Our foraging trip last weekend was just so nice. It was just great being away from the city for a few hours. I am always amazed by the marvellous goodies we find when we start looking out a bit more. It makes me think about how much we miss day to day, zoned out in our own little worlds. We came across crab apples, watercress, wild cherries, pineapple camomile, orange birch bolete, sweet cicely, rosehips, hawthorn and wild strawberries. Our main bounty, however, was lots of ruby red wild raspberries. These are smaller and slightly more tart and intense than commercially grown raspberries which of course you could use in this recipe instead. “Glen ample” is a wonderful raspberry variety – large and plump with a pleasant acidity. It is widely available in different supermarkets.
This recipe makes an intense sorbet which really is very quick and painless to make, taking about 20 minutes from beginning to eating. I served it in a little glass with a wee hit of vodka and some lime zest. This recipe works on proportions, 4 parts fruit to 1 part sugar, so whatever quantity of fruit you find/buy you can enjoy it in sorbet form.
Raspberry sorbet
600g raspberries
150g icing sugar
to serve – vodka
lime zest
Mash the raspberries through a sieve with a bowl underneath to catch the puree.
Discard the pips (unless you are more inventive than me and have a great use for them).
Add the icing sugar to the raspberry puree and mix.
Have a taste, you may wish to add more sugar.
Pour into an ice cream maker.
Leave to churn until the required consistency is achieved.
Enjoy.
(Note to the sister-in-law-to be, check out the glass, recognise it?)
