Wild strawberries, remedy for gout
Fresh wild strawberries, barely sweetened and drizzled with a cloud of milk or cream. The sweetest 'medicine' of the entire learned 18th century.
Fresh wild strawberries, barely sweetened and drizzled with a cloud of milk or cream. The sweetest 'medicine' of the entire learned 18th century.
I tell you as a man who has suffered in his joints: the strawberry is my remedy. Each summer, when they ripen, I gorge myself without restraint, and my gout leaves me in peace — I am both witness and experimenter. Pick them small and fragrant at the edge of the woods, do not drown them in sugar, a simple veil of milk suffices. Nature, you see, often places the remedy close to pleasure.
- •Wild strawberries — a large bowl (fruit-remedy)
- •Fresh milk or cream — a splash (sweetness)
- •Sugar or honey — a pinch, optional (barely sweeten)
Wild strawberries, remedy for gout
Fresh wild strawberries, barely sweetened and drizzled with a cloud of milk or cream. The sweetest 'medicine' of the entire learned 18th century.
Why this dish? Linnaeus suffered from gout and considered strawberries a true remedy for this condition — a conviction he recorded and applied every summer, devouring wild strawberries in quantity as soon as they ripened.
I tell you as a man who has suffered in his joints: the strawberry is my remedy. Each summer, when they ripen, I gorge myself without restraint, and my gout leaves me in peace — I am both witness and experimenter. Pick them small and fragrant at the edge of the woods, do not drown them in sugar, a simple veil of milk suffices. Nature, you see, often places the remedy close to pleasure.
Ingredients (period version)
- Wild strawberries — a large bowl (fruit-remedy)
- Fresh milk or cream — a splash (sweetness)
- Sugar or honey — a pinch, optional (barely sweeten)
Ingredients
- Wild strawberries (or small seasonal strawberries) — 250 g (main fruit)
- Heavy cream or whole milk — 100 ml (accompaniment)
- Sugar — 1 tsp (optional) (adjustment)
- Fresh mint or lemon balm — a few leaves (freshness)
Method
- Gently rinse the strawberries and hull them.
- Arrange them in a bowl or cup.
- Sprinkle with a light pinch of sugar if the berries are not very sweet.
- Pour a splash of fresh milk or cream at serving time.
- Decorate with a few mint leaves and enjoy immediately.
How it was made : In the 18th century, wild strawberries were hand-picked, without intensive cultivation. Drizzling them with milk or fresh cream was common practice on Swedish tables. Linnaeus's conviction regarding their effect on gout was based on personal observation rather than clinical proof.
The contemporary twist : Serve in a glass with a light lemon balm whipped cream, and slip in a small label 'Rx: Fragaria,' a nod to the master's binomial nomenclature.
Carl von Linnaeus · Charactorium