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fruit preserves Yet because fresh, ripe berries are perishable, often the bestberry desserts are those prepared at home. And a visit to a farmersmarket or a really good produce market featuring locally grownfruit reminds us that strawberries are supposed to be red inside,not white, tender rather than hard, and sweet without being dustedwith sugar. Short of growing your own, few berry experiences rival the joy ofbuying aromatic berries from the farmers market. Their perfumefills the car as you drive home; they're so different from thescentless, cold, underripe berries you often get at thesupermarket. Once you get the berries home, you have a wide array of choices ofhow to use them. It's hard to find a dessert that isn't enhanced bya berry of some sort, whether it's cheesecake, ice cream or buttercake. In most cases, the best principle for preparing berrieshappens to be the easiest on the cook: Leave them alone, and keep them away from the heat. Fresh berries arefantastic as a medley of berries, or combined with other summerfruit such as peaches, nectarines, apricots and melons. When I lived in Paris, good restaurants offered berries as dessertwhen they were in season. It might be a bowl of plain raspberriesor wild strawberries, with no sugar needed, or accompanied byChantilly cream — lightly sweetened whipped cream flavoredwith pure vanilla. Leaving berries raw serves not only to preserve their fine flavorand delicate texture. It also conserves their healthful propertiesas well. According to Dana Jacobi, author of The Essential Best Foods Cookbook, heat ''destroys valuable enzymes and some vitamins'' of berries.Jacobi sings the praises of the nutritious attributes ofblueberries, and notes that other berries also have ''multiplebenefits thanks to the array of nutrients . . . nature packs intothem.'' Steven Pratt and Kathy Matthews, authors of Superfoods Rx, also tout the benefits of berries and recommend eating 1 to 2 cupsof any fresh, frozen or dried berries every day. At least once during the berry season, most of us like to enjoy theall-American favorite, strawberry pie. My favorite is a form ofFrench tart, which features raw berries set directly in a buttery,sweetened crust or atop a thin layer of creamy custard filling, andembellished only with a thin jelly glaze. Although some Americansbake strawberries in old-fashioned two-crust pies, most haveadopted the Gallic preference for showcasing strawberries in asingle pastry crust. The berries are mixed or topped with a lightlycooked filling thickened with cornstarch, which may include somecooked berries, and the pie is crowned with a generous flourish ofwhipped cream. Berry sauce is another cook's treasure. Raspberry sauce is aclassic partner for vanilla ice cream, but any berry sauce iswonderful served this way. I also love berry sauce spooned overplain cakes or added to fruit salads as an ultra-luscious dressing. Opinions vary on how to prepare berry sauce. The French techniqueis simply to puree and sweeten the raw berries without adding athickener. Many Americans go for a cornstarch-thickened sauce madewith lightly cooked berries. Blueberries make a flavorful saucewhen lightly cooked, as do very firm, tart blackberries. Frozen berries of all sorts make great sauces and also workbeautifully in recipes that call for cooking berries. Prattrecommends always keeping some on hand to add to hot oatmeal or towhip into a smoothie with yogurt, bananas, ice and soy milk ornonfat milk. When using frozen berries that are sweetened, reducethe amount of sugar in your recipe. Berry jams, jellies and spreads are great alternatives to whitesugar for sweetening berry sauces, as they intensify the flavor ofthe fruit. Jacobi suggests making an easy, luscious blueberry iceby whirling frozen blueberries with blueberry fruit spread in afood processor. Clear raspberry brandy, known as framboise, and other berryliqueurs are excellent in sauces, fruit salads and syrups fordabbing on cakes. They help to turn berries paired with plain cake(such as ladyfingers, angel food, pound cake or sponge cake) into afestive dessert. All you do is moisten the cake layers or sliceswith a bit of berry brandy or juice, then top them with freshberries. For further embellishment, add berry sauce or strainedberry jam and whipped cream. Or choose vanilla or berry yogurt as alighter topping. Layer the elements in a glass to make a quickparfait, or in an attractive bowl to make an impromptu trifle. If you like strawberry coffee cake, blueberry cookies or raspberrymuffins, dried berries are the best bet. They have the advantage ofcontributing concentrated fruit flavor to baked goods withoutdiluting the batter. Think of dried berries as a pleasingalternative to raisins.Berries have a place in savory dishes as well. For example, Berryvinegars contribute a flavorful accent to salads of delicate greensand to sauces for duck and other birds, and a few fresh berriesmake a fine adornment for such dishes. I prefer tart fruit likeraspberries or blackberries for pairing with poultry, as well asdried berries used like raisins in sweet and sour dishes. Bring cream and milk to a boil in a heavy medium saucepan overmedium-high heat. Gradually whisk hot cream mixture into yolkmixture. Return to saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whiskingconstantly, until mixture is very thick and nearly comes to a boil.Remove from heat. Transfer to a shallow bowl; dab with a smallpiece of butter to prevent a skin from forming. Cool to roomtemperature. Melt white chocolate in a medium bowl over nearly simmering water,stirring occasionally. Stir until smooth. Remove from water; letcool. Whisk into pastry cream. Cover and refrigerate at least 2hours. Up to a few hours before serving, spread white chocolate filling inbaked tart shell. Top with strawberries, pointing upward, arrangedclose together. Heat preserves in a small saucepan over low heat until hot but notboiling. Strain into a small bowl, pressing on pieces. Using apastry brush, gently brush preserves on strawberries, brushing eachberry individually. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve tartwithin 4 hours so pastry remains crisp. In a food processor, process sugar with salt and flour briefly toblend. Scatter butter pieces over mixture. Process using quickon/off pulses until mixture resembles coarse meal. Pour egg yolksevenly over mixture. Process using on/off pulses, scraping downoccasionally, until dough forms sticky crumbs that can easily bepressed together but does not come together in a ball. If crumbsare dry, sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon water and process using on/offpulses until dough forms sticky crumbs. Add more water in same way,1/2 teaspoon at a time, if crumbs are still dry. Transfer dough to a work surface. Blend dough further by pushingabout 1/4 of it away from you and smearing it with the heel of yourhand against work surface. Continue with remaining dough in 3batches. Repeat if dough is not yet well blended. Using a rubberspatula, transfer dough to a sheet of plastic wrap. Wrap dough andpush together. Shape dough in a flat disc. Refrigerate at least 6hours or up to 2 days. Butter a 9- to 91/2-inch tart pan with removable base. Let doughsoften 1 minute at room temperature. Set it on a cold, lightlyfloured surface. Knock dough firmly with a heavy rolling pinseveral times to flatten it. Roll out dough, flouring often andworking as quickly as possible, to a round about 1/4 inch thick andabout 111/2 inches in diameter. Roll dough loosely around rollingpin; unroll over pan. Gently ease dough into pan. If dough tears,use a piece of dough hanging over rim to patch it. Using your thumb, gently push down dough slightly at top edge ofpan, making top edge of shell thicker than rest of shell. Rollrolling pin across pan to cut off dough at edges. With your fingerand thumb, press to push up top edge of dough all around pan so itis about 1/4 inch higher than rim of pan. Refrigerate about 10minutes. Prick dough all over with a fork. Cover with plastic wrap;refrigerate 1 hour. (You can keep the tart shell, covered, 1 day inthe refrigerator; or you can freeze it.)
2008-06-05 11:00:16

chinese hempseeds El Congreso Petrolero Mundial, con 75 a?os de historia, aglutina ala mayoría de los países productores de petróleo (salvo Iraq) ya la totalidad de las empresas del ramo. Por primera vez en suhistoria, este Foro se organizará en Madrid, y será del 29 dejunio al 3 de julio, su el lema es "Suministrar energía para unconsumo sostenible". Qué se está preparando en respuesta desde el Encuentro SocialAlternativo al Petróleo? La respuesta tendrá una parte reflexiva y de propuestas,organizando talleres y foros sobre la temática y una parte activa,reclamando las calles con una manifestación y las distintasacciones directas no-violentas que organicemos. El 13-14 de junio actividades y acciones descentralizadas porvarias ciudades y pueblos!!! En Sevilla realizaremos actividades y acciones, sobre todoconcentradas en el sábado 13 de junio y proyección dedocumentales todos los jueves del mes de junio.
2008-06-05 10:14:51

Sell Seeds Farmers in Lira and Oyam districts have asked the Ministry of Agriculture to take action against companies that supply sub-standard seeds. "Sometimes, the seeds are not properly sorted, are broken or the bags are wrongly labelled. We want the ministry to develop regulations that can govern the seed industry and protect the farmers," said Evelyn Angom, a farmer in Lira. Angom, a former displaced person, said most of the seeds they receive fail to germinate. She also complained that sometimes, they receive the seeds after the planting season. Angom blamed this for the low food production and their dependence on food donations. She also complained that some suppliers restricted the distribution of seeds to specific farmers with a condition that the farmers sell their produce to them after harvest. Since 2007, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) together with Fida International have been implementing a new system of distributing seeds. Under the system, farmers are given vouchers with specific value, which they exchange for seeds at specifically organised seed fairs. "We realised that free distribution of seeds may not be the most effective intervention in eradicating hunger in northern Uganda," said Rachel Nandelenga, FAO's public relations manager, during a seed fair in Oyam.
2008-06-05 10:15:01