Many of us associate England with the red telephone boxes, Big Ben and tea which is drunk, sometimes with milk, at 5 o’clock. Other people tend to connote England with significantly old buildings such as best boarding schools for young, aristocratic chosen ones as Harrow, Rugby, Winchester or, mentioned in the title, Eton College founded by Henry VI.
Let us imagine that we have just gone back in time to the 19th century and we have an unique opportunity to watch the annual cricket game between Etton and Harrow . The day of the game in Eton, which is located 35 kilometres from London, was also the day of the Strawberry Pavlova dessert served as a reward for pupils. According to legend, during the game a hilarious accident happened. An enormous, clumsy Labrador sat on the picnic basket, with the desert inside, crushing it completely. Pupils did not care about either the situation or some fur left in the Strawberry Pavlova but ate with relish the remains of the dessert saying that mixed up tastes much better.
This is probably how the name was coined and with it the tradition of this holiday dessert’s. However, as it usually is with legends, there is several version of the same story. Allegedly, the desert slipped out of clumsy chef’s grasp so he blamed the aforementioned dog. Others argue that Eton boys maniacally mixed ingredients of every single pudding they were served. Regardless of this British talent honing place dessert’s name origin, it taste delicious served with seasonal fruits.
How to prepare the dessert? Nothing is more simple. All you need is to bake (version for ambitious) a meringue, or just buy it. Then toss the broken meringue pieces into already whipped cream, mix it with a spoon and then place meringue cream in turns with strawberries, or forest fruits, into a tall glass. Finally, you can enjoy this simple, yet sophisticated dessert.