You might find this odd but the Swedes eat different kind of fruit purées, (i.e. strawberry) together with milk as a snack or a light lunch during summer time. I think you call it “Fool”.
I definitely found it odd when I had it for the first time in 1966 – I considered it to be a dessert! But now after 53 years in Sweden, I just love it especially when we have a very hot summer day and I am not very hungry, it is indeed very refreshing.
The recipe below can be used for many different kinds of fruits, one needs to bear in mind that some fruits need a longer cooking time. My husband loves this light summer snack with milk, personally, I prefer it together with yogurt and muesli.
We have a fantastic rhubarb plant in our garden that we use occasionally. Today it just happened that I had some strawberry in the fridge that I needed to use, so ..I made this wonderful strawberry and rhubarb fool, – a marriage made in heaven.
The texture is quite thick if you want it less thick you simply increase the amount of water to 4 dl instead of 3.75 dl. Sometimes I put 3- 4 cardamom kernels (whole) in a little tea strainer and put it in the water from the beginning, but it is optional. This time I only used rose water.
Gives 7,5 dl
230 grams of strawberries
230 grams of rhubarb
3.75 dl water
2 tablespoons potato starch
2 dl of sugar
1 tablespoon rose water
3-4 cardamom kernels (whole) optional
Method:
- Measure out sugar, water, and potato starch.
- Wash and clean the strawberries that you cut into smaller pieces.
- Wash and cut the rhubarb into 1 cm thick slices.
- Mix sugar and 3 dl of water in a spacious saucepan. Let it boil, stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Mix in rhubarb and let it simmer on medium heat for about 5 minutes.
- Pour in the strawberries and let it simmer for an additional 2 minutes.
- Add rose water and stir.
- In a separate glass or bowl, mix the potato starch and 0.75 dl of cold water, add the mixture to the fruit mixture and stir. Remove it from the heat when it starts to boil.
- Sprinkle some sugar over it, it prevents thick layers on top. Let it cool before pouring it into suitable cans for storage in the refrigerator.
Serve with milk or yogurt:
The yogurt must be quite thick (drained from the liquid) You can use Greek or Turkish yogurt. Start with a layer of yogurt, then fruit mixture, one more layer of yogurt and top it with muesli – just heavenly!
Enjoy!
