Sweets

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.

From: Encyclopedia of Herbology

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!
Spoon it into a bowl and serve immediately – or store in the freezer until you’re ready.

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

Mulberry Syrup

Sweet Mulberry syrup is excellent over pancakes, ice cream, and other foods. Here’s how to make it:

Mash one pint of berries in a cooking pot, add 2 cups of white sugar, and bring the mix to a boil for 10 minutes. No water is needed as the berries are juicy enough. Stir constantly to prevent burning. While the mix is still hot, pour through a strainer into a clean jar.

This is your finished syrup! Store it in the fridge for up to two months. Discard after that, or if it grows mold.

Source: Encyclopedia of Herbology

Lilac Sugar

How easy is this?

All you need is equal parts fully opened lilac blossoms, green stems removed, and granulated sugar.

Blend in a food processor till the blossoms have completely broken down. The finished sugar will be moist due to the moisture content of the fresh blossoms, so lay out the sugar on a parchment lined baking sheet and let them air dry.

You can speed up the process by heating the oven to 200 F, placing the baking sheet on the center rack, and then turning off the heat. In no time the sugar will be dried out. It will be a tad clumpy, so just give it another whiz in the food processor. Or you can just do so by hand using a mortar and pestle.

Et voila, the most fragrant sugar you will ever come across! Even as it was drying out in the oven, the kitchen was already taking on a lovely perfume. I had enough for my pie, as well as for tea for the next little while! I also added a few crushed lilac petals to the ground sugar, just for color and added texture.

From: Food 52

Lilac Jelly

  • 2 c. packed lilac flowers
  • 2 1/2 c. boiling water

Pour the boiling water over the lilac flowers, cover and allow to cool. Allow the infusion to sit 8 hours, or overnight. Strain the flowers from the liquid using a coffee filter, you should have about 2 1/4 c. liquid. This is your Lilac infusion.

  • 2 c. lilac infusion
  • 4 T lemon juice
  • 1 box Sure-Jell powdered pectin
  • 4 c. sugar

Place the lilac infusion, lemon juice and pectin in a large pot. Stirring constantly, bring the mixture to a rolling boil. Add all of the sugar at once, and stir to dissolve. Bring the jelly back up to a rolling boil for 1 minute.

Remove the jelly from the heat, skim the foam from the top (I got a lot of foam from this recipe) and ladle into hot, sterilized jars. Process in a water bath for 10 minutes. Makes 8- 4 oz jars.

From: The Three Foragers

Lilac Syrup

Pour over pancakes, add as a liquor base, or a nonalcoholic lemonade base. The extra syrup can be frozen in mason jars to keep year round. It is quite simple to make:

  • 1 cup of water
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 1 cup of lilac flowers (stems and green parts removed)

Combine the water and sugar over medium heat on the stove. Heat until dissolved. Add the lilac flowers and simmer for 10 minutes. If you want a brightly hued syrup, add about five blueberries. The color will pop and add a great dimension to your cocktails. Remove from heat, drain through a sieve, bottle, and store in the refrigerator.

From: Holly and Flora

Lilac Honey 

Fill a jar (1/2 pint, pint, quart etc.) with freshly picked flowers with a little room at the top. Pour over honey to the top and cap. Allow to infuse for at least 6 weeks. No need to strain afterwards – eat the flowers along with the honey! Great for adding to recipes, spreading on bread, or adding to teas.

Note: Always use raw, unfiltered honey. Use local honey whenever possible.

From: The Practical Herbalist

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

Oatmeal Pine Muffins

  • 1 1/3 cups flour of your choice
  • 1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 3 tbsp (heaping) pine powder
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 tbsp melted butter

Instructions

If you are unfamiliar with pine powder, it’s very simple to make, here’s a link: Pine Powder.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin tins. Combine the first 6 ingredients. Add egg, butter and milk then stir until the flour is moistened. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake 20 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

Found at: Edible Wild Food

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