Long live blueberry summers
Blueberries are one of life’s simple pleasures. Over summer, we stockpile the freezer with pick-your-own berries, augmented by the fruit from several small blueberry bushes in the backyard that are finally beginning to earn their keep.
Blueberries have an incredible gelling quality. They can be made into a firm jelly by simply pulverising fresh raw berries in a blender until smooth, pouring it into small bowls and leaving them to set in the fridge for an hour or so. Give it a go, it is quite magical.
When blueberries are cooked, this gelling quality can be used to produce a thick conserve without the addition of pectin and/or copious amounts of sugar. This results in a thick and rich berry-full conserve that sandwiches perfectly between two spiced cookies.
Blueberry & boysenberry conserve
Preparation time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 30 minutes Makes 3 x 300g jars
■ 500g blueberries
■ 500g boysenberries or blackberries ■ Juice of half a lemon
■ About 1⁄2 cup sugar or honey
Place the berries into a wide-bottomed saucepan. The larger surface area of a wide base means excess moisture can boil and evaporate as steam to thicken the conserve.
Cook on a low heat for 20 minutes until the berries have softened. Remove from the heat and use a stick blender to puree until smooth (alternatively use a potato masher to macerate the berries). Return to the heat, add the lemon juice and sugar or honey to taste and simmer for a further 10 minutes.
Preserve the hot conserve into hot sterilised jars. For a small batch like this I use the oven method to sterilise the empty jars – place them in a cold oven and heat to 120 degrees Celsius. After 15 minutes begin to remove the hot jars one at a time to carefully fill with the hot conserve. Meanwhile, boil the lids for 5 minutes and use a tea towel to screw on to the filled jar. Cool the jars on a wooden board. Once cool check the lids have sealed – they will be curving into the jar – and store in a cool pantry for up to six months. Once opened, store conserve in the fridge and use within three weeks.
Linzer cookies
These cookies, inspired by the iconic Austrian Linzer Torte, are an excellent use for this rich berry conserve. Using brown sugar in these cookies provides a hint of molasses which goes well with the spices and the darkhued berries.
Preparation time: 20 minutes + 30 minutes’ fridge time
Cooking time: 12 minutes
Makes 12 biscuits ■ 100g butter
■ 1⁄3 cup brown sugar, lightly packed ■ 1 small egg
■ 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
■ 11⁄4 cups standard white flour
■ 1⁄2 cup ground hazelnut or almonds
■ 1 teaspoon baking powder
■ 1 teaspoon ground allspice
■ 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
■ About 1⁄3 cup berry conserve
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and lemon zest and beat until thick.
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add to the butter mixture in two batches, mixing well between each addition. Tip on to a bench and knead briefly. Place the dough into a covered dish and chill for 30 minutes.
On a lightly floured bench, roll out two-thirds of the dough to 5mm thickness. Use a 6cm cookie cutter to cut out 12 rounds and place them on a lined baking tray. Spread each round with a teaspoon of berry conserve.
Roll and cut out the remaining dough to create 12 more rounds. Use a 1cm cutter to cut out the centre of each round (or use an apple corer) and carefully place on top of the conserve-spread rounds. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden. Transfer to a cooling rack.
Store in an airtight container in the pantry and consume with three days.