When our dear friends Heather and Paul moved to Marrakech for a year, they entrusted their beloved scented geranium to our care. It had been an engagement or wedding gift - so they left it behind with palpable nostalgia. I can only hope they trusted we would love it as much as they had, and so we have. I can't think of a better hallmark of Spring than the delicate blossoms it produces this time of year and, as I mentioned earlier, I have had great plans for these blossoms for some time now.
And then there's the matter of the berries. We have our friends Paddy and George to thank for introducing us to the world's most perfectly sweet strawberries I've ever tasted in my entire life (OK - save for the memorable strawerry I ate on my Uncle's farm in Costa Rica when I was 15). I am fairly certain (but shout if I'm wrong Paddy) that the UNBELIEVABLE gems we discovered on a roadside stand in Sebastopol were Seascapes- one of three or four strawberries commonly grown around these parts. And here they are:
What stands out is sweetness and a perfect ripeness. Also - these suckers are s-m-a-l-l!! So when you have to hull almost 5 pounds of them - this stands out. We found the beauties pictured above at our local Berkeley farmer's market, and then at the stand directly across, we tasted some Chandler strawberries and suddenly found that we had no choice but to make two batches.
Which batch turned out better? Hard to say. The raw Seascapes were sweeter than the Chandler's so I probably should have adjusted the sugar but I'm not that fancy yet. In the end - I think the Chandler berries produced the best jam. That said - these were my first batches of strawberry jam and I cooked the Chandler's off first and pulled them a little early so the jam isn't as firm as I was hoping. The Seascapes were cooked slightly longer and the texture is better but the jam is ever-so-slightly more sweet. I have a feeling we'll be debating Seascapes vs. Chandlers over many, many pieces of toast.
No comments:
Post a Comment