Is this my real love? I think I can't tell my wife, but I think I am in love.
I am often asked by people "Of all the places you have lived what are the reasons you live in Poland?", there are of course many answers to this. However, one of the greatest things about Poland is the seasonal fruit and vegetables.
Being from Australia we do have season, but being so physically big we have the chance to produce almost everything the year round. The difference is that here you can get all these things year round, but with huge air miles attached to them and therefore no flavour. Hence, why I get so excited about certain times of the year because of the foods that the season brings.
Now is THE most magical time when all of my favourites co-exist! Raspberries, Strawberries, Cherries, Gooseberries, Dillberries, and the list goes on. Here is a mini tribute to what I am stuffing into my fat mouth nowadays. These were all bought from out local open air market the prices were roughly as follows:
Cherries: 8PLN/kg
Strawberries: 7PLN/kg
Dillberries: 20PLN/kg
Gooseberries: 16PLN/kg
Raspberries: 16PLN/kg
N.B. current exchange rates are 1AUD =PLN3.39, 1GBP=5.25, 1USD=3.37, 1NZD=2.66, 1EUR=4.24
The jagoda is often translated by Poles incorrectly as blueberry (which is actually Borówka) but is actually the Dillberry
Raspberry, delicate, sweet and fresh are unbeatable (with the exception of my favourite Blackberries)
Strawberries, always great, especially in jam.
We decided recently that cherries are to Poles what grapes are to Australians you get the bursting with freshness and flavour so that they actually make a popping sound in your mouth when fresh.
Agrest is the often maligned gooseberry
They go from green to purple and are really high in pectin, great for jams.
So slice 'em up
And whack 'em together with some greek joghurt and you are eating healthily and happily.
Ok, ok, so the title is a little misinforming. What I am talking about is the foods of the wild. Here in Poland, as in many of the European locations, wild food really is actually closer than you think. In Australia.... I don't remember much else than the obvious animal protein, but then again that probably shows my simple ignorance and lack of attachment to the land, during my city slicker time living there. In Poland, however, it really is something that people add to their diet. It may come from the times when queues were long and supply was short, so they did the most natural thing and turned to the natural larder to get them through the leaner times. Either way, they certainly have some great traditions that I want to be part of!
We went to Sokolka so that I could vote in the elections. Yes, I voted. Well..... I put the voting slip into the box! So technically I am saying I was on the winning team even if it wasn't me registered to vote. So I am now a PPP - Polish Political Person. :) Whilst in Sokolka I continually pestered the family to take me looking for Jagoda, blueberries. To be perfectly honest, I have never seen a plant of blueberries on a farm, let alone in the forest. I knew that they were in abundance, as I had bought some recently in our local Saturday markets. Then, on the way to the far East Outpost that is Sokolka, there were scores of kiddies, grannies and the old leather jacket clad scooter rider trying to sell their deftly picked windfall on the side of the highway. I was amazed looking at them, most people with two or 3 Nescafe styled and sized jars to sell. I thought "How lazy! Couldn't they even be bothered to pick a decent amount?" Of course, this was all prior to me attempting to pick said dark purple berries.
So after getting in early Friday afternoon, and dropping the hint every hour or so that I wanted to go, Marta and her Mum finally caved in to my persistent pressure and took me to the forest. Sure I could go on my own, but I wouldn't know what was poisonous and alternatively deliciously edible. That is until I would fall over crying and hallucinating like Ralph Wiggum (see the Simpsons episode Das Bus). Ahhh, the Simpsons, always there for a reference.
So off we went, up the road maybe a whole kilometre (or to those old schoolers aka Americans, English and all Australian older persons, that is 0.621371192237 miles) we came to a stop. It was a beautiful place, opposite some tractors making hay while the sun shone. Yes, that was a literal interpretation of the site, along with 4 storks in the field hunting frogs or equally scrumptious creatures. We hopped out of the car on this dirt road and the first thing we saw was a little plant with a tiny red berry on it. I presumed that as many things in nature, red = certain death. However, Marta's mum walked over and pulled it off the plant and offered it to me. I shook my head kind of vigorously and then she popped it into her mouth. Marta made it round to the other the side of the car. "Oh goody! Wild Strawberries!"she exclaimed, as I suddenly felt like an ignorant fool. Ela wasn't trying to kill me, just give me a nice present. So we picked a few and popped them into our greedy mouths, hoping there were no bugs or sticks caught up in the collecting process. Hungry for more we climbed the steep bank of the road leading us into a small woodland.
Once there I was amazed! Originally, we had been hunting Jagodas, the elusive blueberry or maybe the odd kurki (Chanterelle), but instead we found a never ending field of wild strawberries! Well gatherers can't be chosers, so we started to pick. We picked and picked and picked and picked. Here is how kiddies without buckets would store berries for the stroll home. I personally don't know how they could survive the temptation to eat them long enough! Ela showing a happy strawberry smile.
Non-stop for about 45 minutes or so, apart of course from the stretching to stop the knees locking, and the sneaky little munch here and there on a berry or three. At this stage we had half a bucket full, which probably would have weighed in at about 500 or 600 grams. It is hard to contain yourself to stop picking sometimes, when you see the almost red glow coming from these little berries when they catch the sunlight. Quite a lot when you think most berries grow solo and none are bigger than an index fingers nail. We also did a few strawbs lay backs. Which is pick a handful and tip them all into your mouth and basically let them dissolve. These little things have the most intense flavour of strawberries ever. They are so delicate and sweet. Due to this delicate nature, there is really no point collecting huge masses of them as they won't last more than a few hours. Unless of course you are planning to make jam..... which crossed my mind, but I let the Vuvuzelas rule me. I wanted to get back to watch the Argentina vs Germany World Cup match. For once my belly didn't win! I will be back next time though.... to murder that wild field of berries and make some of the most intense jam ever! I promise this.
So what to do with these? Well other than eat them like the great healthy little snacks that they are..... I decided at half time to make some pancakes with them and a little vanilla flavoured whipped cream. First get rid of all sticks and bugs that may be hiding there. Distribute onto pancakes. Stare at them in marvel. Cover with cream, roll and add more cream and a little grated chocolate to make it look pretty. These were fantastic and I found it hard to stop at one. Luckily I only made enough batter for two rounds of pancakes each!
Cottage industry, how great you would be..... if only the neighbours would move out and we could convert you all into gardens!
“One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe-German Playwright, Poet, Novelist & Dramatist, 1749-1832.
So it is that time of year, yes the greatest time when the fruit is plentiful and tasty but the most important factor is that it is cheap. The Strawbs will be coming to an end soon, whilst at the moment the most common sight in our neighbourhood on the street corners isn't kebab stalls, isn't flower sellers but little men with piles of Truskawka in little cane baskets. One of the quaint things about Poland is that they call a local market a "bazaar". It always makes me think of Turkey and piles of spices, insence burning and little men running around with tea!
But our market is a beautiful place where you can buy some big granny undies, double yolk eggs, dried herbs from a sweet talking old man, fresh herbs, smoked smallgoods, milk, pretty much anything with the exception of live animals, unless you count the gold fish man.....
So this day we bought a whole bunch of beautiful strawberries. They are really great at this time of the year. Not just great but going for about 4PLN/kg ($AUD1.4, GBP0.83, $US1.21). Which is a great bargain for freshly picked and bursting with flavour fruit. So we grabbed about 2 kg's and brought them home with the expectation of munching away on them for the weekend. But when we opened our selection, we realised quickly that they were mostly really good fruit, with few exceptions. This got me to thinking about making jam as I had heard that the best fruit should be used for jam. So off I trotted onto the internet to locate some information. I stumbled across numerous sites with great information. The BBC website even had a video of how to make strawberry jam. Also I came across a great website from Australia, a little bit preachy at times, but a really nice place full of passion and desire to make living at home real living and of course a place where they made their own way of making jam. Me being a scientist, male and know-it-all decided to follow both recipes, otherwise known as having a recipe but not following it.
So here are the steps:
1) Buy fantastic strawberries
2) Core them and remove anything that looks even a little squishy.
3) add equal part of castor sugar to equal part of strawberry and mix, then leave to sit for a while. In my eagerness it was only about 1.5 hours but should be better overnight.
4) The strawberries will now release their delightful juices and so whack all this into a big pot (I mean big!), if you can a heavy bottom is best. Heat on low to melt sugar, once that graininess has gone when you stir it then you can turn the heat up.
5) The reason I said big pot is that it starts what is called a rolling boil, very pretty and very effective, but mine decided to roll over the side. So keep an eye on it, and turn it back a touch if it gets too excited.
6) While it was boiling away, I decided to use some of our home grown mint, berry icecream, and the "scum" or bubbles that are on the top of the jam for a little snack.Product placement anyone? I tell you what, this was the best tasting dessert I have had in a long time, and was so beautifully contructed by a company called "The Hand of Mart".
7) Once it had boiled for a whole half of a football game (Australia 0- Germany 4!) I decided to bottle it, but first I was sneaky and crushed some of the strawbs with a potato masher as I had some really big ones in there that I hadn't cut. I washed, added boiling water, rinsed it, put in the oven for 40 minutes at 140C to kill off bugs. Then filled the jars. The jam itself came out a little runny, I probably should have boiled it longer or as the Mother of Mart, Ela, said I should have used pectin jam. Either way it seriously is one of the greatest jams I have eaten. I am not normally a big jam fan, but I have found myself eating it almost every day for breakfast for a week!
Ok, while I was being the jam king Marty was working hard on another recipe. A more traditional one. One called Ogorki Malosolne, which translates roughly as slightly salted pickles or gherkins if you are English.
Don't they just look good swimming in the sink.
What is that guy looking so happy for?
Oh! I see, he is getting excited about getting into the action!
So after cleaning up those little cucumbers, you should get your earthen ware pot ready. Start by lining it with horseradish leaves, dill, pepper corns, horsradish (root) and garlic.
This was our first time with this recipe, and we decided to slice our garlic. Which was a little silly as the pickles/gherkins became super garlicky. So in future they will stay whole instead.
Then you add your buffed and shined cucumbers in layers with following with alternate layers of the afforementioned greenery.
Keep doing this till the pot is filled, or you have run out of produce!
Then mix salt into warm water and stir till it dissolves, roughly two 2 tblspns to 2L (subtle hint: this is where they get their name from). Then you pour this into the pot and put a weight in there to hold down everything to stop it floating. We used just a small bowl full of the salty water. It worked a treat. We left them for 24 hours and started to munch. For this style of gherkin/pickle they should stay crunchy as it makes them much nicer.
Overall it was a really great fun weekend as we bottled the nettle beer too, which is now sitting away in the pantry and working on getting some great flavour and bubbles... I hope! :)
