Picking Strawberries in Kuwait – Part 2
http://carlabaz.com/shop/?min_price=50 By danderma | March 10, 2014
Bocaiúva Continuing from my previous post about my strawberry picking trip in Kuwait, once you overcome your awe at the sight of endless beautiful strawberry plants all around you you can turn to your left and see the packing and weighing table.
http://moonmaker.com/readme.php The picking process is quite straightforward: you are handed a plastic bowl and a pair of scissors and you just go ahead and choose the most ripe and delicious looking strawberries you could find around, filling as many bowls as you want.
I began walking around looking for ripe strawberries to pick and, for the first time in my life, noticed the life cycles of a strawberry fruit! They start small and green like those strawberries below.
And I suppose they stay green for a while even after they are fully grown then slowly turn colour into red and taste into sweet. How beautiful! And how different from the Albino Strawberries I once saw sold in Waitrose which are actually called Pineberries and look like strawberries but taste like pineapples.
It took me a while to find the perfect strawberry to pick, especially given that I had my camera on me and I couldn’t resist taking endless pictures!
I was very much tempted to take some members of this family of strawberries home with me, but separating them felt a bit cruel.
They say the sweetest strawberries are the smallest in size and that the big strawberries, even though they look juicer do not usually taste as sweet. Therefore I kept my eye on the smaller ones and I noticed some of the strawberries had these cute little white flowers resting next to them.
The greenhouse was a bit stuffy and hot and even though I was wearing jeans and a summery top I felt l was melting, but then I looked up and she was there, waiting for me.
There she is! I felt like I should introduce her to you guys.
Her name is fofo and she is the most perfect, reddest strawberry I’ve ever seen. She is also the very first strawberry I’ve ever picked in my entire life. Yes, I’m making a big deal out of this, why should I? I’ve travelled the globe but managed to pick strawberries for the first time from a farm in the middle of the desert of my home country, Kuwait! So yes she gets a name and she is fofo the strawberry I’ve first picked. Hello fofo, isn’t she a beauty?
You are supposed to cut the strawberries from the stem gently with the scissors and then place them slowly in the plastic container and not throw them in so they wouldn’t break. Once I found fofo I kept seeing her twins everywhere! Each more beautiful and juicy than the next.
And before you know it this was happening…
After filling two separate plastic containers we decided it was time to weigh them and pay. We couldn’t possibly consume more than two heaping containers of strawberries before they go bad and they spoil quickly, three days tops if refrigerated.
Weighing time! Both containers cost us 3 KD which means 1.5 KD per container. Its not cheap, considering that local strawberries are selling from wafra farm in the same container for 400 fils in co-ops but I suppose the extra price is the added cost of the experience. I’d go back and pick another container full any day even if it costs five KD per one container.
By the time I got out of the greenhouse with my bag of freshly picked strawberries I was exhausted but quite happy! However, I was ready to go home for sure. Here is my bag of fresh strawberries, each and everyone picked by myself <3
We couldn’t leave before buying some corn for the way home! It was so juicy water spluttered everywhere with every bite.
On the way back home we stopped for a little picnic in the middle of the dessert with lunch we’ve pre-packed from home and washed the strawberries we bought for dessert. Taste-wise the strawberries varied. Some were quite sweet, some a tad sour, and some were simply tasteless but to me they all were different because I picked them myself and from the desert soil of Kuwait .
It was quite a fine day, with a lovely and unexpected road trip followed by trying something new like strawberry picking and ended with a lovely picnic in the desert, all alone with no one else around for miles while I ate strawberries in peace and watched the sun set slowly behind the sand -and the electricity towers and poles but you can imagine them as monuments-. It was a great day, and I have my two blog readers Lateefa and Beejay and my fellow blogger 3ateeja to thank for letting me know about the farm. You truly made my day, thank you guys!
I’m not sure how long will the strawberry picking be available but I expect you could definitely go there next weekend. Pack a lunch, prepare a good soundtrack, charge your cameras, roll down the windows, and go try something new and you wouldn’t expect you’d do in Kuwait.
The Blue Lake farm is located in Abadaly and you can call them beforehand to check if strawberry picking was available by calling +(965)-55058663. You can also check their account on twitter (@Albohayra) or on instagram (@Albohayra).
