Deserts
A Nice Mulberry Sorbet
Sorbets make for a perfect ending to a meal or to eat away when you feel like having something ice-cream like but without the calories.
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 5 cups Mulberries
- 2 tablespoons Port Wine
Instructions:
Clean the Mulberries and set them aside. Boil sugar and water in a container with medium heat. Simmer it for 3 to 4 minutes.
Turn the heat off and let it cool. While the sugar syrup is cooling, pick off all the green stems from the Mulberries.
Blend the Mulberries and pour the sugar syrup on the Mulberry paste. Make it into a puree. Sieve the Mulberry puree to remove any residual seeds or stems.
Pour a bit of Port Wine into it and chill the mixture in the freezer for about an hour. Then, pour it into an ice cream maker and whip up a sorbet.
An Easy Mulberry Sorbet
Beat the summer heat with a cool and scrumptious Mulberry Sorbet. This is an easy recipe which is made with mulberries and honey.
Here’s what you will need:
- An ice crushing blender or a small food processor
- 8 oz frozen Mulberries
- 3 to 4 tablespoons simple syrup as a sweetener (or agave or honey or maple syrup)
- And just a squeeze of lemon juice or lime juice
You don’t need an ice cream maker for this recipe because you’re making small batches of sorbet. The blender will be crushing the frozen fruit to very small pieces to make it almost as small as with an ice cream maker.
- Roughly weigh out the frozen fruit and place it in a small food processor or ice crushing blender.
- Pulse to crush the fruits into small pieces and add the sweetener, a tablespoon at a time (while pulsing) to create a smooth sorbet-like paste.
- Add a squeeze of lemon juice and run the blender for a few seconds to mix.
- In addition to the sweeteners, you can add water or orange juice or lemonade IF your blender needs a little extra liquid to make that sorbet!
This recipe for sorbet is best eaten immediately – straight after blending.
- Note: Traditional sorbet has a lot more sugar added to it, to allow the sorbet to be softer in consistency and scoopable even when frozen.
Because this easy fruit sorbet has far less sugar than a traditional sorbet, it will harden more when frozen. But it will be just like sorbet as soon as it’s blended! So it’s perfect as an easy alternative for sorbet and a quick and healthy, refreshing summer snack or treat!
However, you can freeze it for later too. You will have to let the sorbet soften a little at room temperature so that it can be scooped easily.
From: The Flavor Bender
Lilac Ice Cream
Fragrant and sweet. Who can resist this? Here’s what you will need:
- about 100 lilac florets
- 150ml milk
- 25g sugar
- pinch of salt
- 2 egg yolks
- 200ml heavy cream
Pick the florets off a bloom of lilac and rinse them. Warm the milk, sugar, salt and lilac florets in a small, heavy saucepan over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve. Remove from the heat when the milk is starting to steam and before it actually starts to simmer.
Taste at this point to check the level of lilac flavor, remembering that the flavor will dissipate somewhat with the addition of the other ingredients. For a stronger flavor, leave the mixture to infuse and taste periodically.
When ready, strain off the lilac florets and warm (but don’t simmer) the mixture again.
Break the egg yolks into a small bowl and stir them together. Gradually add some of the warmed milk to the yolks, stirring constantly, then add the warmed yolk and milk mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk.
Cook the egg and milk mixture (or we can call it custard now) over a low heat, stirring frequently, until it’s thick enough to coat your spoon or spatula (this took me around 12 minutes or so). Now pour the custard mixture into the cream, stirring to combine.
Chill the mixture by sitting it in an ice bath and then freeze either using an ice cream maker, if you’ve got one, or as follows, if you don’t:
Put the mixture in a deep baking dish or bowl and place in the freezer. After about 45 minutes, once the mixture has started to freeze around the edges, remove the bowl and beat the mixture vigorously, using a whisk or a hand blender to break up any ice crystals that have started forming.
Return the mixture to the freezer and repeat this roughly every 30 minutes until the ice cream is frozen which, depending on your freezer, may take take 3-6 hours.
Instead of using sugar, it might be even more fun to sweeten the ice cream with Lilac Honey.
From: The Daily Spud
Wild Rose Blossom Ice Cream
Any fragrant edible blossom will do, so long as it is abundant.
- 100 ml full fat milk
- 200 ml double cream
- 4 cups wild rose blossoms
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 2 egg yolks
- 30 grams caster sugar
Pour the milk and cream into a saucepan with the blossoms and vanilla essence. Heat the mixture until it begins to simmer. Remove, put to one side and let steep for 30 minutes. Strain out the blossoms.
Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until creamy. Then gently pour the cream mixture onto the yolks, whisking all the while. Return the mixture to the saucepan and heat for a minute or two to thicken.
Pour into an ice-cream machine, if you have one, and churn. Otherwise, pour the ice cream into a bowl and freeze. Stir often until it resembles ice cream.
From: Foraging by John Lewis-Stempel
Nyponsoppa – Rose Hip Soup
This Swedish soup, blood red in color, is traditionally served as pudding.
- 600 ml Rose hips
- 2.6 litres water
- 3 tbsp potato flour
- 100 grams sugar
- 4 tsp ground almonds
Rinse the Rose hips and place them in a heavy bottomed saucepan with the water, and bring to a boil. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the hips are soft – about 20 to 30 minutes.
Blend the hip pulp in a mixer and pass through a fine sieve or jelly bag, returning the liquid to the saucepan. Stir the potato flour into a little cold water, then add to the saucepan, along with the sugar.
Bring to a boil again. Turn down the heat, and let the soup cool. Serve with ground almonds on top. Macaroons and ice cream are also familiar floats in Nyponsoppa.
Serves 4
From: Foraging by John Lewis-Stempel
Gluten-Free Honey Almond Cake
Super simple, moist and delicious almond meal and honey cake! This cake is gluten free and paleo friendly. Feel free to change up the flavors (see notes on how to do so). I think a lemon blueberry version would be delicious.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups (8 ounces) almond flour or almond meal, firmly packed into measuring cups
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
- 4 eggs, beaten
- ⅔ cup + 1 teaspoon honey, divided
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- One orange, preferably organic
- 6 ounces raspberries, preferably organic
Garnish:
- Sprinkle of powdered sugar (optional)
- ½ cup chopped raw pistachios
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9-inch pan (I used a springform pan) with butter and dust with almond flour/meal.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the almond meal, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom, ginger and sea salt.
In another bowl, combine the beaten eggs, honey, olive oil and the zest of your orange. Use a whisk to mix well. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Stir just until there are a few clumps remaining, then gently fold in the raspberries.
Pour the mixture into your prepared pan.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and the center is firm to the touch. Place the cake on a wire rack to cool to room temperature.
Once the cake is out of the oven, slice your orange in half and squeeze out ¼ cup juice. Combine the juice with 1 teaspoon honey in a small saucepan. Warm over medium heat, while stirring, just until the honey is blended into the juice. Brush the orange-honey glaze over the warm cake. It should soak right in.
Once the cake is cool, use a sharp knife to slice into 8 pieces. Transfer each piece to a plate, sprinkle with powdered sugar (optional) and finish with a sprinkle of chopped pistachios.
Notes:
Store this cake in the refrigerator, covered, for longevity. Those juicy berries make this cake more quick to spoil at room temperature.
Substitute an equal amount of other berries or fresh fruit for the raspberries and/or trade lemon or lime zest for the orange zest and/or garnish with fruit instead of powdered sugar and pistachios. If you omit the fruit completely, the cake will be done somewhere around 35-40 minutes. If you add additional fruit, you’ll need to bake longer.
Found at: Cookie and Kate
Easy Peppermint Chocolate Fudge
This easy peppermint chocolate fudge is made with only 5 ingredients and takes 5 minutes to make and 1 hour to set. It is infused with amazing peppermint essential oil and is gluten and dairy free.
Ingredients
- 250 grams cashew butter
- 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/3 cup raw cacao powder
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 6 drops peppermint essential oil
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a blender/food processor/thermomix and blend until smooth.
- Spoon the mixture into a loaf tin lined with baking paper and smooth over with a spatula.
- Place into the freezer for approximately 1 hour to set.
- Take out of the freezer and cut into desired portion sizes.
Going Bananas!
Finally a cure for what ails you – Bananas! A professor at CCNY for a physiological psych class told his class about bananas. He said the expression ‘going bananas’ is from the effects of bananas on the brain.
- Important:
Never, put your bananas in the refrigerator!!!
After reading this, you’ll never look at a banana in the same way again.
Bananas contain three natural sugars – sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy. Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90 minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world’s leading athletes.
But energy isn’t the only way a banana isn’t can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.
Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.
PMS: Forget the pills – eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.
Anemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.
Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit’s ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.
Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.
Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.
Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.
Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.
Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.
Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.
Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.
Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and crisps. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.
Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.
Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a ‘cooling’ fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand, for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.
Smoking & Tobacco Use: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.
Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body’s water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.
Strokes: According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!
Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!
So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, ‘A banana a day keeps the doctor away!’
Before you get too excited about bananas, however, you might want to read the other side of the banana story!
Lemon Balm-Apple Sorbet
- 2 large apples, chopped
- 1 cup lemon balm leaves
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup honey
- Juice of 2 lemons
Puree apples and lemon balm in a blender or food processor. Transfer puree to a sauce pan. Add water and honey. Simmer over low heat until thick and bubbly. Strain. Add lemon juice, stir briskly, and cool. Place mixture in an ice cream maker and freeze. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, freeze, then blend the mixture just before serving. Garnish with fresh lemon balm sprigs, and serve with scones or tea biscuits.
FREAKING DELISH!!!
Found at: Bay Witch Musings
Coltsfoot Sorbet
Ingredients
- 65 fresh coltsfoot flowers
- 1 cup organic cane sugar
- 3 1/3 cups water
- 1 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1 egg white
Instructions
Make sure you have only the yellow petals from 65 coltsfoot flowers. (Remove the petals by rubbing the flowers between your thumb and forefinger. Make sure there are no green sepals in with the petals.)
Place the petals, sugar and water into a pan. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes then remove from the heat and let steep for 20 minutes. Filter through a sieve and refrigerate the syrup until chilled. Add the egg white and whisk. Either place in an ice cream maker or in the freezer. As the sorbet churns, the egg white will trap air bubbles and this turns the sorbet white. If you have chosen the freezer method you will need to whisk briskly every five minutes for the first hour, then every fifteen minutes until the sorbet sets.
Note: For information on coltsfoot, including cautions and contraindications, visit The Encyclopedia of Herbology – Coltsfoot
Source: Edible Wild Food