Tasting and Doing the Slow
This is the 9th Slow Food Festival. The autumn had painted the trees in Fiskars, and over 60 producers were all there together for us. We didn’t buy much, but the little spoons and tooth picks gave us a peak into food that is good for us, for those who grew it, and for the planet.
Honey, garlic, beef, jam, cider, sausages, cheese, bread…there was so much to try. It was easy to taste the pleasure in having such good food. And there were some that lingered in our minds even when we were at the next stand.
Just a dot gives a lot.
Founded in 1996, Kal’s Specialty Foods are hand-crafted from all natural fresh ingredients in small batches. The flavour for us to taste was garlic jelly. It was strong, yet sweet. The product has no artificial preservatives, food coloring, citric acid, or concentrates. Ingredients were all prepared in their kitchen, while local and Finnish ones were used whenever possible.
The northernmost honey in the world.
It is always hard to resist the sweet golden liquid, which was even richer than what we’ve tasted before. It was not after research that we found that comb honey that is consumed directly from combs, has stronger flavours than in collected honey.
The well-being of the bees and their appropriate care are important, it is a high-quality, pure natural product.
English rhubarb marmalade
Tittis Korgar`s stand was full of marmalades, woodworks and different kind of baskets. We were primarily interested in the English rhubarb marmalade. Salesman told us that this marmalade won Product of the year in Western Uusimaa award in 2014. It tasted sweet but that sweetness wasn´t too dominant. Rhubarb tasted strongly as it should be. Ginger and lemon peel completed the flavour. This product is delicious and pure, so the prize was definitely well-earned.
Workshops
Most of the workshops were in the morning and we arrived as late as 12 or so, the timing didn’t serve us well. However, what we saw was Bianco Blu`s glassmaster, when he molded different objects from glass. That was so cool. First, he melted that mass of glass in 1100 degrees oven. Then he took that glass out and molded it a plate for candle. He also made two glass birds and attached them into that plate. Lastly, he hardened it in the oven in temperature of 500 degrees. Watching that was fascinating and we can only admire his skills. The glassmaster gave commentary, while he was working and seemed to enjoy the attention, the large crowd was giving, even if it meant postponing his lunch. There were also many finished glassworks for sale in the front of the workshop. The most popular ones seemed to be bird themed, even though, the products overall had a lot of variety.
There was also a possibility to bake your own sourdough bread. The price included guidance of making the bread and the bread itself. Sourdough bread is healthier and more stomach-friendly than normal yeast bread. That`s because you don`t use yeast at all. Sourdough bread was soft, airy and tasted delicious.
https://www.biancoblu.fi/lasinpuhallus.php
Text and pictures: Sheen Sheu, Elias Savolainen, Jenni Vesander