Berries and Cream

The Russians have a penchant for berries, the glorious fruits of a summer season all too brief in the northern climate. During the summer they flock to the countryside for wild strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cloudberries, lingonberries and other berries too numerous to name. Perhaps the best way to enjoy berries is straight from the bush, but a favored Russian combination is berries and cream. Here are two variations on that theme.

In the first recipe, sour cream gives the berries a Slavic twist. The second recipe, Strawberries Romanov, is now an international favorite. The dessert was no doubt dubbed Romanov—the name of the tsarist dynasty that ruled over Russia for three centuries—because of its spendthrift use of rich ingredients.