Create a red, white and blue dessert using local ingredients
The Independence Day holiday period is a time for patriotic thoughts and deeds. What could be more patriotic than to support our local growers and food suppliers.
The desserts described here — along with this column — were to be prepared during a family holiday in Vermont, but COVID19 hit this household, scrubbing the trip. So I’ll settle for recalling past desserts.
Creating a red, white and blue dessert with local ingredients is fun. Local berries easily form the red. Local strawberries are finishing, but local red raspberries are starting.
For the local white, I recommend creme fraiche from Snowville Creamery, available at MOON Co-op Grocery. Creme fraiche is produced by adding a starter culture to heavy cream and allowing it to thicken, without the thickeners typically added to sour cream.
For a local blue-colored fruit, a little-known choice is haskap, available at Oxford’s Farmers Market, introduced to this area by Johnson Family Farm in Somerville. Haskaps look like elongated blueberries, but they aren’t botanically related.
“Haskap” was the name given by the Ainu people living in the north of Japan. Haskaps are tarter than blueberries and have thinner skins.
This time of year, our local growers usually have black, purple, and yellow raspberries, as well as the more common red ones. If you want an all-raspberry dessert, the black and purple can substitute for blue, and yellow can substitute for white.
One year, I made a flag with local raspberries. Generously grease the bottom and sides of a rectangular baking dish. Mine was 6x9.
Melt 5 tablespoons unsalted butter in a microwave and let cool. When the butter is cool, mix it with 2 tablespoons organic sugar, a pinch of sea salt, and 1/4 teaspoon each almond and vanilla extracts.
Add 2/3 cup unbleached pastry flour to form a soft cookie-like dough. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and sides of the pan and bake for 12 minutes at 375.
Remove the shell from the oven, and sprinkle 2 tablespoons finely ground almonds on it, to keep the shell from getting soggy when the filling is added. Combine 1/4 cup creme fraiche, 1 egg, 1 tablespoon honey, 1/4 teaspoon almond extract, and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract. Pour the filling into the shell and bake for another 10 minutes.
For the stars, place haskaps or black or purple raspberries in the upper left corner of the custard. Place red raspberries in several parallel stripes, ideally seven. Return to the oven for only 1 or 2 more minutes.
Alternatively, an all-local red, white and blue recipe for raspberries can start with a scone baked by Kate Currie, available at MOON Co-op Grocery. Kate delivers on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Slice the scone in half and toast. Cover the toasted scone with a generous spoonful of creme fraiche and top off with a generous serving of local raspberries. If only red raspberries are available from our local growers, serve on a blue plate.
MOON Co-op is Oxford’s consumer-owned full-service grocery, featuring natural, local, organic, sustainable, and Earthfriendly products. The store, located at 516 S. Locust St. in Oxford, is open to the public every day. Visit the website at www. mooncoop.coop.