Strawberry Preserves -- a Pinedo recipe

 On page 79 of Encarnación Pinedo's book, El cocinero español, I found this recipe:

I translated it to this:

Strawberry preserves.

         After the strawberries are rinsed, the calyx is removed: a layer of strawberries and another of sugar are placed in a container, and alternately the layers are put on until the pan is filled, leaving them so overnight.

         The next day the honey that the strawberries have discharged is taken and a quart of water and another of sugar are added: everything will boil to the point of joining the fingers[1]: when the syrup has that point, the strawberries will be emptied into it, and be careful that they only give two boils, so that they get well soaked and do not fall apart.

         NOTICE-When the preserves are boiled enough, a peeled and segmented orange is added, but without breaking it, it is left to boil for one or two hours in the preserve, and it is removed without breaking it. With this operation, the preserves are not sweetened.

         ANOTHER-A little Spanish anise[2] is added to the preserves, which will be tied in a piece of white canvas and placed inside the vessel or pan in which they are being cooked.

---

[1] Possibly the thread stage, 230° F.

[2] Pimpinella anisum or aniseed.

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Ah, now I have a goal for my visit to the farmer's market!

After a diligent search for just the right berries, I was successful:

You see, most of the farmers were selling baskets of giant, beautiful strawberries.  But I walked the entire market to find a basket of small, beautiful berries.  The big ones are showy, but they aren't robust in their berry flavor.  The small ones, often sold as jam berries, are the best when you want a strong taste of strawberry.

Notice in her recipe, Miss Pinedo emphasizes that the berries are not supposed to fall apart.  This tells me the goal is to preserve the berries as a whole, that they will be presented that way.  This is not a strawberry jam to spread on toast.

My Redaction

Strawberries - I forgot to weigh them, but this is three of the typical baskets found in the United States

1 1/2 cups sugar for the berries

4 cups sugar for the syrup

4 cups water for the syrup

Optional orange

First I rinsed the berries, then removed their green calyx, as directed.  Since the goal was good looking berries, I used the tip of a thin-bladed knife to remove the calyx without damaging the rest of the berry.  

A swirl of the knife tip did the job.

Once they were all ready, I began to make the layers.  Note the sugar amounts with each layer.

First layer with 1/2 cup sugar

Second layer of berries

Second layer with 1 cup sugar

Once I had completed the layering, I put on a cover and let them sit (without disturbing) for 24 hours.

The sugar worked its magic, and a lot of liquid was extracted from the berries.

I separated the berries from the two cups of liquid.  It was mixed with 4 cups of sugar and 4 cups of water in a 4-quart pan.

Note:  This pan was not big enough!  I should have used a Dutch oven or anything much bigger so the liquid and then eventually the strawberries had enough room to swell while cooking.  

I got a nifty new candy thermometer!

After some of the water boiled away, the level was low enough to really let the boiling cut loose without worrying it would overflow.  I think a too-full pan made it take longer to reach my goal temperature of 230 degrees - the thread stage.

Almost to temp.

Once it reached temperature, I changed to a bigger pan.  The strawberries were already in it, so I poured the hot syrup over them.  I used the back of a slotted spoon to stir everything -- this did so without breaking up or cutting the berries.

Coming to a boil

Miss Pinedo says to "be careful that they only give two boils".  Having read her book, I interpret that as bringing the berries to a boil, then lowering the heat until the boiling subsides.  Repeat.  This makes sense when you consider she was cooking over fire -- once the boiling starts, pull the pan off the fire, then put it back on again.  This is what I did.

Boiling berries

After the second boil, I used a slotted spoon to put just the berries into the sterilized jar.

Some syrup traveled with the berries.

I recognize that the foam should have been removed.  I didn't even try.  I knew I wasn't canning them, so it wasn't a worry.  Once the jar was full, I poured some hot syrup over the top and sealed the jar.

I could have put more berries into the jar.  I could see how they floated up and there was a significant gap between the berries and the bottom of the jar.  It wasn't such a problem in the second jar, which was bigger and contained all the rest of the berries.

Still more foam!

There was a lot of leftover syrup, so I decided to try her recommendation to cook it with the orange.

I found her directions somewhat confusing.  It wasn't clear to me why I was cooking the orange: was it to make a candied orange?  Or was it to add an orange flavor to the strawberry syrup?  After checking her words against my translation, I decided it was to add an orange flavor, otherwise I would be putting more oranges in to cook.

Also, I had already reached the thread stage for the syrup, and I wondered how I would cook it more without going to a higher stage.  I decided to keep a low heat under the syrup so it would cook for a long time as she directed.  

I watched the thermometer while keeping the mixture at a simmer for 1 hour, 30 minutes.  I never saw the temperature exceed 230 degrees.

Once that was done, I saved the orange slices for tasting and all the extra syrup into jars.

This was just one jar.

Everything went into the refrigerator.

The Verdict

First, the strawberries.  I had four guest tasters and the verdict was unanimous:  they were wonderful!  The fresh, just-picked strawberry flavor came shining through.  The sweetness level was just right.  The syrup wasn't too thick.  One guest taster said, "It is perfect."

We speculated that they would be good over vanilla ice cream.  Or on top of a cheesecake.  But we all loved it just eating a berry from a spoon.  

The syrup the berries were in was wonderful, and we thought it would make a good syrup flavoring in a soda or on top of shaved ice or in tea or in lemonade.

Next, the oranges.  Again, the verdict was unanimous:  they were not very appealing.  The outside skin was chewy, which was not pleasant.  The overall flavor was strawberry-with-orange but with an underlying bitterness that most of us did not like.  One guest taster who likes bitter (in particular, bitter orange marmalade) was willing to enjoy them.  

The syrup was better -- it still had some bitter, but that was not off-putting.  It was decidedly thicker than the syrup on the strawberries, which could be good for mixing into beverages.  I found that one small spoonful was enough of a taste for me, but I am enjoying it in tea.

Success!  I would not try the orange part again, but perhaps I would try the berries with a little aniseed or other spice.  But you just can't beat the pure flavor of the berries that came through by themselves.

Tips to remember:  

Use a very large pan to boil the syrup.  That way you have room for the liquid to expand and foam, and then you have room for the berries, too.

Cooking the syrup to the thread stage, 230 degrees F, was just right.  If you want a thicker syrup, let it simmer for a while after the berries are cooked.  Or maybe before.  How could it hurt?  Just make sure to barely cook the berries so they stay whole.

Perhaps the orange flavor would be better if it wasn't cooked very long.  Just enough to add a hint of orange to the strawberries.

You can probably double the amount of strawberries and their "honey" and still add them to 1 quart of water with 1 quart of sugar.  I had plenty of syrup left over even after the berries in the jar were covered.

Strawberry Pudding

It is strawberry season again and
Strawberye
is the name of this recipe from the English medieval era.  The recipe, as best I can write it with this keyboard, is as follows:


Take strawberys & waysshe hem in tyme of zere in gode red wyne; than strayne thorwe a cloth, & do hem in a potte with gode almaunde mylke.  Alay it with amyndoun other with the flower of rys, & make it chargeaunt, and lat it boyle; and do therein roysonys of courance, safroun, pepir, sugre grete plente, pouder gyngere, canel, galyngale; poynte it with vynegre, & a lytil whyte grece put thereto; colour it with alkenade, & droppe it abowt, plante it with the graynes of pomegarnad, & than serve it forth.

The book this comes from (one of my favorites!) is Pleyn Delit:  Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks  by Hieatt, Hosington, and Butler.  It is recipe #114 (the book has no page numbers).

ISBN 0-8020-7632-7

Here is their modern redaction:

2 - 4 oz ground almonds
1 1/4 cups water
1 pint fresh strawberries
1/4 - 1/2 cup red wine
2 tablespoons rice flour
1/3 cup sugar
pinch each pepper, ginger, cinnamon, salt
1 tablespoon butter (or lard)
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons dried currants

First draw up an almond milk with the almonds and the water. **Directions paraphrased from the Preface:  Mix the finely ground almonds with the hot water and let steep for a while.  Strain through a cloth, also squeezing the cloth to get out all the liquid.  Use the liquid in the recipe; the almond meal is good for other recipes. (I used 4 oz of almonds and then cheesecloth for the straining.)  Note that you are trying to get the oils from the almonds into the water, which is why you squeeze it.

The mix is steeping.

This is what was left after straining and squeezing

Hull and pick over the strawberries.  Put in a bowl and pour wine over them.  Mix gently with your hand or a wood or plastic spoon; then pour off and discard the wine.  (This seemed like a waste of good wine!  But I did it anyway and some wine stuck to the strawberries.  I consoled myself with a cup of wine afterwards.)

Blend or process the berries with the rice flour, sugar, spices, and almond milk.

After the blender time

Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly; let it boil about 2 minutes to thicken, then remove from heat and stir in first the butter, then the vinegar and currants.

Cooked and noticeably thicker

Pour into a large serving bowl or individual dishes and allow to cool.  Chill before serving.

The Verdict
I will call this a success -- there was nothing I would call a failure at all.  I liked the flavor and how thick it was and that it wasn't too sweet.  The hesitation in my conclusion comes purely from the overall reaction I had to it.  I honestly wanted more strawberry flavor and I think it had too many other flavors mixed in.  That is easy to fix -- I would lighten up on the vinegar and perhaps the spices.  I don't think the butter is important. 

The currants, which normally I enjoy, were a distraction.  Some of that is just me:  I wanted a smooth berry pudding and I got a berry pudding with little bits of chewy currants to work through with each bite.  If (when!) I make this again, I would add chopped strawberries instead of the currants, which would give the bits of chewy but increase the strawberry flavor instead of competing with it.

Overall, I liked it!  It is a different way of eating strawberries and it can be dairy-free as well as gluten-free, if you need that.  It is pretty to look at and has a good flavor.

I made my own almond milk but you can get a premade at the store these days.  I've tried it and thought it was okay enough if you are in a hurry. 

A Tarte of Strawberries

It is strawberry season (hooray!) and I have a large quantity just asking to be made into something historical.  I found this site on the web:  Cariadoc's Miscellany; Desserts, Appetisers, Etc.

"Cariadoc" is the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) name of David Friedman, the man who assembled a collection of medieval and Renaissance recipes (receipts) from a variety of sources.  He lists the source with each receipt and includes his redaction.

I chose a Strawberry Tarte receipt along with the recommended receipt for the crust.

To Make Short Paest for Tarte

A Proper Newe Book p. 37/C10

Take fyne floure and a curscy of fayre water and a dysche of swete butter and a lyttel saffron, and the yolkes of two egges and make it thynne and as tender as ye maye.

3/4 c flour
1 T + 1 t water
1/2 stick = 4 T butter
6 threads saffron
1 egg yolk












Cut butter into flour, then crush saffron into 1 t of water; mix that and the rest of the water with the egg yolk and stir it into the flour-butter mixture.

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***Normally I would cheat and buy a premade pie crust (I know, but it is soooo convenient!) but this one includes saffron and I really wanted see how it tasted.

I did all the mixing by hand, using a fork to cut in the butter and using my fingers to gently and lightly blend the dough.  Using good pastry-making techniques, I used cold water, cold butter, and only worked it until the butter and flour looked like corn meal and the complete mixture was barely blended.

I didn't take any pictures of this process until I started rolling out the dough.  You can see the flecks of saffron in it.

I still don't have an 8 inch pie pan so I used my 8 inch cake pan.

The amount of dough was pretty close to exactly what I needed, given that I rolled it very thin.

It only shrank a little once it had been cooked for its ten minutes (as mentioned below).

Now, on to the filling!

A Tarte of Strawberries

A Proper Newe Book p. 39/C11

Take and strain them with the yolks of four eggs, and a little white bread grated, then season it up with sugar and sweet butter and so bake it.

2 c strawberries
4 egg yolks
1/2 c bread crumbs
1/3 c sugar
4 T butter
8" pie shell (see recipe above)

Force strawberries through a strainer or run through a blender, then mix with everything else (the butter should be melted).

Just blended strawberries

 

Strawberries and everything else

Bake crust for 10 minutes, then put filling into the crust and bake at 375deg. for 20 minutes.  *Note:  I baked the crust and let it cool while I was making the filling.

Before baking

After baking

My observations:  20 minutes at 375 degrees is exactly the right amount of time to cook the filling.  It was perfectly set and well-flavored.

This is before I chilled it

Using a blender is a good thing, as it made the process quick and easy.  Since the receipt didn't say how to measure the strawberries (whole?  sliced?), I sliced them up right into the blender to its measure of 2 cups.


The result?  I loved the taste of the filling before it went into the oven.  It was a light and flavorful strawberry "mousse" of sorts.  Once the tarte was cool, I tried a piece.  Overall I liked it but there was something, some aftertaste, that I didn't like.  So I chilled the whole thing and tried it again later.  The flavor was still good but that aftertaste remained.  I think that off-flavor was the crust, which I didn't like much because the bottom was tough.

There was really only one thing to do:  Make another one!  This time I used the premade crust.  The only other difference between the first and second tartes was that in the second one, I poured the filling into the hot crust as soon as it had baked its ten minutes.  In the first, I poured the filling into the cooled crust.

Take two!

 The crust was cooked more than the first, probably because it didn't have a chance to cool down before the filling went in.  The "off" flavor was gone which I suspect was contributed by the saffron but am still not sure.  It was also gone from the first attempt after two days in the refrigerator.

The second crust was not tough.  It could be that the first crust got tough because it was allowed to cool before I filled it.

Having two pies in the house prompted me to take one to work to share.  I asked people for their honest (not "polite") feedback.  The responses were overwhelmingly "I like it" with an emphasis on how much the delicate strawberry flavor came through.  One person, who admits to being very particular about textures, wished the filling was stiffer, more like a custard.  But she still thought it was good overall. 

The Verdict:  I declare it a success!  I would try the saffron crust again but will either increase the quantity so it didn't have to be rolled quite so thin or use an actual 8 inch pie pan.  And I will follow the directions better so the crust doesn't cool before I put in the filling.  I think it deserves another chance, certainly.