Saturday, October 10, 2009

Strawberry picking in Champagne


We drove out to the pick-your-own vegetables place, not far from Chalons. They give you a plastic tub, and then you follow the signs to your chosen fruit or vegetable. I really wanted to pick apples, but they weren't ready yet. The strawberries were almost finished, but we managed to find a few rows tucked away down the back. When you've filled your tub, you take it into the shop and it gets weighed.
My friend Claudie used these strawberries to make a light jam: she washed them and trimmed them, but didn't hull them. She put them into a saucepan with almost an equal weight in sugar, and then simmered for about half an hour. The result was a bright-red, light, barely-set jelly with huge globes of translucent strawberry suspended within. So beautiful. Doesn't keep long, she said, but who needs it to?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I should notify my pal about it.