BERRY SEASON

Berry season is the most perfect reason to goof around in forest. Wild berries are now in season, but so are the cultivated ones, too. Not everyone long for the country life, but everyone love fresh berries! The city slickers harvest their share at market squares. Berry picking, berry cleaning and preserving the nature's organic treats keep the Scandinavians extremely busy right now. Like bears, we fill our stocks for the long winter.


STRAWBERRIES

STRAWBERRY JAM
Grannie's 100 years old recipe

1 kg strawberries
1/2 kg granulated sugar
a drop of water

Clean the strawberries, pile berries and sugar into the saucepan, let stand overnight in the fridge (or if you're in a hurry, just 1 hour in the room temperature will do). Add a drop of water and boil strawberries in a medium heat 5-10 minutes, skim foam. Shake the saucepan, and pour the jam into hot class jars. Close the lids and let cool in room temperature. Store in the fridge.

OR IF YOU USE JAM SUGAR:
2 kg srtawberries
1 kg jam sugar
1 dl water
Put strawberries in a saucepan, add 1 dl water. Bring to boil, add the jam sugar gradually, constantly stirring. Turn down the heat to medium as soon as it starts to boil. Let boil in a medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the saucepan from the stove, let the jam cool in room temperature, until the berries no longer pop up to the surface. Pour the jam into hot class jars, close lids and let cool in a room temperature. Store in refrigerator.

NOTE:
Jam sugar, gelling sugar, jelly sugar or sugar with pectin is a kind of sugar which is used to produce preserves. It contains pectin as a gelling agent and citric acid as a preservative. In the old days jam was made with regular sugar, but nowadays we prefer jam sugar, or if it's not available, you can use a mixture of regular sugar, lemon juice and pectin instead. But, always use at least granulated white sugar to make your jam, do not substitute with artificial sweetener, as it prevents the jam from setting. The real sugar, even without pectin, helps the jam set and also acts as a natural preservative.

Wild forest strawberries are tiny in size but huge in flavor.

CHOCO STRAWBERRIES

melt your favorite chocolate, dip the fresh strawberries in the chocolate, place on wire racks to set. Store in the fridge until serving.

JELLY BERRY CAKE

1 banana
500 g fresh strawberries
8 sheets of gelatine
2 1/2 dl granulated sugar
4 dl non-alcoholic pear cider

you also need plastic wrap and a container with a lid

Line a container with plastic wrap, clean and cut the strawberries, peal and cut the banana. Place berry and fruit pieces in the bottom of the container.

Soak the gelatin in cold water, heat 1 dl of cider in a saucepan, squeeze water out of the softened gelatine sheet, mix it with the hot cider until dissolved. Then add the rest of the cider (room temperature), mix and pour over the strawberries and bananas.
Set the lid on and let the cake set in a refrigerator for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.

Open the lid, turn the cake upside down and peal off the plastic wrap.

NOTE: if you have any left over gelatin-cider, DO NOT pour it into drain ! Wait until its's set and scrape the jelly into garbage.

BERRY TERRINE

mascarpone cheese
vanilla sugar
granulated sugar
dash of lime juice
whipped cream
Digestive cookies
all sorted fresh fruits


Season the mascarpone cheese with sugars and lime juice according to your taste. Mix whipped cream with mascarpone. Crumble the cookies, pile cookie-crumble, mascarpone-cream and berries in layers. Top with berries.

For take away-picnic treat, build your berry dessert in a class jar.

Finnish cherries are quite bitter, often too bitter to be eaten fresh, but boiling with sugar turns them into delicious jam.

If you don't have a cherry pitter, halve the cherries and remove the stones

CHERRY JAM
1 kg pitted cherries
500g jam sugar (or 500 g granulated sugar plus added pectin according to manufacture's instructions)
2 tbsp cognac or cherry brandy (optional)

WHEN USING THE JAM SUGAR:
Put the cherries and 1 dl of water in a saucepan and bring to boil. Cook in a medium heat about 15 minutes, add the jam sugar gradually. Bring to boil and let simmer for another 15 minutes, skim the foam. Add cognac and mix. Remove saucepan from the stove, let cool for about half an hour (until cherries no longer pop up to the surface). Pour jam into hot jars, adjust caps and let cool in a room temperature. Store in fridge.


IF YOU USE GRANULATED SUGAR AND PECTIN instead of jam sugar:
Combine cherries, 1-2 dl water, and pectin in a saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring constantly,skim foam and cook until cherries are as tender as desired. Add sugar and bring to boil, cook for 1 minute, skim foam, add cognac and pour hot into jars. Adjust caps and let cool in a room temperature, but store cherry jam in a refrigerator.

BLING-BLING BERRIES

5 dl red currants
1 egg white
200 g granulated sugar

Cake decorating could not be easier. Wash the berries and tap dry. Beat the egg white for a while, dip berries in egg white, on at a time, then roll in sugar. Let dry in a room temperature.

RED CURRANT JUICE

1 1/2 l cleaned red currants
5 dl water
3 dl sugar

Put the washed red currants in a saucepan, pour water so much that the berried are barely covered. Bring to boil and cook in a medium heat 10-15 minutes, until the color of the berries start to fade. Sieve the juice, add sugar, bring to boil and skim the foam. Bottle the juice in hot bottles, let cool in a room temperature. Store in refrigerator.

TIPSY BERRIES

white rum
fresh berries
granulated sugar

Pour 3 dl of rum into a class jar, weigh the berries and add equal amount of sugar. Add rum to cover all berries. Store in refrigerator and let stand for 3 months.