WHILE the weather is telling us otherwise, there's no escaping the fact that it's summer. And so, there is only one thing we can look at – fruit.
We are all familiar with exotic fruits from around the world but, for me, Britain produces some of the best-tasting soft fruits on Earth.
We have the perfect climate to produce what really matters in fruit – the flavours. While Spain and souther
n Europe have the heat to grow fruits, it's really the longer daylight and warm climate that bring out the flavours, ripening a bit slower for a better end product.
Living proof of this is the strawberries you find in supermarkets in winter months. They are tasteless in comparison to our own homegrown ones, be they from Scotland or Kent. This basic principal alone is the one thing that will dictate what indigenous fruits I buy and at what time of the year.
We start off with gooseberries and forced rhubarb. I'm a big rhubarb fan – I particularly like the varieties that stay pink naturally when cooked. Later in the year we get blackberries from our hedgerows, another favourite of mine.
Right now we can buy everything that is good about our own fruit. Strawberries, raspberries, red and white currants and, of course, Scottish tayberries, a manmade cross between a blackberry and a raspberry.
The Americans have a naturally occurring cross with the same berries called a loganberry, discovered by a doctor Logan. Tayberries are a personal favourite of mine, but they can be tricky to obtain in good condition on a daily basis, so in the restaurant we use raspberries instead. We use fruit from farms in Perthshire picked on a daily basis and brought to us by our fruit and vegetable supplier.
All of our soft fruits are so versatile and you can turn them all into whatever you like. For example, coulis is a fruit puree with a little stock syrup added, which is a wonderfully simple accompaniment that will lift any desert or ice cream.
Turn them into real fruit jelly, or a mousse to accompany some simple berries. Or churn a coulis in an ice cream machine to enjoy a wonderfully fresh and fragrant sorbet.
Fruit is similarly wonderful in pastry cases with a little creme pattisier to make a simple but delicious fruit tart. The limitations are only in our own imagination, you can do anything with them.
You have to be aware that sugar levels in fruit can vary quite dramatically. This, like wines, can be affected by the soil in which they are grown, as well as the weather. You need to adjust this to your own tastes to get the best out of your chosen fruit. Adding a complementary liqueur can also help enhance your finished product.
• Tony Borthwick is head chef of the Plumed Horse, 50-54 Henderson Street, 0131-554 5556 The full article contains 488 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
