Blackberry Ice-Cream

Verity requested. Hannah has spoken. The late sun has led to a resurgence of blackberries in the hedgerows.  I was once told "never pick blackberries after October 1st because the Devil's peed on them".  Ignore this, seek out some blackberries and get churning.  Can't find blackberries?  You can always buy fresh or frozen.  Just make sure they're British!

BLACKBERRY ICE-CREAM 

To make with fresh berries:

1lb blackberries, 5 oz sugar, 1/4 pint water, 1/2 pint double cream

To make with frozen berries:

1lb blackberries frozen with sugar OR 1/2 pint blackberry puree, 2 oz sugar, 1/4 pint water, 1/2 pint double cream

Puree the blackberries and strain through a nylon sieve.  Boil the sugar and water together for 3 minutes and leave to cool. Whip the cream lightly. Stir the syrup into the fruit puree and fold into the cream.

Turn into basin and freeze for 1 to 2 hours, until the mixture has reached a mushy state. Take out of freezer, beat well and pour into waxed containers and replace in the freezer.

To serve: Remove from freezer 1 hour before serving and leave in the refrigerator.

And hey presto, there you have it! In the modern land of the ice-cream maker, most/all of this will be done for you.  But all our ice-cream is made by hand.  Follow a similar fruit-based recipe in the machine's recipe book and you'll be away.

Hannah would like to thank the unbeatable freezer knowledge of Helge Rubenstein and Sheila Bush for this recipe.

(PS This totally counts as one of your 5-a-day...)