There’s been a lot of talk in the news in recent years on what exactly is the perfect ratio of strawberries to cream.
Strawberries and cream are a bit of a British institution, and a survey by a Dr Farrimond for Morrison Supermarkets concluded that the perfect strawberries to cream ratio is 70:30. I thought I’d take a little look at what my old family cookbooks had to say on the matter. 112 years before the supermarket survey, Isobel’s Home Cookery, (Pearson Ltd) London 1903, advised to allow a third of a pint of cream to each pint of strawberries.
STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM INGREDIENTS LIST
strawberries cream White pounded sugar (granulated) Here are her exact instructions, because I couldn’t put it better myself: –
‘Pick the stalks from the fruit, and allow to each pint of strawberries thus prepared, 2 ounces (55 g / 1/4 cup) of sugar and one third of a pint of cream ( 185 ml / 0.8 cups). Whilst arranging the strawberries in a dish or in a bowl, sprinkle them with sugar so that all may be equally sweetened; pour the cream over the top. Devonshire cream is very delicious with strawberries, and, if very thick, may be diluted with a little thin cream.’
Dr Farrimond recommended eating the strawberries within a 3 minute window from the second the cream hits them, but it would be hard to wait longer anyway, don’t you think?
bon appetit
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