Haskins Garden Centre is encouraging gardeners to make the most of their home-grown raspberries and blackcurrants this summer, with a berry sorbet recipe.

Alasdair Urquhart, plant expert at Haskins Garden Centres, commented:

“Using the raspberries and blackcurrants from your garden to make your own berry sorbet is simple, delicious and rewarding. Even if you haven’t been able to grow your own berries this year, we still recommend following our step-by-step recipe.

“Late June to early July is the optimum time to harvest your berries and we would recommend harvesting on a dry day to help keep them at their best. Blackcurrants are ready to harvest from late June to mid-July and mid-season raspberries tend to come into fruit in July.

“All the family will love this delicious treat and so we thought we would share this summer recipe with our loyal customers.”

Ingredients (serves 6) 

• 300g raspberries
• 150g blackcurrants
• 150g granulated sugar
• 1 egg white
• ½ lemon
• Method

1. Place the raspberries and blackcurrants in a large bowl.
2. Pour the sugar on top.
3. Add the egg white and juice from the lemon.
4. Use a hand mixer to blitz the berries until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything gets blitzed. This shouldn’t take any longer than five minutes.
5. Strain through a fine sieve to remove the pips (optional).
6. Cover the mixture with cling film and place in the freezer for a minimum of 5 hours.
7. Remove from the freezer 30 minutes before eating and place in the fridge to ensure the sorbet is soft enough.

For those wanting to grow their own raspberries, Alasdair has the following recommendations:

“Top varieties for early summer harvests are Glen Lyon, Glen Magna and Glen Prosen. Raspberries thrive in fertile, slightly acidic soils, which are well-drained and weed free. They dislike soggy, shallow and chalky soils. Top tips for keeping raspberries healthy, include planting other pollinator-friendly plants nearby, planting the berries in rows north to south, allowing for maximum sun coverage and easy harvesting.”

And for those wanting to grow their own blackcurrants, Alasdair has the following recommendations: “Haskins prefers Big Ben and Ben Connan varieties for their large fruits, very high yields, sweet flavour and disease resistance tendencies. Blackcurrants are perfect for sorbet due to their intense flavour and ability to freeze well.”

Haskins Garden Centre is in Ferndown in Dorset, West End in Southampton and Roundstone and Snowhill in West Sussex. For more information visit www.haskins.co.uk