Peach Melba

Recipe by Robin

Two of my favorite things about summer are peaches and raspberries. For years I’ve had the idea of combining them into peach melba, a dessert of poached peaches, ice cream, and raspberry sauce. Originally created for the Victorian opera star Nellie Melba by legendary French chef and restaurateur Auguste Escoffier, the recipe, though it sounds fancy, is surprisingly simple (especially after eliminating Escoffier’s hand-carved ice swan presentation).  I cut down the amount of sugar significantly, both in the peaches and the sauce, allowing the full flavor of the ripe fruit to shine through.

Smushberry Sandwiches

The Time is Right for Berry Smushing

Recipe by Satya

When my friend Satya told me about her smushberry sandwich summer tradition, I thought that it was perfect fare for the Teddy Bears’ Picnic, but more novel than delicious for most humans. When put to the test though, the delight of smushberry sandwiches was not just in the smushing, but in the flavor and texture of the sandwich: light, fruity, moist, with a bit of crunch. What are smushberries? “Blackberries, silly!” says Satya. It turns out that raspberries are equally smushable, and can be used in combination with the blackberries if you like.

Raspberry Mini Trifle Parfait

"Everybody Likes Parfait" --Donkey in Shrek

Recipe by Robin

According to Donkey in the first Shrek movie, “Parfait's gotta be the most delicious thing on the whole damn planet!” With the hot summer upon us, I’ve been remembering childhood trips to the ice cream store for parfaits. The classic French parfait is a flavored frozen custard of cream, eggs, and sugar. Because of its fat content, French parfait can be made without an ice cream maker, as long as the cook stirs it several times during the freezing process. In the US, parfait is typically soft ice cream layered with fruit, fruit sauce, or even jello, and usually topped with whipped cream. In recent years puddings, custard, nuts, and even tapioca have found their way into parfaits. Inspired by my recent Trifle experiment, I made this parfait with crushed almond biscuits, berries, Bird’s custard and a splash of Grand Marnier or orange juice.

Peach Raspberry Jam

It's All About the Fruit

Recipe adapted from Sunset magazine, August 2006

Peaches and raspberries, my absolute favorite fruits. Peach melba aside, we rarely see them combined. Since both peach and raspberry seasons are winding down, now is the perfect time to preserve these fruits in a jam to enjoy all winter. As you’ll remember from August’s recipe, raspberry jam is tricky because if it’s cooked down too much, there are too many seeds and too little jellied fruit. Peaches are the perfect foil for this dilemma, adding fruity bulk without seeds and lightening the color from crimson to an agreeable bright red. And the flavor is unique and fun.

Low Sugar Raspberry Jam

(Almost) Instant Gratification

Recipe Adapted from Happy Girl Kitchen

Red raspberries: my absolute favorite fruit! They’ve been scarce this summer compared with golden raspberries, which are also delicious but too subtle in flavor to make good jam. Since raspberry season is so short, preserving them in light honey sauce is a way to eat them almost indefinitely. This year I also tried raspberry jam, adapted from the Happy Girl Kitchen recipe for Low Sugar Strawberry Jam that I posted a couple of weeks back.

Blackberry or Triple Berry Pie

Wild Blackberry Pie

Recipe by Debbie from Live Earth Farm

In the US, we’re celebrating Labor Day today, honoring all workers for their economic and social contributions to our country, and unofficially marking the end of summer and beginning of classes for students. It’s the end of blackberry season here in California too. No more berries at the farmers markets, but they’re still ripening along fences and in fields here and there. They’re fewer blackberries than in July, but most berry pickers have forgotten about them. So it’s the perfect time for the last blackberry pie of the year. You can also combine any proportion of raspberries, strawberries, and/or blueberries with the blackberries in this recipe.

No-cook Raspberry Vinegar

Vinegar After 24 Hours

Adapted from Sissymae at Allrecipes.com

Raspberries are my favorite fruit. Often when I pop one into my mouth, I immediately go back in time to a summer morning long ago in my grandmother’s back yard. Gram is gathering berries for breakfast and I am holding a bowl for her. Every now and then I’ll put a berry into my mouth. The taste and texture are exquisite, like nothing I’d ever imagined or tasted before.

Preserving Fruits: Berries in Light Honey Sauce

Assorted Raspberries and Blackberries

Recipe adapted from Happy Girl Kitchen

A most intriguing idea for preserving berries came to me in a jam-making class by Happy Girl Kitchen, and it’s not a jam. It’s berries in a light honey sauce. Honey preserves and intensifies the berries' flavor. These berries are particularly delicious over lemon bread, chocolate cake, or ice cream in the middle of winter. You can experiment with the amount of honey that you like. Happy Girl uses 1 part honey to 10 parts water, and warns that using more honey can overpower the fruit. But you might like extra honey flavor!