Summer Bursting with Strawberries 20

Summer brings with it an array of many fruits ,vegetables and herbs - each plant basking and feeding off the warm glow of seemingly endless days. With such an abundance of life giving light - is it any wonder that strawberries thrive in these months?

‌
picture courtesy of Bahadorjn

The fleshy sweetness invokes heavenly sighs when coupled with special desserts. Biting into the firm, juicy flesh, your tongue first experiences a tang, but that is overcome by the beautiful sugary blast of flavors.

Strawberries hold a special place in my taste memory. To me they equal the unbridled innocence of childhood - memories of summers long ago , when the sun was ablaze. Summer days as a child with my friends, I would run out into the hills and forests, and creeks or ponds - never a tricky thought clouding my mind, only a determination to experience and cover as much ground as humanly possible - before the sun set below the purple hills. Strawberries were a staple in my house, and more often then not desserts like strawberry shortcake, or just the simple act of dipping a berry into fresh whipped cream, were enough to satisfy a craving for sweetness.


Below is a weight to volume ratio chart for strawberries in their different states:

weight to volume ratio changes if berries are halved, quartered, sliced etc.
(See below)

1 (16 oz.) clamshell package equals approximately:
Whole Unstemmed	18 each 17.2 ounces 3 to 3 1/4 rounded cups 1 cup = 6 or 7 strawberries
Whole Stemmed	15.5 ounces 3 to 3 1/4 rounded cups 1 cup = 6 or 7 strawberries
Halved	15.5 ounces 3 to 3 1/4 rounded cups 1 cup = 6 or 7 strawberries
Quartered	15.5 ounces 3 to 3 1/4 rounded cups 1 cup = 6 or 7 strawberries
Sliced	15.5 ounces 3 rounded cups 1 cup = 6 or 7 strawberries
Chopped	15.5 ounces 3 cups 1 cup = 6 or 7 strawberries
Pureed	15 ounces 1 3/4 cups

If you would like more info on strawberries, California Strawberry commission offers recipes, health and nutritional info.

They also have a really cute site just for kids aged 5-12 yrs , with lots of kid friendly recipes you and your children can make together, and fun activities on strawberry education, called Strawberryville.

The University of Florida also has a great page outlining different varieties of strawberries and where they can be grown, plus illustrations on strawberry shapes - very interesting.



Related Posts:

• Food Photography: Chocolate Mousse with Strawberry Sauce
• Dessert Costing: Banana Strawberry Torte
• Food Photography : Banana Strawberry Torte

Food Photography : Banana - Midori Strawberry torte 12

An oval cookie cutter was used to cut out 3 layers of French sponge. I used a slightly larger size of the oval set and lined it with an acetate strip. I used sliced strawberry to line the acetate , point upward and then added banana mousse. I pushed a layer of the French sponge into the mousse, which distributed the mousse into the areas that weren’t filled by the strawberry. I continued to add mousse then a layer of sponge, and then used a small offset to comb the top smooth. I let this set in the reach in for several hours, then peeled the acetate off.

The dessert was placed on the upper left side, off center. It was garnished with a chocolate design and a half kiwi slice following the line of the chocolate design.

A tempered chocolate fern design was piped onto the plate. It was filled with honeydew-Midori sauce. Descending circles were piped of chocolate on each side of the dessert and strawberry sauce was used to fill the circles.


I will post the full dessert costing presentation tomorrow.


Related Posts:

• Food Photo : Chocolate Mousse with Strawberry Sauce
• Photography : Blackberry Granita w/ Banana Mouse
• Dessert Costing : Banana Strawberry Torte
• Food Photography : Banana Strawberry Torte

Food Photo : Chocolate Mousse with Strawberry Sauce 3

Choc. Mousse in a White Choc. / Dark Choc. Cup w/ strawbery sauce & fresh strawberries, originally uploaded by Amber *.

Dessert Costing : Banana Strawberry Torte 3

This post is referencing a previous post dated Feb. 11 2008 : Food Photography : Strawberry Banana Torte

So David here are those details, as promised. I created this post using Google Docs. Google Docs rocks my blogger socks off! I can just click a button and post a nicely formatted post. I plan to use this tool more in the future.

The purpose of this post is to show you readers how to find a base cost for a plated dessert and what goes into those calculations


Costing Formulas:

☆ Ingredient weight (divided by ingredient unit cost) = ingredient cost per lb/oz
☆ Ingredient cost per lb ( divided by number of oz) = cost per oz
☆ Ingredient cost per oz/lb multiplied by formula ingredient weight = final ingredient cost. ☆ Final ingredient costs added together = total dessert cost
☆ Total dessert cost ( divided by dessert serving number / weight) = per serving cost
☆ Per plate cost added to garnish/decoration cost = total per plate cost

# = lb

Ingredient	Cost per unit	Cost per lb	Cost per oz	Ing. weight	final cost	Used in
Milk	4# = $1.59	0.40	.03	1.5 oz	.05	French sponge
G. Sugar	50# = $25.70	0.57	.04	6 oz	.24	sponge
Egg	18# = $16.80	.93	.06	2.5 oz	.15	sponge
Cake Flour	50# = $9.99	.20	.01	4 oz	.04	sponge
AP Flour	50# = $11.94	0.24	.02	2 oz	.04	sponge
Vanilla ext.	8# = $65.40	$8.16	.51	.125 oz	.06	sponge
B. Powder	10# = $12.90	$1.29	.08	.17 oz	.01	sponge
salt	25# = $7.30	.29	.02	.05 oz	.01	sponge
Butter	36# = $52.56	$1.46	.09	1 oz	.09	sponge

Banana Scented Marscapone

Ingredient	Cost per unit	Cost per lbs	Cost per oz	Ing. weight	final cost	Used as
Marscapone	#3 = $7.76	$2.59	.16	8 oz	$1.28	frost
Banana Compound	38.8 oz = $13.50	$5.60	.35	1.5 oz	.53	frost
G. Sugar	50# = $25.70	0.57	.04	.04	4 oz	frost
Vanilla Ext.	8# = $65.40	$8.16	.51	.25 oz	.13	frost

Total

------

-----

$1.58

.10

--------

Dessert

Strawberry Sauce

Ingredient	Cost per unit	Cost per lbs	Cost per oz	Ing. weight	final cost	Used as
Strawberry Puree	2.2# = $10.51	$4.96	.31	8 oz	$2,48	sauce
G. Sugar	50# = $25.70	0.57	.04	8 oz	.32	sauce
Water	--------	------	-----	12 oz	-----	sauce

Total

------

$1.60

.10

-----

-------

garnish

Midori Simple Syrup

Ingredient	Cost per unit	Cost per lbs	Cost per oz	Ing. weight	final cost	Used as
G. Sugar	50# = $25.70	0.57	.04	8 oz	.96	syrup
Midori liqueur	24 oz = $20.95	$13.92	.87	4 oz	$3.48	syrup
Water	--------	--------	-----	4oz	----	syrup

Total

-----

$2.74

.17

------

garnish

Honeydew - Midori Sauce

Ingredient	Cost per unit	Cost per lbs	Cost per oz	Ing. weight	final cost	Used as
Honeydew puree	.62 per melon	------	------	¼ melon	.16	sauce
Midori liqueur	24 oz = $20.95	$13.92	.87	2 oz	$1.74	sauce
G. Sugar	50# = $25.70	0.57	.04	8 oz	.32	sauce
Midori simple syrup	-----	$5.92	.37	6 oz	$2.22	sauce
Cornstarch	25# = $14.98	.60	.04	.75 oz	.03	sauce

Total

-----

$4.48

.28

----

-----

garnish

Dessert Garnishes

Ingredient	Cost per unit	Cost per lbs	Cost per oz	Ing. weight	final cost	Used as
Choc. Plate Design	11# = $36.19	$3.59	.22	¼ oz	.06	garnish
Strawberry Sauce	-----	$1.60	.10	¼ oz	.03	sauce
Honeydew-Midori sauce	-------	$4.48	.28	.5 oz	.14	sauce
Fresh strawberry	1# = $1.99	$1.99	.12	2 oz	.06	garnish
Fresh Kiwi	.33 each	-----	----	1/5 kiwi	.07	garnish
Choco. Decoration	11# = $36.19	$3.59	.22	¼ oz	.06	garnish
Strawberry puree	2.2# = $10.51	$4.96	.31	.5	.16	Dec.fill

Dessert Cost

Total Cost	No. Servings	Per Plate Cost	Garnish cost	Final Plate Cost
$1.24	8	.16	.58	.74

These prices reflect the cost of making the dessert alone by ingredients involved and do not reflect the menu cost delivered to the restaurant customer. There are many ways to calculate the menu cost of an item, which includes using specifc formulations to calculating labor cost and a variety of other factors.

48210-080330-399239-18 Rate content:

© 2008 All Rights Reserved. No Portion of these formulas or document may be reproduced or copied without permission.

Food Photography : Banana Strawberry Torte 24

kyung of David O'Conner & Lee Photography, in Portland, OR, graciously agreed to set up shop (i.e portable studio) one day after class, to photograph some of my plated desserts --- which were awaiting in the reach-in to be photographed. This was Kyung's first dabble into foodie photography --- as their company works capture more of the traditionally human element.

This dessert was my for my final presentation. It consists of French sponge, brushed with strawberry syrup, filled and finished with banana scented marscapone cheese, then garnished with fresh fruit and a chocolate screen, than drizzled with mango syrup. The plate design was given a stained glass effect , piped on first with tempered chocolate and then filled with honeydew melon -Midori syrup, Strawberry syrup, and mango syrup.

The flavor combination was very good --- the marscapone is so velvety, and it offset the banana wonderfully, and it didn't compete with the buttery layers of the sponge, just enhanced them.

I made all the components from scratch (with real fruit) and used my own recipes and calculated the per plate cost etc. I will post more of this experience in a post to come.

I really like plated desserts --- they are soo fun :)


Related Posts:

• Dessert Costing : Banana Strawberry Torte
• Food Photo : Chocolate Mousse with Strawberry Sauce
• Photography : Blackberry Granita w/ Banana Mouse
• Food Photography : Banana - Midori Strawberry torte

Photography : Blackberry Granita w/ Banana Mouse 3

*Plated desserts. All made from scratch. This blackberry granita in pilsner glass is garnished with banana mouse, raspberry sauce drizzle, two lemon peel spears and fresh blackberries. On the plate are two piped chocolate tears filled with mango sauce and accented with raspberry cloverleafs.
I have been away from blogging and the cyber world for a year....my Google PR reflects that. Ha. Well I am here to tell you I will be sloughing off these feeble embers and stoking this blog into a great foodie fire! VIVA LA CULINAIRE! More to come?!...