Good morning,
Today I'm starting the week in a good mood 😄
As you know, it's almost all work here. And when the work doesn't go well, or situations arise that set us back, you have to deal with the frustration.
And I don't know about you, but for me, learning from failures has taken me hours and hours of fieldwork and effort.
You might wonder why I'm telling you this, and it's for a very simple reason: because this season, strawberries are back home.
And yes, that's the reason for my good mood: we made mistakes, we learned, and we tried again.
As I've mentioned, we hadn't offered them for a couple of seasons, and it wasn't a whim. It's because they're the delicate student in the class, and I'll tell you why.
To ensure they arrive with that true flavor, everything has to be thought out meticulously and executed like a chess game. And you know us, here at Campos del Abuelo, we don't resort to strange tricks to make them last as if they were museum pieces.
We work by hand, with thought, with respect, and we sell directly from our fields to your table to ensure a fair price. We are a team of farmers spread across Spain, and each box contains hours of care, not weeks of artifice.
I'll tell you how we do it because I know you like to hear the juicy details of the farm well told. Every morning, I review the orders, what you ask for, and it gets harvested—it's that simple.
If there are strawberries in your order, they are the first to leave the plant. We pick them with care, pack those boxes before any others, and they go straight into the fridge for a few hours, just enough for them to breathe slower and travel in good condition. Then the transport picks them up and they rush off to your home.
Between the field and your fruit bowl, barely a moment passes.
Why all this choreography for a few fresh hours? Because strawberries are like fresh bread: what makes the difference is real time, not the calendar.
You have to pick them at their peak and take care of them so they don't lose water or that aroma that fills your kitchen. In those first few hours, a gentle chill is a calming embrace. And that's it.
In contrast, in large supermarkets, it's a different story. There, strawberries often end up parked in cold storage with precisely controlled humidity and temperature for weeks, sometimes even months.
They last, of course, but the price is the flavor. The aromas gradually fade, the texture loses its vibrancy, and in the end, you eat something that looks like a strawberry but tastes like an acoustic version.
Our strawberries don't go through that. Just a few hours in the fridge to pamper them after harvesting, protect them from the heat, and then straight to your table 🍓
Here’s a little farmer's curiosity for you to show off at Sunday lunch: Strawberries are like small, running engines. They breathe a lot and very quickly. If you keep them cold indefinitely, that engine doesn't stop, but it works too hard and loses its spark.
That's why the trick isn't to bury them in a cold room, it's to get the ripeness right, chill them just enough, and get them on their way as soon as possible. No more, no less. Like when you drink a cool horchata, not completely frozen, so you can better appreciate the nuances. You get it.
Returning to strawberries has taken us time and headaches, but it has been worth it. They taste of spring, of the countryside, of that bite that makes you close your eyes for a second. If you get one with a mischievous shape or uneven size, smile.
It’s the garden speaking its language.
Thank you for staying with us, for appreciating that we harvest to order, and for defending with us a way of farming that puts the earth before the show.
Ask me anything you want; that's what I'm here for, with dirty hands and a phone full of soil, but always eager to tell you what happens between the plants.
And if reading this has made you crave them, we don't blame you. It happens to me too when I review orders and see that magic word. Strawberry. Oh...
A big hug from the garden of Valencia and have a great week.
We'll read each other next time, with another story from the field that will make you smile and teach you something useful 😉
