It’s the start of peak strawberry season in the Santa Maria Valley, where more than 20 million trays of high-quality, handpicked strawberries are produced annually.
Longtime Santa Maria strawberry grower Daren Gee of DB Specialty Farms described this year’s bumper crop: “The biggest in the history of strawberries in the United States! And I’m not kidding, that’s for real,” Gee said. “This is the biggest crop ever.”
When Gee first came to the Santa Maria Valley, there were only 2,200 acres of strawberries, “and now we’re looking at 10,000-plus. So the industry, over the last 22 years, has really developed into quite an industry,” he said.
The weather also played a role in this year’s big crop: Gee said the cold, dry winter caused California’s strawberry plants to grow stronger than usual.
“And boom—they all started producing abnormal volumes of strawberries. And now we have ourselves in this position where we have a lot more strawberries than we have strawberry eaters,” Gee explained. “We’re in uncharted waters.”
Needless to say, local growers encourage locals to visit their strawberry stands to help them out by buying some of the sweetest berries on earth.
“I’ve been to a lot of places in the world where strawberries are [grown], and I’ve never seen strawberries better than the strawberries we grow right here,” Gee said.
The weekend of April 26 to 28, the valley celebrates the nutritious “super fruit” during the 26th annual Santa Maria Valley Strawberry Festival, held at the Santa Maria Fairpark.
It’s the perfect time of year to pick up a tray of the juicy, red berries, fresh out of our local fields, and whip up some delicious desserts.
Darensberries shared a recipe for a low-sugar, diabetic-friendly strawberry cheesecake pie with the Eats column to coincide with the strawberry festival.
“This is really a fabulous pie,” Gee said. “One of my favorite desserts of all time, considering the fact that there’s no sugar in it. It definitely is refreshing and light. It takes the place of strawberry shortcake for me.”
I agree! I made this pie using fresh Darensberries’ Albion strawberries, and my entire family gobbled it up—and there was enough left over to share with friends.
Fresh Strawberry Cheesecake Pie
Recipe submitted by Daren Gee
of DB Specialty Farms
One pastry piecrust, baked and cooled completely, or graham cracker crumb crust, baked and cooled
Two cups heavy whipping cream or one 8-ounce container Cool Whip, thawed
Two 8-ounce packages reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups Splenda granulated (or sugar)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups chopped fresh strawberries
Enough whole strawberries cut in half to cover the pie
1/3 cup sugar-free strawberry jam, melted in microwave or on stove
If using heavy whipping cream, in a medium bowl, beat cream into soft peaks and set aside in the refrigerator. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in Splenda (sugar), vanilla, and almond extract. Fold in whipped cream or Cool Whip and chopped strawberries. Spoon and mound filling into cooled piecrust. Garnish with strawberry halves. Brush melted jam over berries and chill until set. Cover loosely and store in the refrigerator until you are ready
to enjoy.
(Makes 16 servings.)
Per serving using Splenda: calories 183; protein 4 g; fat 14 g; carbs 9g; sugar 1g; sodium 148g.
Sun food and wine columnist Wendy Thies Sell is berry fond of pie. Contact her at wthies@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 25 – May 2, 2013.