the agency said.
The strawberry industry has lagged behind crops like tomato and wheat when it comes to genetic and technical innovation, Knapp said, and the grant signifies that “now they want the foot on the accelerator.”
A key priority is identifying whether changing DNA molecules can improve disease resistance and what technologies would be needed. Ensuring some genes are expressed while others are suppressed would be part of the analysis.
“We're trying to build in natural resistance to pathogens through the genes that already exist but could be modified with this knowledge,” Knapp said. “If we were able to edit a gene that improves disease resistance, people would want us to use that in breeding.”
The intent is to produce disease-resistant cultivars and identify better ways to diagnose, prevent and manage disease. The research project will also include an economic forecast evaluating the consequences of production changes and communicating with farmers about the laboratory advances, according to the grant proposal.
Gitta Coaker from plant pathology and Mitchell Feldmann, Marta Bjornson and Juan Debernardi from plant sciences are participating in the research, as are scientists from California Polytechnic State University, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, UC Berkeley, University of Florida and USDA's Agricultural Research Service.
