Nectarine and Boysenberry Sorbet + Fairyland

Cooking!

Yesterday was a magical day at the Farmers' Market - not only did we find cheese curds for poutine (it was Canada Day, after all), but I learned what boysenberries were.

Most people, I think, have some faint awareness about the existence of boysenberries, but don't know what they are like, probably picturing some tiny, very tart berry that no one really uses except elderly people whose taste buds have reached a sad state of decline where they enjoy that sort of thing and like to bake delicious looking pies and eat them in front of the grandkids, who won't, on principle, eat anything that is fruit and is not sweet.

But most people (i.e. me) would be wrong. They are delicious! A hybrid of raspberries and blackberries, they embody the best of each - they keep the bumbly texture of blackberries and the sweetness and tartness of both berries combines in a epic symphony and they are adorable and you really should just go out and get some.


 Anyway, upon discovering their excellent characteristics, Joe and I decided to add them to out nectarine sorbet plans for the evening. We picked out some tasty yellow nectarines and a bit of mint and got to work.

Ice cream making is pretty straight-forward, especially with the truly wonderful KitchenAid stand mixer attachment that Joe got me for graduation. We leave it in the freezer all the time (you need it in there for at least 25 hours before making your ice cream) and take it out when it's time to go.



Nectarine Boysenberry Recipe

6 yellow nectarines, peeled, pitted, and cut into chunks
1 generous cup boysenberries
3/8 cup water
1 handful mint, chopped







Your first step is to put the nectarines, boysenberries, mint, and water in the food processor until it is nice and pureed. At this point, you may want to do a taste test to make sure the ratio is to your liking. We had pretty sweet nectarines, so this was the perfect sweet/tart blend for us.


Once processed, you want to push the mixture through a mesh strainer, to get any seeds, skin, or pulp out, for maximum creaminess.

Here is the result of the straining, a cream, homogenous mixture. We put it through in batches, scooping the pulpy remains into a jar to use as jam later and rinsing off the strainer in between batches. This helped us get the most creamy mixture at the end and made the process easier. We did about three batches.






At this point, you want to put the container in the refrigerator for 8 hours, or the freezer for about 3 or 4. Your goal is to get the mixture good and cold so it will freeze easily when you mix it. If you choose the freezer method, be sure to give it a stir every 30 to 45 minutes or so, to let it freeze uniformly.





After we took it out of the freezer, we added a bit of simple syrup that we had chilling in the fridge, probably 1/4 cup sugar dissolved in 1/4 water. Totally optional - the fruit is already sweet enough!

When it's cold enough, set up the freezer bowl on your stand mixer, following the instruction guide. Turn the mixer on the lowest setting and pour your mixture in as the paddle turns. Let it mix in there for about 10 minutes, then pour it into an airtight container and let it    
                                          freeze up the rest of the way for at least an hour or two before serving

Take it out, scoop, garnish, and enjoy!

**Thanks to Joe and Amalia for doing lots of work for this ice cream <3**

Reading!

I'm going to be much more diligent and elaborate with my reading recommendations, guys, starting... now!

Recently, I finished The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente. Running with the theme of this post, it too was a graduation gift, from a friend who knows me well enough to stick the subtitle "The Emily Knight Story" on the book's cover with scrap-booking sticker letters.

It really was my kind of story. Fairyland, in all its disturbing manifestations, is my preferred setting and children/YA fantasy fiction is my preferred genre, at this moment. This story did not disappoint.

The plot follows a little girl named September, who lives in Nebraska. On page two, the Green Wind arrives and says, "You seem like an ill-tempered and irascible enough child. How would you like to come away with me?" Which September, of course, does without a second thought.

As a main character, September is everything a ravished child (in the G-rated sense of the word) should be: at times petulant and ill-tempered, at times frightened and wishing for home, at times brave and selfless, and above all, constantly curious. Though she is enjoyable to follow, my favorite character was the narrator and her voice, as she interjected the story often with her snarky and dramatic commentary.

September's adventures form a series of loosely connected vignettes, at least during the first half of the novel, during which she encounters characters so numerous that one must make use of the dramatis personae at the beginning of the book. Valente raises the stakes more towards the end, however, as a Wyverary (his mother was a Wyvern, his father a Library) named A-Through-L and a Marid called Saturday join September and the three must face the dreaded Marquess, who is terrible, but has a very nice hat.

The novel is full of classical allusions and reads like previous delightful romps through fairyland; Oz and Wonderland come to mind. Though I enjoyed that aspect of the novel, I occasionally felt a lack of purpose and development. That aspect came in to play, however, when September meets the Marquess and is compelled to complete a task for her. Seeing the Marquess as a foil for September and seeing September veer from what both she and the readers see as the "typical" fairyland plot was refreshing and gave the novel greater depth. The climax was suitably complex and thoughtful and embodied something I wish I saw more often in fairyland fiction: rather than rejecting fairyland for the real world, September (and the novel as a whole) says "yes to magic," as Valente puts it in an interview. It's about "seeing a new world, a new way of living and embracing it instead of turning away." I whole-heartedly recommend this novel for anyone enamored by magical children's lit and look forward to the sequel!

~Out!~