california strawberries visit dallas

A few weeks ago I went and visited the strawberries.Yesterday they came and visited me (and 20 bloggers) here in Dallas.

Those strawberries are so sweet!

Literally.

The Dallas bloggers munched on strawberry soup, sandwiches, tacos and sliders while sipping strawberry cocktails.

We listened to Carolyn from the CA Strawberry Commission, Skyped with a grower from California and heard about the health benefits of strawberries from David Grotto.

And there was a lot of chatting, photographing and hugging.

Overall, the California Strawberries were given a warm Texas welcome.

We even arranged warm weather for their visit.

I have been excited to work with the California Strawberry Commission and the CA Strawberry Tour because…I like strawberries.

Over the last month I have gotten a behind-the-scenes look at how having strawberries on my oatmeal each morning is made possible.

Hundreds of family strawberry growers who have been farming for generations plant tiny strawberry plants on sandy soil across cool valleys.   Those strawberry plants are high maintenance and prefer 51 degree soil temperature, just the right amount of rain, cool afternoon breezes and often demand an ocean view.   Once the strawberries are ripe (and not a moment before), they are picked and immediately driven to a cooler.   They spend 4 hours in a cooler to get to the perfect shipping temperature.   As soon as they are the perfect shipping temperature, they are packed into waiting refrigerated trucks that drive them straight to Texas where they are placed on grocery shelves.

It is possible, in Texas, I am eating strawberries that were picked just 48 hours earlier in California.

I find that amazing and have realized how inexpensive strawberries really are when you consider the 1000’s of things that could go wrong between a seedling being planted in California and my Texas kitchen table.

Strawberries are a lot of bang for your buck.   They not only taste great, but they are good for you.

• Strawberries are an excellent source of Vitamin C.   Once serving provides an adult with 160% of their recommended Daily Value.
• Strawberries are a source of folate.
• Strawberries can help heart health because they provide 3 grams of fiber per serving.
• Strawberries have antioxidants which are absorbed within one hour after eating.   They can help fight disease and illness.

I love that they are healthy, but quite honestly would eat them even if they weren’t. It is a bonus for me. Thanks so much to the CA Strawberries for an incredible blogger event in Dallas. Space was limited and Dallas is a bit of a drive for many of you, but I don’t want to leave you out. I have 4 extra goody bags that I would love to send to randomly selected readers. Each goody bag is a reusable bag that scrunches into a cute little strawberry (pictured to the left) and contains:   101 Optimal Foods for Life by David Grotto, 2 Strawberry Recipes for Everyday Cookbooks (one for you and one to giveaway to a friend or on your blog) and a super cute strawberry shaped USB flash drive with all sorts of fun strawberry information. To enter:

• Leave a comment below telling me what you like about strawberries.
• An additional entry for a tweet about strawberries including the hashtag:   #CAStrawberryTour – please leave a comment below that you tweeted.
• Contest ends on July 9.
• Winners will be notified via email.

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED AND ALL THE WINNERS HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED VIA EMAIL.

Thanks to all the Dallas area bloggers who attended the CA Strawberry Tour Event.   Here is what they had to say about this event:

Trista figures out that she is a strawberry.

Why Jay will be packing his freezer with strawberries.

How to make a taco with strawberries.

Kim is suspicious the Viking Cooking School stole her appliances.

Jennifer writes about choosing the best strawberry and whether size matters.

Strawberry Shortcake Sliders.

Jenny chats about organic vs. conventional strawberries.

Melissa posts several of her favorite strawberry recipes including the Mahi Mahi tacos and she doesn’t like fish 🙂.

Sophie (our youngest attendee) makes a yummy smoothie for dinner.

Dwan makes me hungry with several recipes from the event.

Misa and kids make Mahi Mahi tacos and give them 3/4 thumbs up.

Tami is a rookie blogger?   I know her now and respectfully disagree :).

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Popsicles.

Strawberry Muddle Cocktail.

If you have written anything about this event or the strawberries, please leave the link in the comments and I will add it to the list.

Thanks again to all involved.

I have been working with the CA Strawberry Commission on the planning and hosting of this event. All opinions expressed are my own. It has been a treat to work with them and eat all those strawberries.   I will be following along on Twitter when the Strawberry Tour goes to Boston, Chicago, NY and LA with the #CAStrawberryTour hashtag.