I’ve always had a soft spot for berries, ever since I was a child. I love all types of berries and forest fruits, although the only berries we knew back then were blackberries. We used to pick blackberries and tiny, delicious, wild strawberries with my grandfather every year, at the beginning of summer!

I can still remember their scent and sweet taste that I used to crave for when I was a kid. They’re hard to forget, just like the berry stains on our shirts and this deep blue-black colour on our lips and fingers.

It felt like we were on a mission to gather forest fruits for the spoon sweet that my grandmother would make. Most of them would never make it to our baskets, we’d just eat them up right after picking them.

Seeking for the wonderful berry scent and taste that I remember from my childhood, I always try to find forest fruits when summer arrives. Since seasons don’t really exist anymore –daily showers and storms are a living proof of that- forest fruits are now available all year long. Most of the time they’re nowhere near as flavourful and aromatic as the ones I remember, so in an effort to savour that sweet taste again, I planted blackberry bushes and any other type of berry I could find! I was quite certain that the climate and soil would be ideal, given the mountainous location of our seedbed, and I was right!

My plants have grown into wonderful fruit-bearing bushes, yet the one that stands out and thrives in our garden is the redcurrant. This tiny, slightly sour, vivid red berry is just so impressive! It has been decorating our summer salads, cheese platters and desserts for a while now.

Besides being naturally photogenic, they’re also an important source of key nutrients. All berries are considered highly nutritious but it seems that redcurrants stand out a bit more. They’re high in Vitamin C, K, iron and antioxidants, they’re low on the glycemic index, they can fight infections and help with the prevention of cancer, they boost collagen production, preserve a healthy digestive system and relieve constipation.. In other words, they’re a superfood that we should definitely incorporate into our diet!

Since they have a slightly sour taste, they’re perfect for desserts as well as meat and poultry sauces. I really enjoy sweet and sour sauces and I find that they pair very well with grilled meat and poultry dishes. I try to enrich my list of redcurrant recipes every year. And this year, I’m feeling very inspired! I’m making a wonderful, refreshing Charlotte cake today, with the redcurrants I just picked. I also bought some of my favourite ladyfinger biscuits that I found at a pastry shop where they still make them the traditional way and continue to sell them on strips of parchment paper! I just love them! My cake today is so appealing and refreshing that it almost feels like an ice cream cake! That’s why I suggest that you serve it as chilled as possible. It’s very impressive, delicious, light (thanks to the vegetable whipped cream) and cooling, the perfect dessert for a summer menu!