Its blackcurrant harvest time at the Old Sheep Farm. We have three or four beautiful bushes, high up on the slope overlooking the cottages and the sea beyond. These bushes are so productive, it is quite exhausting...last year, I was out every evening for about three weeks and still had to leave some on the bushes!
Blackcurrants are apparently the original 'superfood' - they contain 6-8 times more antioxidants than blueberries. But, because they are quite sour, they generally need cooking with some sugar to eat them.
We also have a gooseberry bush. Gooseberries have gone out of fashion somewhat - we don't get enough from this bush to do anything very impressive, but Willow is enjoying them on her morning porridge.
We still have bags of frozen blackcurrants in our freezer in the Apple Store from last year - I need to get cooking! But what shall I do with all our blackcurrants? My plans are currently blackcurrant jam, and my absolute favourite, blackcurrant ice cream. I use an amazing recipe from the book La Grotta Ices by Kitty Travers, which infuses the milk with blackcurrant leaves before making the ice cream. This gives such an intense blackcurrant flavour. Her other recipes are amazing too - she often uses herbs and leaves to enhance the flavour of the fruit - like her fig leaf and raspberry sorbet, blackberry and rose geranium sorbet, and her bramley apple and bay leaf ice cream. And some recipes sound rather less virtuous - like her chocolate treacle flavour!
One day, I will buy myself a proper ice cream machine, and then there will be no stopping me...
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