Ripe raspberries taste refreshing
Zingy and zangy
Sweet and summery
Cool and classic
Fresh flavour
Doubly delicious!
Can’t wait for the next lot when these flowers open and are fertilised by the bees. X
Raspberry flowers
Tag: Raspberries
A trifle for my sister
This was for my sisters birthday, a few days ago. Decorated with glace cherries and chocolate buttons.
It’s jelly with raspberries and port, strawberry blancmange, and whipped cream on top. This is something I usually make for birthdays ot Christmas. It is indulgent, but I use sugar free jelly and I use sweetner in the blancmange.
This can serve up to eight portions, so sometimes I make about half the amount if there are only a couple of us having it.
Croaky, eating trifle
Staying in with a croaky sore throat and a bit of a cough. No covid testing kits, so better to keep away from everyone.
I made this on Sunday, it has jelly with raspberries and port in it. Very soothing for my throat. Its low sugar because I use a bit of sweetner instead of sugar. It’s cool and tasty. Unfortunately I had to use custard (not my favourite), but it went down well.
What’s your comfort food? If I didn’t have this it would be ice-cream or yoghurt.. All the stuff that’s bad for me! ❤️
Half a trifle
Dessert is in the fridge. Well half, we have already had some for tea. It’s a trifle made of sugar free blackberry jelly with gelatine (not jam) with added raspberries and port. Topped with chocolate blancmange and whipped double cream.
It’s all sugar free so although it’s got fat and carbs in it, it’s not bad for sugar content. I try not to eat cake or biscuits, but this with fresh fruit in is lovely. I sometimes use strawberry or orange flavour jelly. You can also make it with sherry instead of port or alcohol free. Sometimes you can use sponge fingers in the jelly to make it stronger. It has to support the weight of the top two layers. But I don’t use that because they are too sweet. And some people add a layer of custard instead of blancmange, which us increasingly difficult to get hold of unless you buy it online. If you make it I hope you enjoy it. X
Home grown
Basically windfalls, five rough pears, two apples, three green walnuts and a single green tomato. The wind must have been blowing.
For the first time we have a good crop of apples on the main tree, the pear tree is bent over with pears that are growing slowly larger. The walnuts are being stolen by squirrels who bury them and the tomatoes are growing in a hanging basket and in a grow bag surrounded by other plants. They are all having to take their chances while there is less rain, but they are well established plants and I think the fruit trees have deep roots. We plan to do some pruning of the garden. The blueberries are gradually ripening, the gooseberries have all been eaten as have the raspberries. I saw no strawberries this year, but I think they have been shaded out by other plants. We even have redcurrants although I misidentified them as woody nightshade (not a good idea). Earlier in the year we had a small crop of cherries and we might get a few elderberries. So all in all not a bad year of fruit and veg.
Raspberries
Right outside our back door, you can literally reach out and pluck them off the bush. We have quite a good crop, although they aren’t fully ripe yet. Unfortunately they keep getting eaten… By hubby! ❤️ I love him, but he can snaffle all the raspberries (and gooseberries) before I even get near them!
Raspberries
We’ve got a good crop of raspberries coming on the bushes this year. It’s because hubby cut them right down at the end of last season. We’ve never really followed instructions for growing things. We’re more a ‘bung things in and see’ type of gardeners! This was last week. I need to take some more photos but my hay-fever is making my nose and eyes run so I’m staying inside. I hope we will have enough for a few to have with scones. Our cherry tree has more fruit on than I thought. A lot blew off in strong winds but we should get a decent crop when they ripen.
Plants
I’ve spent a few more hours planting and tidying up our back yard. I’ve potted on a lot of little plug plants and the bees are busy gathering nectar and pollen. I’ll post a picture of the yard next, but photos are taking up too much space on my blog so I’m trying to limit what I post. Here you can see some of the colourful plants I have growing here.
How do I make my own blancmange?
This is custard powder made up with milk and sweetner with added chocolate. I love making sugar free trifles. I usually use sugar free jelly and add a bit if fruit (used raspberries today) because trifle sponges are covered in sugar. Then I add blancmange when the jelly is set. I have to let it cool because it can re-melt the jelly. But now I can only get blancmange if my sister posts me some (they still sell strawberry flavour where she lives). The trouble is that most people use custard but I don’t like it’s flavour in trifle. This time I did make custard but added four square pieces of no added sugar chocolate and melted it into the milk. I will use this mix and then add whipped cream on top of the trifle to finish it off. But I just wonder if I can make my own with cornflower and flavourings? That would be a lot easier…
Flock or Phlox?
Next to my raspberries a tallish purple flower stands. I think it’s a phlox? I’m not sure of the spelling. Homonyms, words that sound the same but are spelt /spelled differently.
The English language can trip you up. It has evolved, with different spelling rules like ‘i before e except after c’, which isn’t always correct.
Anyway, back to this plant. I was really pleased I managed to get a reasonably close image of the flowers. With water droplets visible on the petals. Any ideas on identification?
Mallaband-Brown 