What can you do with the bounty of berries you've picked this summer? Natasha Littrell, head pastry chef for Dorset Rising Bakery, provides guidance for Vermont Edition listeners about what to make with summertime fruits.
Littrell explains how to freeze fruits, describes what flavors work well together with different berries and shares a few recipes to try out.
She calls freezing her "favorite option" for these fruits. "Spread it out on a sheet pan or a flat pan that can fit into your freezer and set them apart so they’re not touching," Littrell explains. "Freeze them solid and then you can scoop them off the pan and put them in Ziploc baggies in the freezer and they hold a really nice long time. When they’re frozen individually like that and not all clumped together in one mass, they’re easy to grab, throw into a muffin mix or put into a pot to make into a filling mix for cakes or pies.”
Littrell suggests roasting your fruit for deeper flavors. Strawberries can be roasted with balsamic vinegar and black pepper. “I really like to roast cherries and then I can make cherry and almond and cream on a Swiss meringue," she says.
When it comes to jams, Littrell says take your time. "Go low and slow on a lower temperature, you’re cooking a long time, you’re really concentrating those flavors. It’s that nice bright, tart flavor.”
Here are three of Littrell's popular recipes:
CRG Meringue Schalen (Swiss Meringue Nests)
Listen to the full conversation above. Broadcast live on Vermont Edition on Wednesday, July 5, 2017 during the noon hour; rebroadcast during the 7 p.m. hour.
