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Wednesday, May 23, 2001
Bursting with flavor
Kids and adults get juiced over berry desserts
BY AIMéE COURTICE
Caller-Times
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| George Gongora/Caller-Times |
| Mary Lou McClendon (left) and Katie McClendon show off their mulberry-stained feet from picking mulberries in their backyard. |
Ten-year-old Amy Jo McClendon and her sisters don't have to go to far to enjoy nature's bounty during berry season.
The best climbing tree in the yard of their Calallen home is a mulberry tree. Its swooping branches drape over the roof of a workshop. Picking fresh, sweet mulberries is simply a matter of climbing up the tree to get on top of the roof, where plenty of mulberries usually fall.
"We go out and pick them all the time. See?" said Amy Jo McClendon standing next to her sister, Mary and pointing to the dark blue mulberry stains on the bottoms of their feet.
One recent morning the McClendon sisters and their friends Lisa and Samantha Greenwood took over the kitchen to prepare a fresh mulberry cobbler. The girls, who range in age from 8 to 13, are members of local 4-H clubs, where they have picked up numerous domestic skills from baking to raising steer - not to mention some recipes for down-home berry desserts.
"This is a good recipe because kids can make it," said Katie McClendon. "You don't have to use the oven, we chill this one. So you don't have to worry about kids and the oven."
It's berry time once again, especially with picture-perfect strawberries and blackberries in abundance at local grocery stores. And berries provide a sweet - and sometimes tart - way to paint a healthful palette.
Berry nutritious
"You can't go wrong with a berry nutritionally," said Keith Ayoob, a registered dietician and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. "They are excellent sources of fiber, vitamin C and potassium."
Strawberries carry an extra-healthful kick because they are also loaded with folic acid, which is good for you heart.
Berries are rich in phyto-nutrients, a fancy name for plant compounds in foods that help fight disease. Anti-oxidants, which fight cancer, are a type of phyto-nutrients.
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| George Gongora/Caller-Times |
| Preparing mulberry cobbler are Samantha Greenwood (from left), Katie McClendon, Lisa Greenwood, Amy Jo McClendon and Mary Lou McClendon. |
Ayoob also said recent studies have shown that these plant nutrients can help lower blood pressure. A diet that is rich with fiber, vitamins and is low in fat - all of which are true of berries - can help improve moderate hypertension better than medication, he said.
And whether you eat berries fresh or frozen, you'll still get all their nutrients. Cooking berries, such as in a cobbler or in a sauce, will cause them to lose a little bit of their nutrients, but not much, he said.
"Kids love 'em because they are a nice impulse food," Ayoob said. "You can grab them and go. And throw them in a blender with some yogurt or milk to make a smoothie. They'll get calcium, protein, and fiber. All of that adds up to something really powerful."
Getting fancy
Brian Carson, the chef at Republic of Texas Bar and Grill, used berries a lot - from his meat dishes to desserts. His affinity for the fruits stems from the time he spent living in Seattle, Wash.
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| George Gongora/Caller-Times |
| Fresh mulberry cobbler prepared by the members of the local 4-H club in Calallen. |
"Berries are very versatile," he said. "I use them with regular items that I have one my menu, like quail, but I will change the sauce out."
Carson will usually pair a berry such as raspberries or cherries with a type of liquor to use for a sauce to top meat. Berries, he said, also make a flavorful touch to a mild fish. He'll top flounder or sole with a raspberry cream sauce.
And of course, Carson has his desserts too. When one of his customers challenged him to make a low-sugar dessert, he couldn't resist. So he came up with a strawberries Romanoff topped with a gin-flavored whipped cream.
"It's a kind of country club favorite from the 1950s," he said. "I wanted to put a different spin on it."
Mulberry Delight
1 ½ cups crushed vanilla wafers
1 cup coconut flakes
1 cup margarine
8 oz. cream cheese
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
2 ½ cups of fresh mulberries, strawberries, raspberries, or blueberries*
2 ½ tablespoons of cornstarch
2 envelopes whipped topping mix
½ cup crushed pineapple
½ cup maraschino cherries
½ cup chopped nuts
*or substitute 2, 10-oz. packages of frozen berries for fresh berries
Place the crushed wafers in the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch serving dish. Sprinkle half of the coconut on top. In a mixing bowl, cream margarine and cream cheese together, then slowly add sugar. Add egg yolk and beat until smooth. Spoon this over the crumbs in the pan and spread with a fork. Bring berries to a boil and run through a sieve to remove seeds or stems. Mix this juice with cornstarch until thickened. Let mixture cool and spread it on top of wafer and cream cheese mixture in serving dish. Prepare whipped topping and fold in pineapple, remaining coconut and cherries. Spread over the fruit mixture. Top with chopped nuts. Chill before serving.
Source: Kathy McClendon
Blueberry buckle
½ cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 beaten egg
2 ½ cups sifted enriched flour
2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup milk
2 cups fresh blueberries
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup butter or margarine
Thoroughly cream shortening and ½ cup of sugar; add egg and mix well. Sift 2 cups of flour, all of baking powder and salt. Add to the cream mixture alternately with milk. Pour into a well-greased baking pan (about 7-by-11 inches) and sprinkle blueberries over batter. Combine remaining ½ cup sugar and ½ cup flour, cinnamon and butter until the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over blueberries. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes. Cut into squares. Serve warm.
Source: Laura Greenwood
Strawberry Romanoff
1 ½ pints of strawberries
3 oz. Grand Marnier
8 grams of sweetener, such as Splenda
¼ teaspoon vanilla
12 oz. heavy cream
16 oz. non-fat, plain yogurt
1 oz. Tanqueray Gin #10
Hull and slice berries. Marinade in Grand Marnier for 4 hours. Combine sweetener and vanilla to 8 ounces of cream and whip. Fold yogurt into the cream. Fold in the strawberries and remaining liquid mixture. Spoon into parfait glasses. For topping, combine 4 ounces of heavy cream with 2 grams of sweetener and one ounce of Tanqueray Gin #10 and whip. Spoon over top of parfait.
Source: Brian Carson
Blueberry lime jam
4 ½ cups blueberries, washed and drained
1 package powdered pectin
1/3 cup lime juice
1 tablespoon grated lime peel
5 cups of sugar
Crush berries one layer at a time in a large sauce pot. Combine crushed berries and pectin. Bring to a rolling boil, stirring frequently. Add lime juice, grated lime peel and sugar. Return to a rolling boil; boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skin foam if necessary. Pour hot into hot jars, leaving ¼-inch space at the top. Adjust caps. Process 15 minutes in a boiling water bath.
Source: Laura Greenwood
Contact Aimée Courtice at 886-3622 or courticea@caller.com
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