NICOLA GALLOWAY
Try something a little different, and quite special this Easter.
After the recent (many days of) rain, the late summer berries are plump and ready to eat. Rain followed by sun has sweetened up the thornless blackberries, along with an early but welcome second flush of raspberries. I wish I knew the name of my raspberry variety to recommend as I think they are quite the best. They fruit in spring and then again in autumn (although early this year), with the second harvest having the best flavour and yield. It began with a few raspberry canes from a local market stall, and with their nature to spread it has now become a sprawling and thriving berry patch.
Most of the fresh-picked berries are eaten fresh as is, not long after harvest, or are great in after-school smoothies. I had to be quick this time to get some into the baking tins. I will also squirrel some away into the freezer for the cool winter days when sun-kissed summer fruit is a real treat.
Nicola Galloway is an award-winning food writer, cookbook author and culinary tutor. homegrown-kitchen.co.nz
A few notes on this recipe
· You can use any aggregate berries here such as raspberries, blackberries or boysenberries to make the berry syrup. They all have a similar moisture level to ensure the correct amount of liquid.
· I source my gelatin powder (which I find more convenient than the leaves) from a local bulk food store. It can also be purchased in sachets and tubs from the supermarket – look in the baking section.
· I have some Easter egg shaped cutters in my cookie cutter stash. Really, any shape can be used, or go free-form and use a sharp knife to cut out shapes. Using an oval cutter meant there was some waste that I cut into mini-mallows, tossed in a mixture of icing sugar and cornflour and kept in a sealed container for adding to hot chocolates.
· You can make this without a thermometer, however, a thermometer does take out the guesswork. If not using one, cook the sugar syrup until it reaches ‘firm ball stage’ (find directions online). Kitchen thermometers are an economical and handy piece of equipment. I use the same one – a barbecue thermometer – to check internal meat temperature, dough temps, and as a candy thermometer.