A punnet of sunshine

“WE FORGET QUITE HOW SWEET AND ZINGY ENGLISH BERRIES TASTE WHEN THEY’VE HAD TIME TO RIPEN IN THE SUMMER SUNSHINE”

Words: Thea Everett

The arrival of British berries is as important a symbol of the start of summer as the solstice or the first night of Glastonbury. When Kentish strawberries and cherries arrive on market stalls, you know that the season of lager tops, international football and park picnics is upon us.

But I’ve noticed a bit of favouritism going on when it comes to seasonal fruits. When forced rhubarb (okay, a vegetable technically) and blood oranges appear in January and February, the world goes mad. Instagram turns candy pink for two months, as do the display cabinets and dessert menus of bakeries and restaurants. The same is true when it comes to Indian mangoes in April and May. Boxes of these fruits become prized possessions and mango recipes are all over social media.

So why not the same passion when it comes to British-grown summer berries and cherries? Just because they’re familiar to us, and they’ve always been there, doesn’t mean they don’t warrant a party of their own. The problem, I suppose, is that summer’s wealth of produce – from watermelons and peaches to tomatoes and peppers – can mean that exciting ingredients get lost in the crowd. We’re also so used to the insipid year-round strawberries sold in the supermarket that we forget quite how sweet and zingy they taste when they’re locally grown and have had time to ripen in the summer sunshine.

The truth is that a fantastically juicy, pillar-box-red strawberry is as special as a fruit can get. And a deep crimson cherry grown in Kent is just as satisfying a treat. They’re gorgeous to behold and a delight to eat and it’s high time we championed these seasonal British fruits.

The virtues of the British berry season are many: they’re grown locally, without the attendant air miles, so when you buy a punnet, you can be sure your fruit will be the freshest possible. Summer is when berries and cherries are at their most plentiful and the peak of their flavour, so it pays to eat them now. Their abundance also means they’re ripe for preserving in jams, syrups, chutneys and drinks.

Though the simple strawberry needs nothing more than a dousing of double or single cream, there are so many ways to make the most of this beautiful British fruit. Eton mess or trifle are all well and good, but my chocolate cream and strawberry pie is undeniably more exciting, and far simpler to make than it looks. Made with a two-step ganache and no-bake biscuit crust, it’s the ideal heatwave dessert that takes the classic combinations of strawberries and cream and strawberries and chocolate and turns them into an almighty centrepiece. Think the impressiveness of chocolate cream pie or banoffee pie, but less of the work.

As for cherries, other countries tend to be good at celebrating their magnificence: the American cherry pie, the German black forest gateau and the French clafoutis. But sadly when it comes to British recipes featuring cherries the glacé variety seems to reign supreme. When cherries as good as those you’ll find at Borough’s greengrocers are grown on our shores, it seems a crime not to give them time and devotion in the kitchen. So I urge you to make cherries a main event this summer. I hope my cherry and ricotta galette might convince you: nutty rye pastry is topped with lemon-scented ricotta and fresh cherries macerated with sugar which bake into a gorgeous purple pie. Pitting (try using a chopstick!) and then layering up the sliced cherries for the topping is a very therapeutic way to spend an afternoon, let me tell you.

Cherries are also brilliant in savoury cooking. Like apples and peaches, they pair so well with pork. In my recipe for pork chops with cherry sauce, I’ve turned them into a lovely sauce with that other summer staple: rosé wine. It’s an easy weeknight winner that makes your simple chop feel restaurant-worthy, offering a deeply sweet accompaniment that complements the meat’s saltiness perfectly. The sauce would also be lovely alongside roast duck, venison or pork shoulder should you want a summertime twist for your traditional Sunday roast.

And then there are drinks. Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood got it right in their 1967 hit Summer Wine, which conjured up the beauty of these fruits in all their hazy summery glory: “Strawberries, cherries and an angel’s kiss in spring / My summer wine is really made from all these things” – as good a reminder as any that introducing summer fruits to your next cocktail or glass of fizz is never a bad idea.

So think pink and see red this summer! Stain your fingers fuchsia and reap the rewards of buying local and seasonal when it counts.