Puddings

Puddings are seasonal, as with all other dishes. Any fruit puds involving fresh raspberries, strawberries or blackberries or gooseberries are best eaten in these fruits’ natural season to this country. I deplore fruit such as strawberries being imported throughout the year – people forget just how delicious a strawberry grown in Britain tastes. Some soft fruit freezes well – blackcurrants, for instance, and blackberries (or brambles, call them what you will) and raspberries – and this preserves them for winter use in suitable puddings such as the Baked Lemon and Raspberry Pudding, a light and delicious cold-weather pud. You see, it isn’t just the fruit content that makes puddings seasonal, it is also the type of pudding. A frozen pudding such as the Lime and Mango Sorbet wouldn’t appeal to me for winter eating, but that doesn’t mean that I never eat ice cream in the winter. I frequently put an ice on the menu here, and, if it is cold outside, accompany it by a warm sauce. The Frozen Honey and Whisky Creams, for example, make a perfect accompaniment to the Hot Fresh Fruit Salad with Honey, Ginger and Cardamom. A good dark and glossy chocolate sauce with the Coffee and Chipped Dark Chocolate Ice Cream, or with a good plain vanilla ice cream, is delicious all year round, whatever the temperature outside.