This summer fruit dessert is a delicious and refreshing dish that’s crammed with goodness from the blackcurrants and ideal after you have enjoyed a Indian curry or other spicy food.
COOKING INVOLVES HIGH HEAT. So always take great care and keep children well away.
Summer Fruit Dessert-The Recipe (serves 2)
10 oz (300 gms) blackcurrants
5oz (150 gms) granulated sugar
6-8 dessert spoon Greek style whole milk yogurt
6 teaspoons fine or caster sugar.
Cook the blackcurrant and granulated sugar in a pan on a medium heat for about ten minutes, until the sugar has all dissolved, but the fruit is still firm.
Put in a refrigerator to cool.
When cool, spoon the blackcurrants into ramekins, to half fill the container.
Fill the other half with the Greek yogurt.
Sprinkle the fine sugar liberally over the yogurt and then place the ramekins under a hot broiler, until the sugar caramelizes.
Allow to cool before serving.
As a spectular alternative you could caramelize the sugar with a blow torch — but do be careful!
Summer Fruit Dessert – The Health Benefits
All summer fruiting berries are particularly good source of antioxidants and vitamins, but blackcurrants are a particularly spectacular provider of vitamin C.
Vitamin C cannot be stored by the body and therefore a regular, fresh supply is vital, because of this vitamin’s ability to help protect against heart disease, strokes and cancer.
Nobel Prize winner, Dr Linus Paulin, who lived into his nineties, was a staunch advocate of large doses of vitamin C. So if you follow his guidance, this fruit should be eaten whenever you can get hold of it.
Not only are blackcurrants rich in vitamin C, they also possess anti- inflammatory and anti-bacterial qualities, which is why they are a traditional remedy for sore throats. They also contain useable amounts of beta-carotene and potassium, as well as being low in salt .
The fatty acids in the oil from blackcurrant seeds have been shown to relieve the pain of rheumatoid arthritis.
It’s just as well blackcurrants are such a spectacularly healthy super food, because the rest of the recipe — white sugar and whole milk yogurt, isn’t quite as wholesome!
The white sugar is an obvious villain and in some countries — China, for example — milk is never consumed by adults. There is some basis for thinking this sensible, because incidents of both breast cancer and prostate cancer are relatively low in China, compared counties where large amounts of dairy products are consumed. Although this is not entirely definitive, there is some evidence that a diet high in saturated fat (which includes dairy products) contributes to these related forms of cancer, as well as the more obvious heart disease and strokes.
On the other hand, there should be some balance in your diet and there’s no real harm in eating something naughty, once in a while.
You should always remember the story of the man who gave up smoking, drinking and chasing women, because he was determined to live to 100. But if he didn’t smoke, didn’t drink and didn’t chase women, it’s difficult to see why he wanted to live to 100.
So – with that thought – I hope you really enjoy your Summer Fruit Dessert.
