i find it surprising that greek people don't eat blackberries*..they eat dandelions, frogs, snails, intestines..but not blackberries? and they don't eat mushrooms either*! i made a blackberry pie one autumn in edessa for eleftheria my landlady to try..she tasted it suspiciously and reported liking it but she never wanted to go foraging with me and she never accepted any on offer either..
i love them though and last week i was lucky enough to have a foraging day with my daughter alexandra..we didn't get many and the ones we did find were crunchy with seeds and a little past their best flavourwise..
my preserves cupboard is groaning with jam so i didn't want to make jam or jelly with them..instead i made an almond and blackberry cake and meringue nests filled with blackberry puree and cream and garnished with fig leaf dust** and blackberry syrup..that's it for this year's blackberries unfortunately..i had planned to go again with a friend but a daughter's wedding is taking priority over blackberries this year!
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| almond and blackberry cake |
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| meringue nests with blackberry puree and cream garnished with fig leaf dust** and blackberry syrup |
* my comments are based on the experiences i had while living in greece several decades ago
** i've recently discovered that fig leaves are edible so i dried fig leaves and crushed them to a very fine powder to use as a garnish
further reading
http://www.naturalcuresnotmedicine.com/2013/03/fig-leaves-just-as-healthy-as-figs.html (health benefits)
http://kimberlyshaw.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/08/fig-.html (fig leaf tea)
comments
~ i thought the almond and blackberry cake was a great recipe in which to use my precious blackberries because there were no other competing flavours to eclipse their beautiful autumn flavour..i think it's a versatile recipe that would work with other berries too and it would easily convert to gluten free by substituting the very small amount (40 gms) of plain flour with rice flour or any other gluten free flour
~ i like the flavour of the fig leaf dust..it tastes and smells just like a warm summer day under a fig tree
do you like blackberries or do you they're best left for the birds?
Yum yummity yum! Those nests look delicious. I LOVE berries of any kind!
ReplyDeletethanks ods..and even better when they're free..j
DeleteIf I could find blackberries I would be on them in a flash, (best I can get is a few stray mulberries later on in the year.)
ReplyDeleteLovely looking cake and meringue Jane- I hope you get a good stash of them next year.
thanks dear brydie..we didn't find them locally..i'd spotted the bushes a few months ago on another expedition into the country which was more than an hour's drive from melbourne..any excuse to get out of the city!
ReplyDeleteA lovely post with something that I just learned (fig leaves are edible!) in it. I knew that you could use them to wrap food in but I didn't know that you could eat them...I think we had best keep that under our hat as the native animals around here will hoover up anything edible...I am going to pretend I didn't just learn that! I love your cake and have had my fair share of scoffed blackberries...in fact it was the ONLY thing that didn't drop me into severe depression when having to vote the other day...that and 3 bags of potato onions for only $2 a bag...now THAT was a political score! Cheers for this wonderful post and that gorgeous recipe that I am going to attempt to veganise. I am going to need luck on that one! ;)
ReplyDeletethanks fran..i want to sip on fig leaf tea before the trees lose their leaves..i think it would be lovely for afternoon tea with a fig cake or scones with fig jam or any some other fig treat..x
ReplyDelete