When Grandma cooks jam, she will make her choice of fruit dependent on what special fruits are in season, the lushest offers at the farmer’s market, and on cases of uncontrollable fruit abundance in the neighbours’ gardens. She quickly cooks 2 or 3 jars between her usual cooking, gardening and housework. The black fruit jam however is one of her true classics. The fruit/ sugar ratio is always the same: fruit to sugar, 2:1. […]
Inspiration and recipe by CHLOE’ SS 2013 and Marmellata di rose. The fact that the pictures of the Chloe dress and the marmellata di rose were so beautiful, the recipe so simple and my own roses in full bloom made me wish to loose not a second to try it (picturing the beautiful images my camera would take in front of my inner eye). First thing in the morning I went out to pick a […]
Whenever I prepare a rhubarb sauce for dessert I add more water than the usually needed for the cooking. Later I strain the juice into a little crystal jug and put it apart. I love to pour a sip of this essence into my water. It’s a refreshing, mouth-puckering springtime beverage. Even the boring oatmeal for breakfast becomes a perfumed extravaganza, if you substitute part of the milk by rhubarb essence. Don’t be disappointed if […]
My green walnut liqueur experiment finished and bottled! Of course I gave it to taste to all my friends who passed by. Here is a short collection of their judgements: could be sweeter! is this meant to be a medicine or just for fun? nice for Tiramisu with a touch of nut a bit rough, has it any healing effect? perfect with vanilla ice cream next year you should make more of those little bottles […]
A short progress report and some photos of my liqueur de noix experiment: Right now it looks like poison and smells like furniture polish. Do you have any wood furniture you would like to have treated with a sugar/alcohol/noix solution?
Today I cut some branches of my walnut tree. I felt bad for the bucketful of green walnuts that should go to waste, so I began a small search for a simple way to make use of the semi-ripe nuts. David Lebovitz in his blog “Sweet life in Paris” made the convincing suggestion: Liqueur de noix! In 2 months I will know whether this spontaneous experiment was a success.
Figs in Germany?? “Too cold”, you may think. Well; Heidelberg, the city where I was born, makes a great exception. It lies in a valley, so the weather conditions are rather untypical: hot in summer, mild in winter and humid all year round! I came for a visit, right on time to help my mother with the figs. I spent a day on a ladder and another one in the kitchen making two types of […]
“Take any amount of fruit (1kg maximum at a time), and half as much sugar. Put fruit and sugar in a pot and from now on you only need patience and the right method” my grandma said. She never allowed gelatine enriched sugar in her kitchen, by no means. Well, the secret was in the right method, which meant you had to spend 30 tiring minutes, a wooden spoon in hand, stirring through the hot […]
I hope this recipe comes still in time…. because usually the good quality sicilian blood oranges are sold by the end of February. If nevertheless you decide to have a try in your own kitchen, you should start NOW with the adventure race in search for the last organic blood oranges. I promise it’s worth the effort: this Jam is to die for! “La Marianna” is not organically grown. I bought 1kg of organic oranges […]