Longest and Mid-Summer Day
As we surge towards the end of June the weather is still somewhat unpredictable. In fact, some days recently, have been positively cold! The longest day has passed (21st), likewise mid-summer’s day (24th), which to be honest was a bit of a joke!
Picking Your Own Strawberries
On Friday my LTA (long term attachment) and me (or should that be I?) picked strawberries at a local PYO (pick your own) outlet. This idea for picking your own and paying less for the produce than shop prices was very popular a decade or so ago! Many farms locally, turned over at least one field to growing strawberries, gooseberries, black and redcurrents, and raspberries. And some even provided you with a fork to go and dig your own potatoes (or ‘taters’ if you’re a Salopian!).
The fruit of course which has been picked by your own fair hand tastes and ‘keeps’ better than shop bought, probably because it has only travelled a few miles to base after picking, not half way round the world as some tasteless exhibits tend to do, and by the feel of supermarket packaging, kept permanently in the fridge, and once it’s removed from its cool environment quickly deteriorates. PYO outlets have decreased over the last few years, probably due to ever increasing overheads. And customers consuming the goods in situ!
Strawberry Jam
So, Friday afternoon saw me making delicious strawberry jam! A bit of an inconvenience, but well worth the trouble. Strawberry jam is notoriously difficult to ‘set’. No matter how long it’s boiled it still runs off the scones! But the flavour is second to none! My jam ‘kettle’ belonged to my maternal grandmother, who, unfortunately died in 1946, the year before I was born. My heirloom has the look of a witch’s cauldron, being black on the outside and white enamel inside! The inherited ‘kettle’ saw the making of over 100 jars of jam per year in its prime! So, my feeble effort must seem like a doddle!
Strawberry Properties
The strawberry is a member of the Rose family and is unique in the world of fruit because it’s the only one with its seeds on the outside for all the world to see. No wonder it has a red ‘face’! Strawberries are good for us, they are rich in vitamin C, contain folic acid (which apparently is good for cell production and maintenance!), and are high in fibre! Not to mention their aphrodisiacal properties as far back as mediaeval times.
In the past strawberries were also grown for their medicinal purposes, aiding relief from anything from gout to bowel cleansing! I would think a bowl of strawberries beats ‘colonic irrigation’ by a mile! (Or a few kilometres in new money!)
Wild Strawberries
In my childhood there were lots of wild strawberry plants along the road sides where the tiny berries (they are a fraction of the size of cultivated fruit) could be picked and eaten safely! Those were the days when pollution as we know it today hadn’t really reached the sides of country roads. It was a case of blow away the dust and enjoy! And of course the flavour was superior to most commercial varieties, which are obviously grown for quantity not quality!
Strawberries at Wimbledon
The tennis at Wimbledon is in full swing! Literally! 27,000 kilos of strawberries are consumed there every year, liberally covered with 7,000 litres of cream! Mmm!
Strawberries of Old
The Native American Indians were enjoying strawberries when the colonists (not to be confused with the aforementioned ‘irrigation'!) arrived in America four hundred years ago, as were the Romans as early as 200bc.
Summer’s on its Way (at last!)
Anyway, we have been promised a couple of days of ‘hot’ weather, with a high pollen count, starting today! So, we shall see!
Thanks for your time! Speak soon!
The Bumpkin Rambler xx
