士多啤梨，怎吃？ How to Eat Strawberries?

與香檳一起吃？其實香檳與士多啤梨的味道並不相配，要兩者走在一起的罪魁禍首是電影《風月俏佳人》裡，男女主角在高級酒店penthouse的情節，鮮紅完美的士多啤梨，與顏色優美泡沫正在緩緩上升的香檳，令我們誤會士多啤梨配香檳，是高品味的金科玉律。

To go with Champagne?  Champagne and strawberries is actually never a good match at all.  Blame on the movie “Pretty Woman”, a scene at the expensive hotel penthouse, where the perfectly red strawberries appear with the bubbly champagne of most elegant color.  It just make us misunderstand that strawberry and champagne is the golden rule for classy taste.

然而今天的話題不是如何喝香檳，而是除了單吃以外，應如何提升士多啤梨的甜美與口感。

How to have champagne, however, is not the topic of the day.  We would like to know how to better-off the sweetness and texture of strawberries, when we always tend to eat them straight from the box.

最簡單的方法，是把士多啤梨去椗切開，然後灑上黃糖 (即咖啡糖)。黃糖溶化後，會使士多啤梨更香甜，而口感更軟滑。無論你買回來的士多啤梨是貴價貨，仰或內地貨，都可幫助士多啤梨達到想要的甜度，而且軟化下來不會過於爽口。

The simplest way is to remove the leaves and slice the strawberries, and sprinkle brown sugar (coffee sugar) on them.  As the brown sugar dissolves, it sweetens the strawberries with a great aroma, their texture softened and turned smooth.  No matter how expensive or inexpensive are your strawberries, brown sugar will help your strawberries to achieve the level of sweetness that you prefer, becomes beautiful soft fruit.

另外就是浸於酒中。法國人愛將士多啤梨浸於紅酒中，我今次就將之切片浸於Brown Brothers 橙味甜白酒中，放於雪櫃一天，發現不止令士多啤梨吸收了酒液後變得軟滑，甜度也跟著提高，增加了橙香之餘，更沒失去士多啤梨本身的獨特香氣！

Another way is to put them in wine.  French loves to soak strawberries in red wine.  I’d like to put the strawberry slices in Brown Brothers dessert wine with orange flavor, and keep it in fridge for 24 hours.  Strawberries absorbing the wine become tender and silky, with sweetness enhanced!  While giving the fruit orange fragrance, the unique aroma of strawberries is well-kept in the fruit itself!

我一口接一口的吃完我的酒浸士多啤梨片，看著被士多啤梨染得一抺嫣紅的甜酒，變成如法國少女的口紅顏色，我試著呷一口，驚喜地發現具花香及橙香的甜酒，多了士多啤梨的香甜，而飲著非常清甜順喉，果香淡淡然卻又滿溢！

I have the wined strawberry slices one after the other until I finish all of them.  Looking at the white dessert wine which now being dyed to lovely reddish, color like the lipstick of a French young girl, I take a sip to try.  It’s surprisingly floral, with taste of orange as well as strawberries, slightly sweet and throat soothing!

士多啤梨與其他莓果一樣對皮膚非常有益，但很難於一兩天內吃完一整盒，尤其已成熟透鮮紅甜度高的，放多於一天都已開始發霉壞掉。如像以上方法，先吃一部份當點心，再將另一部份浸酒，就可吃上數天。作飯後甜品酒，得體能用以招呼朋友！

Strawberries, like other berries, are extremely good to skins.  But it’s also difficult to consume the whole box within a day or two, especially those very sweet and fully ripped ones.  They start to grow mold on them and turn bad if you keep them for more than one day.  That’s why it’s easier to have some with brown sugar first, then soak the rest in wine which you can enjoy them for few more days.  The felicity of the strawberry wine makes it the perfect after dinner wine for entertaining friends, too!