Facts Of Japanese Wineberry

Facts Of Japanese Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius)

It’s a delicious wineberry and unusual berry that’s no more difficult to grow than a raspberry.

The wineberry is native to Korea, China and Japan. The vigorous deciduous shrub grows up to 8-10ft tall. It’s perfect for growing against a fence. It produces large trusses of sweet orange red to dark red berries of delicious flavor.

The stems are grown up well in winter, usually when sunlight strikes them. It is biennial as like raspberry where the canes grow one year and fruit the next. It consists of emerald green leaves that grow up to 18cm long. It composed of three, coarsely toothed, rounded, ovate or heart-shaped leaflets.

In early summer it produces small, star-like, whitish-pink and self-fertile flowers. In early August it produces small, glistening, conical and orange-red fruit. These fruits are almost surrounded by the calyx until they are ripe. You can possibly cook them in the same way as like raspberries.

Chocolate Raspberry Pudding

Though its the season for Cranberries, I would urge you to make this beautiful change and go for some raspberries instead! Combine them with the gooey goodness of dark and white chocolate, topped with whipped cream and some slivered almonds, and you have the perfect dessert ready for Thanksgiving, or for a romantic dinner for two! Creamy Chocolate Raspberry Pudding - the name says it all - rich and creamy, warm and luscious, with a taste of decadence in every spoon, this is my favorite Pudding recipe. its quick and easy, can be served by itself, or with some ice cream, and looks beautiful if served in stemmed dessert glasses!

Sending these off to Sourashtra's Kitchen for her latest collection of desserts and pastries, co-hosted by Sudeshna.

Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt )
4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp warm whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 oz semisweet chocolate, grated
1 oz white chocolate, grated
Splash of Chambord (raspberry liqueur)- optional
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

Method
Mix together the sugar, salt, cocoa, cornstarch and milk in a small bowl until it makes a paste.

Heat the cream in a small saucepan until just before scalding, then add the dark and white chocolate, stir, and add the cocoa paste. Mix well and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Add the Chambord and the vanilla. When the pudding begins to thicken, remove it from the heat and let it rest for 2 minutes.

I love it warm, so I serve it immediately, topped with fresh homemade raspberry puree, and some whipped cream.

But to make an elegant dessert, pour the pudding into temperature-resistant bowls or ramekins and refrigerate until set (at least 30 minutes). Let cool before serving.

Top with raspberry puree, whipped cream, and sprinkle some slivered almonds on the top and serve immediately.

Raspberry Lassi (Smoothie)

Last week we witnessed temperatures peaking at 90, and my gym is suddenly so full of people trying to get into shape for the beach that there's no doubt in my mind that summer is definitely here! And that means more sun, more barbecues and more cool and refreshing drinks. We celebrated the onset of summer with the luscious Rasperry Lassi, which is a fancy name for a smoothie or yoghurt cooler. Lassi is a traditional Indian yogurt drink which originated from the state of Punjab. Its more like a thick-shake, but with yoghurt and milk. Over time, the basic recipe underwent a makeover with addition of fruits and other flavors. Everyone is familiar with the Mango Lassi, which you must have seen on several restaurant menus. But this Raspberry Lassi is a class apart, because the tartness of the raspberry works perfect blended with the yoghurt, and it looks so pretty you can serve it as a light dessert too!

I used fresh raspberries and pureed them in a blender, then passed it through a colander/sieve to remove the seeds. You can use fresh fruits or ready-made raspberry sauce. Other interesting and tasty variations would be mangoes or strawberries. For now, this raspberry delight is on its way to Dee who's hosting this month's AFAM-Raspberries event!

Ingredients
2 cups plain or vanilla yoghurt
1 cup milk
6-8 ice cubes
3/4 cup raspberry puree
3 tbsp sugar(or more if needed)

Method
Make sure the raspberry puree does not have seeds in it. Strain it through a sieve to remove seeds as much as possible. A few tiny seeds here and there are fine.

Add the ice cubes to a blender cup and crush to form powder.

Now mix all the remaining ingredients in a blender with the ice and power on the blend or puree setting till everything is uniformly combined.

Pour in tall glasses and garnish with more fresh raspberries. Serve the Raspberry Lassi chilled and fresh, and raise a toast to the beginning of summer!

Similar Recipes:
Banana and Peanut Butter Smoothie
Tropical Fruit Punch Lemonade
Almond-Mocha Frappucino

Raspberry Coulis(Sauce) with Creme - Layered Dessert

When you think about making desserts, fruits are one of the main ingredients most of the times. One of the easiest and most satisfying way of eating seasonal fruits is by making coulis, compote or preserves out of them, without giving up their nutritional value. Raspberry Coulis is one of the preferred toppings for many desserts. Coulis, traditionally a french recipe, is a form of thick sauce made from puréed and strained vegetables or fruits, and used as a base for other sauces or as toppings for other dishes. I have used it as a primary ingredient in my recipe for an easy Layered Dessert with Raspberry Coulis and Creme Fraiche; I also used some crushed orange biscuits to give it that cheesecake-like appeal.

The recipe below can be easily modified to suit availability of seasonal fruits like strawberries, pears, apricot or apple. The fruit coulis can also be made ahead and preserved in a jar in the refrigerator and used as topping for other cakes, ice creams and desserts.

Ingredients
3 ounces fresh or frozen raspberries (or strawberries)
1 cup sugar(or more if needed sweet)
1/2 cup water
8 orange-flavored biscuits(cookies)
1 cup ready-whip (cool whip)

Method

Raspberry Coulis (Sauce)
Take the fresh raspberries, deseed them and add to a blender. If using frozen ones, thaw then first then blend. Add the sugar and blend to form a smooth puree. Strain the puree theough a colander or sieve mesh to remove seeds and keep aside.

Now heat a pot on medium flame, add the raspberry puree to it and 1/4th cup water. Stir to mix and thicken the syrup. Add a little more water if required, but not too much. Cook the puree to form a thick jam-like fruit preserve, more like a compote recipe. When the water has evaporated and the mixture is thick enough, remove from flame and allow to cool.

Take the cool whip (add sugar if its not sweetened) and blend in a mixer on the "whip" setting for 3 short pulses. Add the orange zest and pulse again, then set in the refrigerator until time to serve.

Take the orange biscuits and grind them in the blender to form a smooth-to-coarse powder.

To assemble the dessert, take a tall clear serving glass. Start with a layer of ground biscuits, then add the warm raspberry coulis, then layer with the creme fraiche. Repeat the process with all 3 layers again. Top with a sprinkling of fresh orange zest, or use the ground powder and mint leaves for garnish. This delicious dessert is on its way to Susan who's hosting this week's edition of WHB started by Kalyn's Kitchen!

This layered dessert tastes best with warm fruit topping and cool creme fraiche; the temperature difference nicely balances the taste. This is a great and simple recipe for a quick dessert when you are entertaining! Plus the basic Raspberry Sauce can be used as a topping for any other desserts.

Similar Recipes:
Plum Compote with Cardamom
Carmelized Almonds with Strawberries and Cream

Raspberry Jelly (Swiss) Roll Cake

I have had a fascination for anything sweet, and especially cakes right from when I was a kid! And I had this extra-special affection for swiss rolls, those colorful, spiral cakes that tasted like heaven, and even with the minimal frosting and decoration, they always attracted the attention of dessert-lovers, including me!! I harbor this fascination even today, and the first thing I notice in a pastry shop has to be a swiss roll cake (my hubby can vouch for it:)) Swiss roll is a type of sponge cake baked in a very shallow rectangular baking tray, and then filled, rolled up, and served in circular slices. So did these beauties originate from Swiss?? Not really; although the origins of this cake are unclear, wikipedia says that these are certainly not widely eaten in Switzerland, where they are known as "Biscuitrolle" or "Roulade" . Every country has it's own version, and it is popular in US as the Jelly Roll. It finds a place at many christmas dinner tables shaped like a Yule Log, but for me, it will always be my favorite kind of cake. Here's a simple Raspberry Swiss Roll recipe, but you can use a lot of variations for the filling.

This cake is not too much about the recipe as it is about the technique. Some people think it is really hard to make, but on the contrary, I'd like to say that though it looks tough, and does need a little more work than just popping your cake into the oven, it's simpler and more fun, especially as you can allow your kids to do the filling; and as it's almost always covered with frosting or sugar dusting, the flaws are easy to hide:) If you are still nervous, these two videos at Epicurious and About could prove helpful. I followed the recipe and technique on About, as it was more simple, and easier to roll out too. The only change I did was that I refrigerated the rolled cake (before the filling) for an hour. This gave it a firmer texture so it was easier to spread the filling and cut into pieces while serving.

Recipe Ingredients
3 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup water
1 tspn vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose
1 tspn baking powder
1/4 tspn salt
Powdered Confectioner's sugar - for dusting
2/3 cup spreadable raspberry jelly/jam (or any other filling of your choice)

Method
Heat oven to 375 deg F. Line a baking pan, preferably (15 × 10 × 1) inches, with cooking parchment paper or aluminum foil. Spray with non-stick cooking spray.

Beat eggs in small bowl with electric mixer on high speed for about 5 minutes or until very thick and lemon colored. Gradually beat in the granulated sugar. Beat in water and vanilla on low speed. Finally add the flour, baking powder and salt, beating just until batter is smooth. Pour into the prepared pan, spreading out well to form a thin even layer.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes (NOT MORE) until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Spread a clean kitchen towel on the platform and sprinkle some powdered sugar on it. Now loosen the edges of the cake, then turn the whole pan upside down upon the towel. Carefully remove the paper from the top. Trim off the hard edges of the cake, and while its hot, carefully roll cake lengthwise from one end to the other. Keep the roll as tight as possible, but apply very little pressure so as not to crack the cake a lot. A few cracks are normal, so don't worry. it is going to be covered with frosting later! Now refrigerate the rolled cake for 40 mins to an hour. (This was the only change I made from the About recipe video)

Remove the cake from fridge and unroll it gently and remove the towel. Beat the raspberry jelly/jam slightly to soften; it's better to use a spreadable jelly. Now spread it evenly over the cake. Do NOT use a lot of jelly as it would ooze out of the cake once you finish rolling it up again.

Now again roll up the cake, which should be fairly easier this time. If you are not ready to serve, place it in the fridge again, so it becomes a bit harder and easier to slice. When ready to serve, place it on a serving dish, with the seams facing down. Sprinkle generously with confectioners sugar, making sure you cover all the flaked ends or cracks and edges that you incurred while rolling it up. You can even cover the whole cake with chocolate icing or any other frosting. Gently slice at a 30deg angle to form beautiful raspberry swiss rolls.

These are my favorites, and I hope you enjoy these delicious dessert cakes too!

Similar Recipes
Coconut and Poppy Seed Cake
Tres Leches Milk Cake
Mango Truffle Cake