PRG2 - Popular foods found in Malta

Strawberries across the globe

By: Anthea Cachia

Background Music : [Sol Majori] (From: 00:00:00 till: 03:58:09)

Voice Clip: [Anthea V/O]

From March till June, spring flows through our Maltese fields, giving life to home-grown fruits, vegetables and flowers full of colours and fragrant smells//

Each year, on one hot Sunday Morning, locals farmers come together to celebrate a year’s harvest of fresh juicy strawberries/ /

Festa Frawli, is one day a year where Maltese people go crazy for strawberries and it has been an annual fun-filled feast for the past fifteen years//

People all over Malta, come together to support Maltese farmers and buy local/ In two thousand fourteen alone, more than ten thousand boxes of strawberries were sold//

Products range from pastries to alcoholic beverages, all strawberry flavoured//

But what is the history of strawberries on the island? How come, is it so popular with the Maltese?//

Though it is not entirely clear when the plant was brought to the islands, it was first mentioned in seventeen sixty in local dictionaries, published by De Soldanis, a linguist and a historian//

The plant was initially imported to Malta from the United Kingdom in nineteen thirty. It is rumoured that, in the beginning of strawberry harvesting, they were sweeter and much smaller than what we are now familiar with//

Insert Clip: [Festa Frawli] (2:22 - 2:34)

Let's talk about some facts//

Did you know that there are around two hundred seeds in an average sized strawberry?They are also the only fruit that have the seeds on the outside//

There are three main types of strawberries: the June-bearing, the overbearing and the day neutral/ The June-bearing are the most appetizing berries//

Strawberries come from the same family of roses//

The plant is considered to be a perennial, which means that when you plant one,it will re-grow the coming year/ Although it might not grow strawberries instantly it will remain productive for about five years//

In California, with over twenty three thousand acres of land, produce seventy five percent of strawberry crops//

Americans eat around one kilo and a half of strawberries annually//

Native Americans were the first civilization that ate strawberries. It is said that they were the ones to introduce Europeans to the plant//

Ancient Romans believed that strawberries can be used for medicinal purposes to treat fever, kidney stones, sore throats and also depression//

In Belgium there is an entire museum dedicated to strawberries called Le Musée de la Fraise and one can purchase strawberry beer from the gift shop//

In France, strawberries are aphrodisiacs and are usually served to couples on their honeymoon//

One of the most popular recipes across the globe is strawberry shortcake and it can all be done in thirty minutes//

What you will need is; seventy six grams of melted butter, one hundred and fifty grams of sugar, one normal sized egg, two hundred twenty four grams of plain flour, two and a half teaspoons of baking powder, half a teaspoon of salt, one hundred eighty four grams of milk, one and a half teaspoons vanilla//

Insert Clip: [Mixer] (0:00 - 0:32)

Preheat the oven to one hundred and ninety degrees celsius/ In a mixing bowl combine together the butter and sugar/Once mixed, add in the egg and continue mixing the ingredients together/ Now you have created the first mixture/ In a small separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt/ Add to the first mixture the dry ingredients and the milk, little by little, until everything is mixed together/Finally add the vanilla and stir/ Pour into a greased and floured nine by nine baking pan//

Bake for twenty five to twenty eight minutes//

Insert Clip: [Timer] (0:00 - 0:05)

When done let them cool and enjoy your tasty treat//

Insert Clip: [Final ring] (0:00 - 0:05)

---

INDIVIDUAL EPISODE

---

Full podcast