Strawberry Sky - Recap

Nutritional anthropologist Deb Duchon and crowd of friends fresh from the 1960’s have gathered fresh strawberries. One young man asks why grocery berries don’t taste this good. Deb replies that mass market berries are bred for size and a firm texture that can withstand shipping. Flavor is less important. A mysterious bearded figure asks about strawberries in myth and legend. Deb confirms their storied past. It was once thought the berries couldn’t be domesticated. Folks believed the berries grew only in the woods among mysterious creatures. They left baskets of berries as offerings to placate these mischievous sprites. The bearded stranger comments that these woods “sure are creepy.” That’s enough for Deb’s nervous charges; she leads them away, but several superstitiously leave their berries behind. The strange man removes his disguise– it’s Alton, who has played up the visitors fears to score baskets of berries!

If foraging through the forest doesn’t thrill you, seek out a “pick your own” farm or look for a roadside vendor. These places offer the best chance of getting quality berries. Alton believes wild berries are best served straight up or with a splash of cream. An arrow strikes his truck and the message wrapped ‘round it chides that the only proper cream for berries is clotted cream. As produced in Devonshire, England. Alton shares a technique for making this kind of cream. He starts with pasteurized heavy cream (avoid the ultra-pasteurized variety; the fat globules are too small.) He puts the cream into a coffee filter basket over a bowl and that assembly into the refrigerator for six hours. The whey (liquid part) drains through the filter and a thick cream remains in the filter. Scrape down the sides of the filter every couple hours. The final consistency should be similar to that of cream cheese.

Most strawberries are hybrids of the tiny American woodland berry and a much larger variety brought from Chile by a military spy. Because the berries rot quickly, growers placed straw on the ground beneath the runners. The berries that rested on this stayed drier and lasted until harvest. Always ask that roadside vendor where his berries come from; some of them visit the same wholesaler the food store uses. And smell the berries – if they don’t smell like much, odds are they won’t taste like much.

Alton’s next goal is macerated berries. He starts preparing his berries with a cold water bath. Each berry is actually many, many cells in a kind of receptacle. These cells are the actual fruit. It’s mostly edible, but in a mature berry, the inner core becomes white, hollow, and flavorless. Alton disdaining specialty tools that don’t work, and uses the star tip from his pastry bag. He removes the leaves and then inserts the tip with a twist to pull out the hull. This method also reduces the amount of ascorbic acid oxidase released by damaged hulls, discouraging the formation of unappetizing brown pigments. An acid bath also keeps berries bright. Alton prefers red wine, although some folks use lemon water.

Alton adds honey, lemon zest and black pepper to his hulled berries and then puts them in the chill chest to marinate for a few hours. Macerated strawberry topping has a wide range of applications: angel food cake, yogurt, shortcake. To obtain a softer berry texture, Alton suggests adding sugar. The sugar causes water to leave the berry via osmosis, producing softer flesh.

Summer berry pudding starts with the macerated berry mixture and a loaf of firm bread – about sixteen pieces, four of them buttered. The hardware is four 13.5 oz cans with both ends removed – save four of the lids – and four soda cans. The soda won’t be used; the cans are just for weight. Finally, you’ll need a half sheet pan or cookie sheet and a sheet of wax paper or parchment.

Alton cuts disks from the bread using the open ended cans, saving the buttered pieces for last. When he cuts the buttered pieces he leaves them in the cans. The cans go together on the sheet. He alternated layers of berries and bread to form a stack; the top layer should be bread. He finishes by setting the saved can lids on top and putting the soda cans on them – the weight of the soda cans will force the ingredients together. That goes in the refrigerator for eight hours. When it comes out, Alton removes the cans – the pudding is ready to be served. It can be served with clotted cream if desired.

Good strawberries aren’t available year round. What does one do in the winter? Follow Alton’s advice on freezing for fresh firm berries and you’ll have them any time you want them! A slow freeze produces large ice crystals that pierce cell wells. Fruit frozen slowly will be mush when it’s thawed. So Alton shares a technique for quickly freezing berries.

He starts with small to medium berries - these contain less water. He layers them with paper towels in a colander and refrigerates them for four hours to ensure they’re chilled and dry. When chilled, the berries are ready for a dry ice freeze.

Dry ice, actually frozen carbon dioxide, sublimates at around a hundred below zero, Fahrenheit. Alton dons heavy insulated kitchen gloves to ward off frostbite. Ski gloves will also work. However you do it, avoid a trip to the emergency room. Use protective gear.

Alton has a five pound block of dry ice – sufficient to freeze several quarts of berries. He pulverizes the ice and puts it in a metal pot, then drops in the berries and stirs them into the ice. The pot goes into a cooler; the cooler is left unlatched so the sublimating carbon dioxide may escape. Alton open freezer bags inside the cooler (where there is only carbon dioxide) and adds the berries. That keeps oxygen out. Berries will keep for as long as a year this way.

Alton next shows how to dip berries. His dip is apricot preserves melted with orange liquor, but there are many choices. Alton uses a straightened paperclip through the wide end of the berry as a handle.

Strawberries, besides being great tasting, are loaded with anti-oxidants – chemicals that can neutralize the free radicals associated with aging and cellular breakdown. Anti-oxidants “donate” electrons to free radicals, preventing them from stealing the electrons from vital cellular chemicals like DNA. Oxidation damage has been implicated in a wide variety of disorders, including cancer. Berries are good for you and Good Eats.

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