Just a few strides from my back door, there are sundry treasures growing in the woods. As is my custom early every summer, I recently went looking for black raspberries.
Wild black raspberries (also known as “blackcaps”) are quite seedy, but they’re a wonderful treat; if you can find some in your ‘hood (“the East Coast to the Rockies, but not in the deep South” according to Wildman Steve Brill), you are lucky indeed. But you’d better hurry: you’re competing not just against a short season (about 3 weeks), but the birds who love them dearly, as well.
Sadly, “my” wild black raspberries disappeared before I could gather more than a few handfuls (thanks to said birds). So I’m thinking about transplanting some of the canes to my garden (here’s how); my plan is to cover them with bird netting, so that I can actually enjoy a whole bunch of them next summer and beyond.
But that’s a long way off, so I was ecstatic to find these pretties at The New Paltz Farmer’s Market this weekend :)
These berries were so tasty! I flirted with the idea of baking with them, but decided I really just wanted to enjoy them raw. So I put them into this parfait which I ate as a protein, anti-oxidant, and healthy fat-packed afternoon snack (and for breakfast a few times this week, too).
I don’t usually sweeten my plain yogurt when I eat it with fruit, but I mixed in some homemade honey rosewater “syrup” (inspired by the book Edible Cocktails
If you can’t find black raspberries, go ahead and substitute any other berry that you like, or use your imagination with the fruit and nuts that you add. If you don’t eat dairy, you can try this with coconut milk yogurt.
Double everything and add additional layers for a bigger, prettier, parfait.