Strawberry Season
Strawberry Season
If you’re living in Berlin like I am, you’ve seen these quirky strawberry huts from Karl’s Erdbeer-Hof. The staff is always dressed in matching aprons, shirts or hats. There’s one on our local platz and every single day the hut is stocked full of strawberries. By day’s end there is hardly a box left to be found.
Coming from the Niagara escarpment in Ontario, Canada, I was really spoiled by the best strawberries during the summertime. They grow the most amazing strawberries there - so sweet and bursting with lots of RED flavour!
In Berlin we eat seasonally. Like asparagus season, the strawberry season is very short. I was surprised to learn that the season will be coming to an end on Monday. I have no idea how they deem Monday to be the last day but that’s what my friendly strawberry sales rep told me today.
I’m feeling a little pressure now to organize some jars, lids and the rest of the ingredients for making some summertime strawberry jam. I like to add some cracked black pepper and/or basil to mine and use an apple pectin made by Natura - 100% Apfelpektin. Read the label to avoid using gelatin which comes from boiling the hooves of pigs and/or cows. What sounds more appetizing to you? Natural apple pectin or boiled animal hooves?
In my mad dash to preserve some of Mother Nature’s bounty I decided to freeze some berries. Last evening I gently placed my berries in a large colander and filled the sink with cold water, letting the strawberries soak ever-so-briefly to remove any sand or dirt. After a brief swish around I lifted the colander and set the berries aside to drain. When most of the water had drained out, I placed the strawberry-filled colander on a baking sheet, covered the berries with a tea-towel and placed it in the refrigerator overnight. TIP: To keep berries from spoiling, always cover them with a cloth when placing them in the frig. They are sensitive to air circulation. The only reason I left them in the frig overnight was because it was late and I knew I could deal with them first thing in the morning.
First thing this morning I set up my work area and removed all the stems from the berries. As I removed the stems I placed the berries directly into a lined freezer drawer (you can use plastic wrap or parchment paper). Keep a loose space between the berries so they don’t stick together.
Amazing Strawberry Gelato Ⓥ VEGAN
60 gm white sugar 10 seconds on speed 10
300 gm frozen fruit (strawberries, blueberries, mangoes, raspberries, or other summertime fruit) 10 seconds speed 8
100 gm non-dairy milk (I use oat milk) 20 seconds speed 4
And that’s all there is to it - serve it quickly before it melts!
Enjoy!!
from my Berlin kitchen
11 July 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012