普羅旺斯的天空下 Living in Provence

上週末, 我和老公還處於討論是否要再度光臨一離家不遠的有機農場採草莓的階段...

這家有機農場我是透過一位朋友的介紹得知的, 它還附屬著一間極小的店面用來銷售農場現採的有機蔬果, 以及和當地酪農配合生產的有機乳酪。我們在要去度假前幾週曾光顧過這間小小的有機蔬果店, 認為他們的價格尚合理, 在離開前看到一張廣告說草莓季即將來臨,店家歡迎大家來採草莓。

...想想反正我們並無其他的計畫, 我們便決定出門採有機草莓去。抵達後, 我們便詢問是否還有草莓可採, 店家給了我們一個籃子並告知草莓區在哪。我心想著, 希望可以採到約2公斤的有機草莓, 用來做果醬, 因為今年夏天所做的杏桃果醬(約7公斤)全部都送給親朋好友了。

大約一個半小時後, 回到店內秤重, 我們採了約2.4公斤; 1公斤有機草莓只要5歐元! 我們對這樣的售價非常滿意。正當我們要走出農地前, 我看到櫛瓜栽種區, 一條條近完美的櫛瓜是我在市面上不常見到的, 我便詢問店家我們可否也採買那些櫛瓜, 他告訴我們採收是他們的工作, 加上那些櫛瓜和蔬菜大多都已被其他商家和餐廳訂購了。真是可惜啊!

回到家後, 我馬上處理那些新鮮現採的有機草莓, 因為只想做小份量的果醬, 所以我這次只用了1.5公斤, 剩餘的放入冷藏, 待日後做Smoothie或打冰沙可以用。

草莓果醬做法如下:

 

1.5公斤 新鮮草莓
1.4公斤 粗沙糖 (我使用法國鸚鵡牌純蔗糖)
半顆黃檸檬汁

*先將空玻璃罐洗淨、擦乾, 放入200C烤箱20分鐘殺毒

將草莓(我使用整顆草莓)放入一鑄鐵鍋, 加入糖並煮沸, 請時常攪拌。待此草莓糊一沸騰, 轉大火繼續煮20-25分鐘, 請時常攪拌。熄火前加入半顆黃檸檬汁、攪拌, 熄火。

趁熱將果醬裝入呈現溫熱狀態的玻璃罐, 加上瓶蓋後放涼。然後放置冰箱保存。

(註:  測試果醬是否已達果醬凝固點-jam setting point, 可以在未加入檸檬汁前, 取一小匙放入一盤中, 用食指在盤中劃過一道, 待此果醬冷卻後, 此線條若還清楚的存在即表示你的果醬是已達果醬凝固點。我使用檸檬汁來幫助果醬凝固, 我想市面上應也可買到 'pectin'- 果膠, 它其實是從檸檬皮、香橙橘類的皮乾造後加工粹取而成, pectin 是最常用來幫助果醬凝固。)

成品圖

圖中是加上此果醬的自製No Knead Bread (免搓揉麵包)

我隔日的早餐

Last weekend, my husband and I were still discussing if we should go strawberry picking from an organic farm nearby.  This organic farm also runs a small shop selling fresh vegetables and fruit collected directly from their farm as well as organic cheese from their selected small producers.  This place was introduced by a friend of mine who lives nearby.  I have bought some organic vegetables with a very reasonable price from them just before we left for holiday.  I remembered seeing a note saying the strawberry season would soon arrive and the farm welcomes people to handpick strawberries. 

As we had nothing special planned on Saturday, we decided to jump in the car and go for strawberry picking in the afternoon.  When we got there, we asked if there were still any strawberries left for picking.  They then gave us 1 basket and told us where to go looking for those strawberries.  I had in mind that I would like to make some strawberry jam since all the apricot jam I made was given away.

I said to my hubby that it would be good to have 2 kg of strawberries for jamming.  It took us 1.5 hours and collected around 2.4 kg of fresh organic strawberries.  We did not pay for much, it was 5 euros for 1 kg.  When we were done with picking, I saw some perfect courgettes next by... I was so tempted to take a few home with me...lol.  We asked the owner if we could also handpick some other vegetables, he said no, as that's his job and some of the vegetables would be ordered by some local shops or restaurants already.   What a shame!

When we got home, I washed, hulled and dried these berries straight away.  I put some in a freezer bag so that we can use them to make smoothies when needed.  I only wanted to make a small batch of strawberry jam for ourselves so I reserved 1.5 kg for jamming.

You will need 1.5 kg of fresh strawberry and 1.4 kg of sugar plus juice from half of a lemon.

* Sterilize some glass jars in an oven of 200C for 20 minutes.

Place strawberries in a cast iron saucepan.  Add the sugar and bring to the boil over a medium heat, stir constantly.  When the jam mixture starts to boil, increase the heat and cook for further 20-25 minutes, stir constantly.  Add the juice from half of a lemon at the end, turn of the heat.

(*I used lemon juice to help setting the jam.  You may also use pectin or pre-mixed jam sugar.)

Ladle the jam into warm, sterilized jars while still hot and then seal.  Leave it to cool off and then store in the fridge.

As shown in picture, I had this jam the next morning with my No Knead Bread!