Berry Seasons

Blueberries and marionberries in Vancouver, WA

Having lived in the northwest for so many years, the biggest shock for me at the farmers market has been the length of strawberry season in central California.  In Seattle, strawberries are glorious for a full month, in a good year. That month very rarely begins in late May, but more typically in mid-June. In the Bay Area,   I have found them beginning as early as February and as late as November. They tend to be a bit too firm and acidic at both ends of the season, but truly succulent at the peak, from June through August.

Blueberries start earlier here too, and seem to peter out a bit earlier than in the Northwest. Up there, marionberries, raspberries and blackberries arrive in late July and can last through early September. In fact, the invasive  species of Himalayan blackberry perfumes the air in August, along bike trails and within public parks. Why go to the farmers market for them when you can take a bucket to the rampant overgrowth within a few blocks of most people's houses?

For a locavore, California's longer seasons for many types of produce makes adhering to a target area (whether a home county, a 100-mile radius, or whatever metric one chooses) a bit easier. But at the same time, there is something about a very short season for a culinary treat that makes it that much more exquisite when it arrives.