Really ripe raspberries

I’m always looking for new ideas for my kitchen garden – and planting raspberry plants a couple of years ago was a good one.  It was mid-summer, and I was walking through a local nursery when I came upon a group of unassuming raspberry shrubs.  Knowing it was way into the planting and growing season, and the poor things were root bound in their ball and chain black plastic buckets; let’s just say they weren’t looking so good.  But I gave them a second look when I saw that they were marked down to next to nothing. I thought, “Well, maybe they’re not so bad…I can clean them up and I’m sure they’ll be great next year” (this has become my mantra).  And they did.

I planted two ‘Heritage’ and two ‘Latham’ raspberry shrubs along the fence of the kitchen garden. Both bear bright red berries that can be picked from July through the early fall. I love taking friends for a little tour of the garden and offering them a treat – a perfect “little sweet and a little tart” nibble when the berries are a really ripe red and easily come off the stem.  Nothing like this oh-so-simple indulgence!  But if you don’t have a raspberry shrub, no worries –  they are  in season now and you can get them at a great deal at your local farm stands and markets.  And if you must “do something” with them, then this oh-so-simple recipe will do the trick.

A Simple Raspberry Sauce

2 pints of raspberries

3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar

In a blender, puree raspberries and sugar until smooth and pour mixture through a fine strainer.

That’s it!  Perfect for dessert toppings like your favorite bowl of ice cream.  Enjoy.