Dale-Ila Riggs and Don Miles are the owners of The Berry Patch in Stephentown, New York. Dale-Ila is president of the New York State Berry Growers Association. She can be heard on Food Friday!
One of our favorite times during berry season is a 1-3 day period when the strawberry harvest is winding down, but summer raspberries and early blueberries are starting to be harvested. We always make a special effort to get some shortcakes made at this time and enjoy berry shortcake with all three types of berries.
Ingredients
2 cups strawberries
2 cups raspberries
2 cups blueberries
Shortcake biscuits (e.g. biscuit recipe from Joy of Cooking)
Directions
1. Slice the strawberries, lightly sprinkle with a little sugar – just enough to bring the juices out. Set aside.
2. Mash the raspberries with a fork or potato masher. Sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon of sugar. Set aside.
3. Mash one cup of the blueberries, lightly sprinkle with just a little sugar to bring the juices out and mix with the remaining cup of whole blueberries. Set aside.
4. While the biscuits are baking, make some whipped cream. Take a half pint of local fresh cream, sift in just a touch of confectioner’s sugar (in a pinch, regular sugar will do), add a couple drops of vanilla, and whip until soft.
5. When the biscuits come out of the oven, let them cool a few minutes. Split open a biscuit, put the two halves in a bowl, cover with whatever type of berry you want, add a spoonful of whipped cream. Enjoy the wonderful simple flavors of summer! Repeat as necessary.
