{Earth Day Weekend Project} Plant Raspberries

Last summer, our first in our house upstate, we chanced upon a roadside plant sale with a sign advertising raspberries, $5. Baby Greta had already established herself as a serious raspberry lover, like her daddy, and since it's always been my life-long dream to step outside the backyard into an orchard, or at least a bramble, I was in. I didn't know a thing about planting raspberries, but at $5 a tiny bush {and an old coffee can to leave your cash in}, there was very little risk. Between May and September, Greta and I picked handful upon handful of raspberries off those tiny bushes the grew, in full sun, up to my waist.

This Sunday is Earth Day, the perfect time to put something in the ground that will feed you and your family for years to come. Raspberries need full sun and some trellising, but beyond that, very little from you except water. Plant them as a hedge row, along a fence or any tucked away corner of the yard where they are easy to trellis, and ideally somewhere so close to the kitchen door you can pluck them off the bushes just minutes before you pile them on your weekend waffles or crepes. Spring is the best time to plant raspberries. Before you do, here's what you should know: 

look for.....

Everbearing Raspberries {sometimes called fall-bearing}, which bear fruit slowly but constantly throughout the growing season.  Raspberries come in all sizes and colors from red, purple, golden, or white varieties, so choose your favorite, or plant a bush of each if you have the space. The best sources to buy plants are always your local nursery, where they are likely to sell or at least know what varieties will grow well in your region, but you'll also find them a Home Depot and even some grocery stores, depending on where you live.

raspberries need.....

Raspberries need full sun, plenty of water and light pruning once or twice a year. They grow well in most soils, but prefer sandy loam soil with lots of organic matter {compost and hummus} added to the soil. The key elements are sun, space to grow year by year, and a sturdy trellising system that keeps the canes {branches} off the ground and allows for air to circulate and dry the berries during rainy spells. Plant raspberry bushes or canes in a shallow holes 2 feet apart, with 10 feet between each row. Cover the roots with about 3 inches of soil, not more. Prune each spring by removing tall canes and any weak ones, and prune again the fall after the last {or largest} harvest. 

eat them.....

Raspberries are loaded with fiber, vitamins A, C, folate, antioxidants and minerals. The seeds also contain vitamin E. Eat them whole on top of pancakes, waffles, crepes or ice cream, stirred into muffins or made into pies, cobblers or buckles. They are extremely good eating, and the most healthful, straight from the bush.

gold + rubies, and Sunday sherbet

stonypoint, ny

When a good friend offers to share his gold and rubies with you, you don't refuse. Which is why when our friend Robert gave us the keys to his house for the weekend and carte blanche to pick his golden and ruby red raspberries, we collected them in every spoon, cup, bowl, or basket in site... 

{gold + rubies}

{european red}

{wild}

{golden}

{american red}

I for one am so grateful that the earth's treasures come in so many shape, sizes and colors, each more pleasing than the last. And if ever we tire of the glittering beauties all on their own, I'll spin them into a tart Raspberry Buttermilk Sherbet {click here for recipe}, among the most recent recipes I developed for the Food Network Magazine. A simple sweet that's just right for a Sunday, even the fourth of July. 

Crowned With Cream

norwich, vt

Crowned with Cream

Recently got a surprise package in the mail from my dear friend Anjee that include a darling vintage apron and a slim, illustrated book called Festive Dessert Cookery from Peter Pauper Press {1967}.

The book embodies everything about the 1960s, with its pink and orange ink illustrations and recipes with titles like Orange Delight and Rice Imperiale. What I found the most delightful were the sentiments of the author, Evelyn Loeb, who so eloquently put into words what I’ve always felt to be true:

Every good hostess knows that the dessert makes the meal, or at the very least, is the climax. And coming last as it does, it makes the most enduring impression.

If your meal is light, choose a rich and filling dessert; if it is heavy, choose a light one. And if you are not dieting and have a healthy disregard for calorie content, select a dessert crowned with whipped cream for a party effect.

I am sure I would have loved Ms. Loeb, as I love every dessert crowned with cream, like the Pavlova. Pavlova is the perfect summer dessert made up of a snappy snow-white meringue with a marshmallowy core, crowned with luscious cream and fruit. Dotted with wild summer berries like fraise de bois, huckleberries, and tiny tart blueberries, it becomes the most seasonally inspired dessert.

It is my love for the pavolva, and the juicy ripe berries and cherries of a New England summer that made it easy to say yes when I got my annual call from Robyn Sargent, of the King Arthur Baking Center in Norwich, Vermont, requesting me to dream up another baking class. I spent the early summer in my kitchen, creating lovely pavlovas and a few other festive recipes for my class on Berries, Cherries & Stone Fruits.

Today, in the tiny town of Norwich, in a room full of bakers from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, Delaware, and New Jersey, we made Semolina Olive Oil Cake with Warm Sour Cherries, Buerre Noisette {Brown Butter} Pound Cake with Poached Apricots, and Pavolva, crowned with cream of course, and dressed with tiny wild blackberries and strawberries from the Killdeer Farm farm stand next door.

I love to see the look on the face of someone who claims they hate merigue when they take their first bite of ethereal pavlova. It creates, as Ms. Loeb would say, a most enduring impression.