BREAD &...

I bought some local sheep cheese from Vrtovin, Vipava valley recently. It is not too strong, yet definitely sheep cheese. It goes well plain with wine, structured white wine or red as well. How would this cheese go with bread? Not average bread, but bread with herbs. Since there is some Tarragon in my herb garden I decided to make a bread that goes with sheep cheese and with any jam as well. Not salty bread and not sweet, for sweetness comes from Tarragon.

750g flour, mix of white 500 and a bit of rye
20g fresh yeast
60g melted butter
400ml warm milk
leveled TSP salt
2 SP brown sugar
2 egg yolks
2 branches of Tarragon finely chopped
half TSP of lemon zest finely chopped

Here is the result.

fresh lemon for zest

fresh Tarragon

makes two loafs

bread with Tarragon

      

SALTY ENOUGH ?

North Adriatic sea. Dating from 15.th to 17.th Century salt beds in Strunjan have long tradition. They were some of the important salt gaining facilities for Venetian Republic. Since 14.th century a new salt gaining process from island of Pag has been introduced to salt beds of Piran and vicinity. So called petola is man made basement-crust of salt beds with help of microorganisms. This crust prevents salt to pick up soil and therefore coloration when harvesting.
For couple of years the salt beds have been restored and are in use again after longer period of negligence. Now they are part of Strunjan natural park. This year conditions for finest of salt's "fleur de sel" are ideal. Calm sea and very dry, warm weather. This salt is well known in gourmet kitchen. It is perfect for finishing touch on various dishes.   

Traditional harvest of finest salt

Tiny film of delicate "fleur de sel" on water surface

Salt beds of Strunjan

Regular sea salt

 

WATER?

Dry vineyard in dry landscape not far from Štanjel

There won't be much to pick this fall...

Still no rain...

HAVE YOU SEEN THE RAIN?

Mid-summer heat. Even flays are resting on early afternoon. OK, it is summer and it should be hot. We're used to this. What is causing increasing worries is absence of decent precipitation for almost a year. The winter was dry, very windy and cold. Lack of water is visible everywhere. It is becoming obvious in recent weeks when shrubs and trees are loosing their foliage. Even hardy plants like vine with deep roots are beginning to show the stress. Depending from ground type it is more or less obvious. Some vineyards on shallow Karst soil or higher laying grounds with Merrel terrain are especially affected. Suitable grounds on Karst are not abundant. Therefore many vineyards are planted where only shrubs and grass was growing before. Additional soil had to be brought there in order to plant vine. Few have irrigation system installed. Actually there was no need for it. And it doesn't pay of. This summer is putting the plants, also vine to test. The forecast for next two weeks is: hot and sunny.

natural vineyard

dawn in Karst vineyard

about 70 years old Teran vine...it will probably survive even this drought

Teran grapes

Emil Tavčar and his special Teran, vintage 2010, hard year but a small quantity of extreme rich wine

Teran, Malvazija, Vitovska...Karst wine