I am a British girl through and through, cut me and I bleed strong sugary Yorkshire tea (and gin!).

This year I’m spending the summer in Baltimore with one of my sisters, and  while we have a summer’s worth of east coast adventures planned,  there’s a whole host of things I’ll be missing about summer back home.

Lazy afternoons watching Wimbledon in the garden with strawberries and cream, afternoons spent laughing in pub gardens with friends, soaking up the alcohol with hot scotch eggs and pork scratchings, and slow garden BBQ’s with Pimms, smokey meat, salads loaded with allotment produce, and sitting in the shade of a tree, gobbling up a big slice of summer pudding swimming in a sea of cold double cream.

Summer pudding is a peculiarly British desert, made with white bread, summer berries and sugar.  It’s the essence of summer and it’s rich sugary juice has consigned many a pair of white linen trousers to the back of the closet.

There are 3 very important rules when it comes to Summer Pudding:

1. You must ALWAYS make it the day before. That bad boy needs to soak and soak and soak. And then soak some more.

2. It MUST be served with a huge jug of double cream. It needs to be swimming in the stuff.  Swimming.

3. When you think all the fun is over, you’re wrong! Take all that extra juice (there’s always loads) and make jelly (jell-o to those of a US persuasion) . Just heat up that juice with enough gelatin to set the volume of liquid you have, and pour into individual molds or glasses, then pop in the fridge to set.  Serve with more double cream. It’s lip-smaking good!!

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Summer Pudding

{ recipe courtesy of the quintessential British cook, Delia Smith}

8 oz (225 g) redcurrants

 4 oz (110 g) blackcurrants

 1 lb (450 g) raspberries

 5 oz (150 g) caster sugar

 7-8 medium slices white bread from a large loaf (preferably stale)

You will also need a 1½ pint (850 ml) pudding basin, lightly buttered.

Separate the redcurrants and blackcurrants from their stalks by holding the tip of each stalk firmly between finger and thumb and sliding it between the prongs of a fork pushing the fork downwards, so pulling off the berries as it goes. Rinse all the fruits, picking out any raspberries that look at all musty.

 

Place the fruits with the sugar in a large saucepan over a medium heat and let them cook for about 3-5 minutes, only until the sugar has dissolved and the juices begin to run – don't overcook and so spoil the fresh flavour. Now remove the fruit from the heat, and line the pudding basin with the slices of bread, overlapping them and sealing well by pressing the edges together. Fill in any gaps with small pieces of bread, so that no juice can get through when you add the fruit.

Pour the fruit and juice in (except for about two thirds of a cupful), then cover the pudding with another slice of bread. Then place a small plate or saucer (one that will fit exactly inside the rim of the bowl) on top, and on top of that place a 3 lb or 4 lb (1.3 kg or 1.8 kg) weight, and leave in the fridge overnight.

Just before serving the pudding, turn it out on to a large serving dish and spoon the reserved juice all over, to soak any bits of bread that still look white. Serve cut into wedges, with a jug of thick cream on the table.

And with a dessert that richly coloured, the only proper thing to is to pay homage with some berry coloured threads...

 

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