I couldn’t believe how gorgeous the berries were when I got home. Glistening raspberry jewels, dusty violet purple Saskatoons, and bulging black currant pearls pleading: “œPick me! Pick me!”. Hold me back! I go golfing for the wild berries, not for the game. I restrain myself from stealing ripened fruit off of the vines and branches in the neighbourhood. I picked!
The sweet pucker-tart scent of the leaves and stems took me back to my Grandma’s garden when I was a child. She had long rows of current bushes: black, red, and white. They grew high above my head, and as I walked between the rows on a hot sunny day, my feet would burn on the top layer of earth, so I would sink my toes deep into the cool blackness beneath and wonder at the glistening bobbles of berries hanging in crystal clusters from the branches. The most beautiful earrings on my little ears, and the most fragrant perfume. But the taste was too tart and sour. I used the black ones to crush on my lips for lipstick, the red ones for earrings, and the white ones to pop inside of my mouth and gurgle on. The white currants were sweet cool droplets of rain suspended in a tender little sac on each branch. I loved my grandma’s garden. I am so thankful for plentiful memories of planting and growing and picking and plucking, of stained fingers, stained lips, dirty toes, and dirty clothes. I know exactly where my roots are and why I love to do what I love to do. I am an Alberta prairie girl through and through.
I also had my head in France as the first time I tasted Cassis Sorbet was on a warm spring day in Tours. My friend, Rae, had told me that I must taste it the minute I see it. On a shaded narrow cobblestone path upward there was the sun blazing through as the little road intersected with a walking promenade I spied an ice cream stand just off to the right under a quaint yellow and white striped sunbrella. Did they have cassis? They did! Pitter-patter! Truly. I was excited. “œCassis, s’il vous plais!” The tart sweet earthy depth of purple was completely new to me, and unforgettable. I was hooked. I bought a black currant bush as soon as I returned home. The first summer, I had reasonable success and was able to get one litre of syrup from my few berries. The next few years had me struggling as my bush caught many diseases, bugs, worms, and the berries were non-existent. One cannot buy frozen, unsweetened (or any kind of) blackberries in this country though it is possible to do so in Europe, so I was even more motivated. Cassis sorbet is not sold here. Black currants are not available here. So, I moved my bush two years ago, and this year I have a bumper crop! This year I also found that they can be purchased from Mo-Na Food here in Edmonton, frozen, each fall.
Picking currants is messy work, but rewarding work. After getting a bucket full of the currants with stems and leaves almost invisible little crawly creatures, they need a really good wash. All of the leaves, stems, and “œbad” fruit will rise to the surface. I ladled that off, and then continued to carefully pick through the rest.
One basket has the dirty berries, and one the clean. Can you tell which is which?
Now for the sorbet!
Cassis Sorbet Recipe
Ingredients:
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450 g sugar
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450 g water
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450 g black currants
Instructions:
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In a medium saucepan combine the sugar with water
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Bring to a boil, stir until sugar dissolves, and remove from heat: 12 minutes level 3 on Varoma
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Place 450 g currants in the TM bowl (or a clean saucepan), add 370 g of the sugar syrup (2 cups), and boil: 12 minutes at V speed 2
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Purée for 30 seconds on Turbo then 3x 10 seconds on turbo
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Then simmer: 80 degrees at speed 1 for 15 minutes.
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Pour into 2 ice cube trays (these will be full) and freeze
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Place frozen cubes in TM bowl with 1 cup sugar syrup (I do only one tray with 1/2 cup at a time)
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Purée for 30 seconds on Turbo using the spatula to keep the sorbet neat the blades
- Strain to remove all seeds
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Freeze in covered container until solid
This recipe is very tart, yet quite sweet, but excellent for a palate cleanser between courses.
NOTE: Next time I would strain the syrup! See that in the recipe now!
Yummy!
Love it ! So I ran right out to see how my black currants were doing and if they were ready to pick ! I love black currants , always have as they were the most plentiful in Gran’s garden ! Years ago I planted the black , red and gooseberries ( I’ve never seen white currants) Unfortunately my hired hand from Mexico thought the red currant and gooseberry bushes were “dead sticks” during Spring clean up and he yanked them out , busted them up and put them in the fire pit ! I gave my best Spanish warning of hands off the black currants ! Unfortunately he has a friend visiting and they did yard care today . His friend was in charge of whip snipping … when I reached my black currant bushes after reading your recipe , to my horror all I found was dirt ! He has whip snipped them out of existence. After wiping my tears , I googled to find the closest garden center/nursery …gosh looks like I’ll have to go half way to Edmonton to buy some , could be a long time before I get berries ! My goodness they’re asking for $40/cane ! Seems awfully high , maybe they’ll lower come fall …maybe I should ask around locally ! I managed to get strawberry plants locally this year , $4/root/runner/plant ? Not sure what you call them , each plant had a few leaves and one root. I had my hired hand build me a raised bed . I told him to use tree/logs . Since I live on a farm I’d expected him to cut out fair sized trees that were crowding my spruce to make the raised bed . He doesn’t speak English and my Spanish is poor . He used dead fall ( I suffered 7 years of tent caterpillars, horrible things , killed many , many trees !) I’m not sure how well or how long the raised bed will last but I had to get those strawberries planted as they were sitting in water in plastic cups ! I’m not kidding, they even looked happier once in dirt ! I have a few wild raspberries, Saskatoons and chokecherries… that I’m currently sharing with a black bear who loves to use my dugout as his personal bath tub ! I guess I’ll have to race him so I get raspberries for my sorbet ! I’m thinking raspberry lime , though I’ve never combined the two …any thoughts ? Perhaps I should just do one or the other ? Right now on hand , I have the berries I mentioned , lime , mint and cilantro . No basil , something ate my starter plant ! A bit of lavender , got zero rose or lilacs this year , handy man mowed my chives and a few other delights ! Like borage , , yarrow , awe , my nasturshims ! I suppose I could go steal some sweet clover and peavine from my bees …better yet HONEY ! Has anyone tried making goat cheese with honey ? It’s fantastic ! How can you tell I’m craving something tart , a bit sour and sweet ?!!
I adore black currants. I think I would tie ribbons on the brush I didn’t want to be destroyed by my hired hand! I am not sure where you live, but frozen black currants are now available at The Italian Centre Shops in Edmonton. Mind you, they come from Europe, where they are valued a lot more than here, but I don’t find them too expensive. My crops are not what they used to be. I am thinking of pulling out my plants and planting new ones, but if I do that, I should likely move them to a different spot. Let me know if you find any and how the recipe goes, Susan!
🙂
Valerie