Strawberries and Gardening by Margaret Ullrich - Strawberry Daiquiri Recipes - Virgin and Not

We seem to be having one of those summers in Winnipeg.

Frosty nights last week had people grabbing blankets.

Both for themselves and for their gardens.

Oh, well, we’ve had worse.

I’m starting my second month as an official senior.

I now have a Winnipeg Transit senior I.D. card.

A regular adult bus ticket is $2.25.

I can now use the senior fare bus tickets.

They cost a mere $1.13 each.

That’s half price!
Winnipeggers dearly love any and all bargains!

There will be a full moon tomorrow night.

The Algonquin tribes called the June full moon a Full Strawberry Moon.

In Europe people called it the Rose Moon, a Mead Moon and a Thunder Moon.

As this is a food blog, I’ll elaborate on the Strawberry Moon.

Ah… strawberries…

They’re at their best right about now.

For maximum flavour, don’t wash them until you are ready to eat or use them.

They’re great as is, or you could top them with whipped cream.

Or serve them in a Strawberry Daiquiri.

Daiquiri is a cocktail whose main ingredients are rum, lime juice and sugar.

It is similar to the grog British sailors drank from the 1740s onwards. 

By 1795 the Royal Navy daily grog ration contained rum, water, 3/4 ounce of lemon or lime juice, and 2 ounces of sugar.

Yo ho ho!

The daiquiri was supposedly invented by an American mining engineer, named Jennings Cox, who was in Cuba at the time of the Spanish–American War.
Daiquirí is also the name of a beach and an iron mine near Santiago, Cuba.

The drink was enjoyed by writer Ernest Hemingway and President John F. Kennedy.

It became popular in the 1940s, after wartime rationing had made most strong booze hard to get from Europe.

Because of Roosevelt's Good Neighbour policy it was easier to get rum from Cuba. 

So rum based drinks, once strictly for sailors and down-and-outs, became fashionable.

There are other daiquiri variations:

Daiquiri floridita – with maraschino liqueur

Hemingway daiquiri – or papa doble – two and a half jiggers of white rum, juice of two limes and half a grapefruit, six drops of maraschino liqueur, without sugar

Banana daiquiri - regular daiquiri with a half a banana

Daiquiri Mulata - made with rum and coffee liqueur

Many alcoholic mixed drinks made with finely pulverized ice are called frozen daiquiri.

They come in a wide variety of flavours made with various alcohol or liquors.

Another way to create a frozen fruit-flavoured daiquiri is by using frozen limeade.

Hints:

A bag of frozen sliced strawberries from the freezer section works just as well for the virgin daiquiris.

If you are freezing fresh strawberries:
Clean them by rinsing, removing the green stem, and slicing for 1/4 inch wide pieces. 

Place them on a lined baking sheet, and freeze them for 4 hours, or until frozen solid.

You’ll need 4 Cups of berries for this recipe.

                        Strawberry Daiquiris

Combine in a shaker with ice cubes

9 parts white rum

5 parts lime juice

3 parts strawberry syrup

Shake well. 

Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Garnish with a strawberry

                        Virgin Strawberry Daiquiris

Place in a blender:

1/2 Cup lime juice

1/2 Cup diced pineapple, fresh or canned

1/2 Cup dark brown sugar

Blend these together on high, until the sugar is dissolved. 

Test this by rubbing a bit of the liquid between your fingertips. 

You shouldn’t be able to feel any sugar granules.

Add 

4 Cups frozen strawberries

1 1/2 Cups soda water

Blend the berries by starting on low, and work your way up to high. 

If the mixture is too thick, pour in some soda water until it begins to move.
Once blended, pour the daiquiri into 

4 – 8 oz glasses

Garnish with whipped cream (optional)

Add a straw and serve.

About the moon this week…

According to the Farmers Almanac:

On June 2 there will be a Full Moon. The visible Moon is fully illuminated by direct sunlight. Though the Moon is only technically in this phase for a few seconds, it is considered “full” for the entire day of the event, and appears full for three days.

June’s full Moon is called the Strawberry Moon. 

On June 4 the Moon and the planet Pluto will appear very close in the sky.  Also, after the Sun rises, look for a daytime Moon.

About your garden…

If it rains on the feast of St. Medard (June 8), it will rain forty days later; but if it rains on St. Prottis (June I9), it will rain for the next forty days.

Rain on St. Barnabas’ Day (June 11) is good for grapes.

If St. Vitus’s Day (June 15) be rainy weather, it will rain for thirty days together.

If it rains on St. Peter’s Day (June 29), the bakers will have to carry double flour and single water; if dry, they will carry single flour and double water.

Rain on Peter and Paul (June 29) will rot the roots of the rye.

Now you know.