strawberry fields
5 min before rushing out of the house to make a loop via Berne to finally get to Brusssels later today, I came across an article in one of W.’s journals, somewhat alternative, food for thought stuff. Without being able to cite properly: The world’s strawberry harvest is estimated to be about sufficient to flavour 1/3 of the US strawberry flavoured products only. Hmm. What happens with my strawberry yoghurt that is part of the other 2/3? , you might ask. Well, better don’t! Modern strawberry feature for instance some Australian wood chips, aldehydes, colour and other stuff to give you this yummy taste and texture of strawberry.
The article continued with an even more disturbing aspect: Children prefer the synthetically reconstituted fruit and vanilla to the true stuff. Bottom line: They have no clue. And who ever has tried to make an all natural yoghurt might be amazed how much fruits you need to get this fruity yummy taste….we are getting spoiled.
“In perfumery, that’s the same”, I thought. And this is the reason for this post today. Hand aufs Herz (translates into “swear…”): Who has smelled real cistrose lately? Who knows what true, real, best quality heartwood sandalwood smells like?
Is this bad? I do not think so; it is just something to be considered. For instance when talking about notes and naturals. I remember when ordering the Wanderlust perfume two years ago, after a Luca Turin post on his blog, I got a diluted sample of a rose otto oil. Educative and generous. Thus, maybe we should from time to time give our nose the real stuff. Like we should treat ourselves once a year with a real strawberry yoghurt, with lots of sun ripped berries, fresh from around the corner.
March 21st, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Years ago, I decided to introduce my nine-year-old stepdaughter to the joys of homemade chicken noodle soup. We spent a Saturday afternoon cooking the chicken and making the stock, and then made noodles by hand. We cooked and seasoned the soup. Finally, when the soup was finished, we had a big bowl and I asked her what she thought of it. She said, “It’s pretty good - ALMOST as good as the kind that comes out of a can.” :-)
March 21st, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Andy, I couldn’t agree more - sometimes we become so used to imitations that we are shocked by the real thing when we encounter it.
And there is nothing like a real, fresh strawberry! You bring to mind the memory of a June afternoon when I was at work in the kitchen (I spent many years in restaurants), and a woman brought in a delivery of strawberries. She grew them herself, and this was the only product she sold to us. They were still warm from the sun, smallish in size, deeply red. And the fragrance! Wafting up like the essence of summer, you didn’t even have to bend your head down into the baskets to smell it; makes my mouth water even now to think of it. I’ve never since tasted such divinity in a fruit. (So unlike those huge, pale, barely scented things that are all we seem to get in the supermarket.)
p.s. your Eau d’epices sounds marvelous :)
March 21st, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Dear Vasily
I smiled when reading your comment. I made the same experience with myself when ( a few years ago) making my first basil pesto myself. The result was good, but I found it less convincing than what you get from the local supermarket. I simply forgot what the real thing should taste like. By now, I changed the recipe and have a hard time to enjoy the commercial pesto…
Dear AnneE
Thank you for sharing and there really is nothing like a fresh, ripe, warm, red, little strawberry. To enjoy such a fruit is pure luxury, indeed. The same is true for exotic fruits, like mango. I never forget my first mango, eaten in India many years ago. A revelation!At least there it was simple to distinguish the real thing from the imitation…
March 22nd, 2007 at 2:06 pm
On kids; my kids prefer the pre-made meatballs over mine :-( but apart from that, they get mostly home cooked food and nowadays they even love my various cream sauce that are served with meats on weekends s;-)
When it comes to scents, they are brought up with their mamas natural essences and have grown to love them. Hmm, think I need to write a new blogpost of my own on the topic kids and scents LOL, specialy my oldest’s love of vanilla.
On strawberries; only Sweden Swedish strawberries has, is a sayin here. And by that we mean that no strawberries on this earth tastes like the one that grows here. It’s probably due to the huge amount of light they get growing up, because up here in the North they get much more sunlight (long days and very short nights - up north North, the sun never sets for a few months) than the ones growing in southern countries. Must be one of the few benefits from living in this country ;-O - to be able to taste and smell the best strawberries ever.