Now on to strawberries…
French strawberries are known for being intoxicatingly fragrant and sweet. Like Parma ham from Italy or piment d’Espelette from France’s Basque region, some French strawberries are even labeled across Europe as foods with an extremely good reputation tied to a specific place. Travel through the Dordogne or near Nîmes, the two most famed regions, in the second half of May, and you’re likely to happen upon strawberry festivals in every little village.
And yet at our Wednesday and Saturday morning markets in Burgundy, you’d think we were at the center of the strawberry universe. Nestled into their little wooden baskets, the strawberries here smell so sweet that they literally perfume the air around the market. In April, the local growers first show up with Gariguette berries, a more acidic, early-fruiting varietal with a slightly elongated shape. As the weeks march by, new varietals pop up, providing us with different colors, shapes, flavors, and aromas each time we visit. The most recognizable strawberry varietals, like Ciflorine, Gariguette, and orange-hued Ciflorette berries, sound to the untrained ear like the cast of a Marie Antoinette period drama–and they show up on just as exciting a spectrum from sweet to tart. If you’re new to French strawberries, think of the range of apples you know, from the softer Golden Delicious or the snappier Honeycrisp to the tart Granny Smith or more floral McIntosh, and apply the continuum to your neighborhood Driscoll. The more strawberries you try, the more you’ll realize that you may have an opinion about having spent much of your life eating the strawberry equivalent of a Red Delicious. There are so many more to enjoy!
