Salmon Berries!

To those of you who actually check my page on a somewhat regular basis, I'm sorry.  I just realized that I haven't updated it since DECEMBER!!!!  Whoops.  And now, here it is the second official day of summer.  I've actually made a bunch of recipes in this long 6 months of silence, but haven't taken the time to post them.  I hope to get myself caught up in the next week or so, as I will be finished with work (due to the ever increasing baby belly), and will hopefully have lots of free time!  :-)  

In the meantime, it was a beautiful sunny day today, and I couldn't bear to spend it inside, so I went for a meandering walk and ended up in the "Ravine,"  where salmon-berries are just beginning to make their very short early summer appearance.  I've missed the season the last 2 years, so I was determined not to miss it this year.  Because of all the cold, wet, gloomy weather we've had up to now, they are a little later than usual in their ripening, so I didn't get a huge harvest...  but it is a start.  Now, to decide what to do with this little batch... Thoughts?

1.) Mixed berry fruit leather  (don't think I have enough for a completely salmon-berry batch)
2). Salmon-berry tart/ crumble
3). Coulis for drizzling over.... [pick your poison] ... :-)
4.) Jam/ Jelly
5.) Smoothie
6.) freeze them and wait a week and get some more before deciding

For those of you who aren't familiar with Salmon-berries, they are similar to other berries (black/ rasp) in look, texture, and taste, although I find they have a sweet tartness that is brighter and rather unique.  They start with a beautiful pink flower that turns into the berry.  You know they're ready when they are the colour of... wait for it... Salmon!  :-)









[changing from flower to berry]

[Left to right: new berry; about a week of sunshine from being ready; just about perfect; slightly over-ripe (but still yummy!)]


[POST SCRIPT:  I ended up making them into a Salmon-berry Coulis.
I served it over vanilla ice cream, but I think it would be a perfect accompaniment for a lemon/ key lime cheesecake-- if I'd had the time to make one, I certainly would have tried it!]


To Make a Coulis: 
Put berry of choice into a small saucepan with a very small amount of water (just enough to keep the berries from sticking/ burning) and bring to a simmer.  Depending on the tartness of the berry chosen, you may want to sprinkle with a little sugar, to round out the flavour (but remember that the cooking process brings out the natural sweetness in fruit, so don't overdo it).  Cook for about 10-15 minutes, until it becomes a 'berry mush', stirring occasionally.  Pour directly into a fine-mesh sieve (over a bowl), making sure to scrape out all the contents from the pan.  Use a spatula or the back of a spoon to press the berries through the sieve, to remove the seeds.  Once you are content that you have gotten as much of the flesh out as possible, return the liquid to the pan and bring to a gentle simmer.  Taste, and add more sugar, if necessary, and cook until slightly thickened, stirring regularly.  (I ended up adding a very small amount of corn starch and water to thicken mine up properly, because I added too much water in the 'cooking' process).  Serve over ice cream or other yummy dessert. Can be served warm, at room temperature, or cold.  Store in the refrigerator.   *My mother-in-law often makes a raspberry coulis and serves it with melons as a light, (healthy!) summer dessert.