I can just get away with writing this post, the sun is out, autumn is here, and the blackberries are still on the brambles – just. Foraging for food has recently become pretty trendy but I remember blackberry picking from years ago. The event itself always seemed to herald the end of summer and natures consolation prize were these purple gems. There’s something very satisfactory about harvesting ‘free’ food and the ‘little people’ have certainly caught onto the idea. So blackberry picking we have been doing and anything that makes it home, usually a rather measly amount, has been turned into ice cream before those pudgy little fingers dive in again! I adore ice cream and with my new fancy ‘ice cream maker’ we have been experimenting in a major way. So far I have made all sorts, and aside from the blackberry, the most memorable being, the naughtiest, most intense chocolate I have ever had the pleasure to eat – thanks to the wonderful ‘Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream’ recipe book. Chocolate I can talk about any time, but blackberry definitely has a season so here is the recipe for any die-hard blackberry foraging ice cream fans!

Blackberry Ice Cream

1 cup double cream

1 cup whole organic milk

½ cup of sour cream

1/4cup sugar

3 egg yolks – whisked together

250gms of blackberry puree

1.Heat the cream and milk and 2 tablespoons of the sugar in a large sauce pan. Just when it is coming up to the boil take it straight off.

2.Whisk the remaining sugar and egg yolks together and very slowly add in the hot cream and milk mix, whisking all the time.

3.Put the custard back on to the heat and stir until the custard thickens. Watch it like a hawk as you don’t want scrambled eggs! Remove the custard when it has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Leave to cool.

4.Meanwhile make the blackberry puree by blending the fruit and passing through a sieve. Sorry, no fast way around this!

5.When the custard has cooled add the sour cream and blackberry puree and stir well together. Leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

6.Now pour into your ice cream machine and churn until it resembles a soft scoop. Remove and pop in the freezer or eat immediately!

I have just been given a new ‘Cuisineart Gelato and Ice Cream Professional Maker’ and it is amazing. No freezing bowls in the freezer, it has a built-in freezer and can make up to 1.5 litres of ice cream at any one time – that’s quite a lot of ice cream, I’d highly recommend it. This weekend I have ‘plum and early grey tea’ on the menu and another batch of chocolate, if we scrape together more blackberries, they’ll also get churned up!