The end of spring ushers in the strawberry season in Switzerland. Suddenly, Swiss strawberries appear in supermarkets—at double the price of those imported from Spain. However, the Swiss ones are definitely sweeter, as they’ve been picked at the peak of ripeness.
A couple of years ago, we discovered a farm just a 10-minute drive from us, where you can pick your own strawberries and pay only half the price of Swiss supermarket strawberries. So, every year, we await the farm’s website update with bated breath, eager for the season to begin.
This year, on our first visit, we came home with five kilos of the sweet red fruit. I washed them all, saved one kilo for eating, gave half a kilo to a friend, made jam with two kilos, and froze the rest for future smoothies.
Now, this is only the second time I’ve made strawberry jam. I made it for the first time last year and gave a few jars away to friends. Earlier this year, I received a message from one of them saying they had finished their jar and asking me to please make more. I was more than happy to oblige.
To make the jam, I simply followed the instructions on the back of the jam sugar packet (sugar with added pectin and citric acid to help the jam set). While you can make strawberry jam with regular sugar and lemon juice, the cooking time is much longer! With jam sugar, I was done in about 20 minutes. The longest part was chopping up the berries, but the girls helped, and it went a little faster. The two kilos of strawberries yielded nine jars—I kept three and gave away six.
Cherry season follows closely on the heels of strawberry season, and we looked for a farm that allowed us to pick our own. After some initial trepidation, the girls ended up enjoying climbing the ladders to choose the ripest cherries. We came home with just under two kilos. I made some into jam and we ate the rest.
Now, I wish I could share the recipes for these jams—and technically, I could—but it wouldn’t do you much good if strawberries and cherries aren’t widely available where you are. However, I can share a recipe for yoghurt, which we’ve been enjoying with the fresh fruits and jam.
I prefer Greek yoghurt to regular yoghurt. It has a velvety texture and a tangy flavor that I much prefer to the runnier, milder regular yoghurt. However, I’ve had a hard time finding probiotic Greek yoghurt here in Biel. It was available for only a short time as I suppose not many others bought it aside from me, because it soon disappeared from the shelves. That’s when I decided to start making my own. I’ve made it enough times now that I know the process by heart.
HOMEMADE GREEK YOGHURT
Special equipment needed: Instant-read thermometer, cheesecloth or yoghurt filter (readily available online) for straining if you want Greek yoghurt.
Ingredients:
• 1 liter full-fat milk
• 60 grams (or 4 tbsp) plain, unsweetened natural yoghurt with live cultures
Instructions:
- In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, warm the milk to 85°C. This alters the milk proteins so the yoghurt sets properly. It usually takes me about 20 minutes, with occasional stirring to prevent a film from forming on top.
- Let the milk cool to 45°C so you don’t kill the live cultures when you add the yoghurt. This usually takes about an hour. I just leave it on the stove and check after 45 minutes. If you’re in a hurry, you can cool it over an ice bath, but I’ve never bothered.
- Place the yoghurt in a small bowl and whisk in a bit of the cooled milk to thin it out, then pour it into the pot and stir.
- Cover the pot and place it in a warm place (I use our oven with just the light on). Check after 4 hours to see if it has thickened to your liking—it can take up to 8 hours. But don’t stress; I’ve left mine in the oven overnight and it was perfectly fine.
- At this point, you have regular yoghurt. To make Greek yoghurt, strain it to your desired thickness. Don’t throw out the whey—you can use it in waffles or pancakes!
Note: You can use your homemade yoghurt as a starter for your next batch.*
