Tour di Francey Pants

I think that France still considers the Italian Piemont region as still a part of France. Why else would the Tour di France ride through here? Well, I am delighted they did. It was my first time seeing a race of this status and grandeur. I can't fathom how hard it must be to ride a bicycle through the Alps. I was also amazed at how many fellow cyclists showed up in the area to show their support. Sestriere was packed with campers and people days before the riders came through.

 Some North Americans passing time with exercises

Here they come!

There they go!

Organic Strawberry Preserves, Pesticide Free!

Luca planted these beautiful rows of fragoli plants (strawberries) about 5 years ago and each year the harvest gets bigger and bigger until the strawberries just pile up out of control. But I am not complaining! I love the fragoli, they are my friends and I eat them like a madwoman.

Since these strawberries grow at an altitude of about 1500m, pesticides are not necessary and never used as we don't have a problem with pests. Besides strawberry cake, strawberry pie, strawberry tarts and strawberry everything else ' the bulk of them go into my strawberry preserves recipe which is so simple yet very time consuming because I clean and cut each and everyone of those little guys by hand.

So well worth it though. Here is my simple recipe:

For every kilo of strawberries I use half a kilo of sugar.

So after washing, cleaning and cutting them, I place them in a huge pot and pour the sugar over them. Then I stir with an extra large spoon or ladle and let them sit for at least half an hour.

cleaned and cut, before adding sugar

Then I turn on the gas stove on the highest flame and bring it to a boil. Next I turn it down so that they reach a roiling boil, but not one that overflows out of the pot. You need to keep an eye on this if you have never done it beofe otherwise you will end up with sticky berry ooze all over your stovetop.

I then add the juice of 2 lemons for every 3-4 kilos of strawberries. I like my preserves sweet and tart, not supersweet like most jams or jellies. A little lemon goes a long way in this recipe.

So how do I know when its ready? Well this is the trickiest part of making preserves as far as I'm concerned. Usually after about 2 hours of boiling and stirring every 15 minutes or so, it's ready. Again this is for about 4 kilos of strawberries so cooking time will vary accordingly. Also, some people like it thick, some like it more runny. I like mine to look like preserves meaning that there are still strawberry pieces swimming in a thick natural strawberry syrup. Mmmmmmm.

There is also the method where you put a plate in the freezer for a few minutes, then you take it out and pour a spoon of strawberry mixture on it and run your finger thru the strawberry puddle on the plate. If your finger creates a space that doesn't ooze back together then it's ready.

At this point you can ladle them into jars. I use a funnel with the bottom cut off so that the sides of the jars stay clean. I then clean out my large pot and fill it with about 2 inches of water and place the jars inside. I then bring it to a boil and let the jars stay in the simmering water for about 10 minutes. This steralizes them and creats a vacuum inside which helps the preserves keep longer.