Soft summer fruits need nothing but fresh cream and sugar added to make a perfect treat for a golden afternoon in the garden, says Flora Watkins
FOOL, glorious fool. Its name evokes childhood memories of golden afternoons, endless summers and gluts of berries. Like its name, the pudding is simple, almost childlike. However, when the sun is shining and soft fruit is abundantly in season, gooseberries, rhubarb and raspberries ask for nothing more than fresh cream and a little sugar.
‘Soft, pale, creamy, untroubled, the English fruit fool is the most frail and insubstantial of English summer dishes’ was Elizabeth David’s perfect description in An Omelette and a Glass of Wine. Fruit fool is adored by children and older people alike, ‘the kind of thing that women are said to favour, but that men eat more of,’ as Jane Grigson put it in her Fruit Book (1982).
Its charm lies in its simplicity. Recipes in old cookery books describe fools made from all manner of fruits, including apple, fig and mulberry, yet fools and creams— the recipes are often interchangeable—could include eggs and were flavoured with wine, spices and lemon peel.
In The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747), Hannah Glasse gives a recipe for gooseberry fool with eggs and nutmeg and her orange fool contains half-a-dozen eggs, plus cinnamon and nutmeg to taste.
Denne historien er fra August 07, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra August 07, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
