Oregon doesn’t grow the most strawberries, but we might just grow the best. Grocery store strawberries may be huge and red, but they are a mere ghost of the berry’s true potential. For decades, Oregon has been the epicenter for all things berry—Oregon State University has a oneofakind research center dedicated to them and farmers have been cultivating strawberries across the Willamette Valley since the late 1800′s. But with superior sweetness comes ephemerality, our best strawberries don’t last long. Their delicate nature means Oregon strawberries are often found frozen or preserved to make their way into delicious treats like the "farmtocone’ ice cream flavors from Salt & Straw.

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Superabundant S2 E4 Strawberry

Chapters
00:05 Strawberries being processed into jam at Oregon Growers
00:29 What makes an Oregon strawberry so unique?
01:03 113th Annual Lebanon Strawberry Festival
01:41 Festival ambassadors are appropriately named Strawberrians
01:50 Meet the World’s Largest Strawberry Shortcake
02:21 The history of strawberries in Oregon goes back centuries
02:47 The invention of the modern strawberry
03:08 First generation Japanese immigrants, known as Issei, were at the forefront of Oregon’s strawberry industry
03:36 Strawberry crinkle virus prompts breeders to create disease resistant varieties
04:05 Bernadine Strik, horticulturist and Oregon State University professor
04:42 Oregon’s very own Berry Goddess
04:49 Century old cooperative berry crops breeding program with OSU and the USDAARS
05:17 Ted Mackey, biological science technician for the US Department of Agriculture
05:30 How long does a new strawberry variety take to create?
06:04 Strawberry Field Day, OSU North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora, OR.
06:29 How Oregon’s climate gives strawberries their maximum flavor and quality
06:56 Processing strawberry jam at Oregon Growers
07:30 Oregon strawberries get picked at peak ripeness since they don’t travel out of state
08:11 Tyler Malek, cofounder and head ice cream maker at Salt & Straw
08:20 Salt & Straw goes through 50 thousand pounds of strawberries each year
08:40 Strawberry jam being handmixed into ice cream
08:52 A signature ice cream flavor: Strawberry Honey Balsamic w/ Black Pepper
09:26 Salt & Straw started in 2011 out of a pushcart on NE Alberta Street in Portland, OR.
09:47 There’s no berries like what is grown in the Pacific Northwest.
10:11 Farmers Market at Portland State University
10:36 Oregon strawberries are a labor of love
10:58 How to support OPB, thank you members

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