Berry Tarts

[Zia]

Hi everyone! I'm new to these forums, and kind of to cooking.

I want to make Berry Tarts. I saw an article on them in a cooking magazine, and now have a passion to make them. Though I don't know which berries to use. I want to use a combination of berries, but I don't know which berries would work well together. Any ideas? Thank you so much.

[Pete]

The great thing about berries is that they all really compliment each other. Just take 3-4 of your favorite berries and add them to your tart. You can't really go wrong with that.

[redace1960]

i find that raspberries can overwhelm a berry mix. not so much the flavor as the perfumey, perfumey aroma. matter of personal taste; but i use about half as much raz as whatever else i'm using.

[panini]

radace1960
I know it's personal taste, but your description leads me to believe that you have not had good fresh raspberries.

[redace1960]

i wish i could agree right about now....see, i live in raz central. whatcom county became one of the leading producers of raspberries some years back after the war in Bosnia destroyed their fields. we are nearing the end of the first picking right now. when they harvest you can quite literally smell raz for miles. the shaker harvesters they use end up soaked in juice. when they reach the end of a row and make a turn on the paved roads the smashed berry runoff-and the smell-are so thick and overwhelming that bees cloud over the blacktop to drink. goes without saying this makes driving an adventure! so yeah; im admittedly not an impartial judge of razzies. but i have seen and eaten more than my fair share of fresh ones. WAY more.
anyway, zia: a good mix of berries is himalayan blackberry and raspberry. they're just dissimilar enough in flavor to compliment each other and different enough in color to be really pretty. grate some honey sugar over the top and you'll think you're in heaven.

[panini]

Well now I understand.
Personally, when I hear the word freestone peach I get quizzy.
They're everywhere.!!!!!
There is 10 on my kitchen counter now, from the neighbors. They will never get eaten.
No time to make B'kfast salsa.

[shroomgirl]

add a glug of Chambord and any mix of berries will be better!
I've got blackberries and blueberries right now, just finished black rasp season and have a few reds left. Peaches are just coming in and it's a beautiful thing.

Had peach sorbet and ice cream made for last week's market, am selling ROTI pan fried in clarified butter with a scoop a vanilla ice cream and blackberries or peaches on top.....ummmm will be interesting to see how well it sells in the AM.

[panini]

I just have to mention that I just put up a batch of peach salsa. Gggrrreat for breakfast tacos. Jalapenos were off green orange, yum!!! Actually great with chips also. I know this has nothing to do with this thread. Usually when I go back and read my posts, I can't understand them anyway!!
Tomorrow, yukon golds, homemade bkfast sausage, fresh farm brown eggs, homemade tortillas and the salsa.

[Zia]

Hi all!

Thank you so much for the advice, and I'm sorry it took me so long to post, my computer was being a pain. Anyway, when we went to the market all they had was Strawberries, Blackberries, Raspberries, and Blueberries. The Blueberries looked horrible however, so we just stuck with the other three, and I think it was successful

They were delicous!

We couldn't find a working camara, so I borrowed my Dad's Camara phone, and used that to take a couple badly coloured pictures of the ten tarts we made.

Our decorations weren't that great, but it was a blast!





Thanks again!

[Nicholas]

I thought your decorations were neat. I like the one with the sliced strawberries(?) in the center with blackberries round the edges.
Did you have them sitting on pastry cream?
Mmmm.... looking at them makes me want to make some too..

[Zia]

Thank you! and yes, we did.

[Harpua]

What kind of pastry cream did you use?

[Zia]

Originally Posted by Harpua

What kind of pastry cream did you use?

I found the recipe for it in a rather recent issue of Kitchen & Cook.

It has Cornstarch, Sugar, Milk, Eggyokes, salt, vanilla extract, and chopped butter in it. So it is a rather Custardy Pastry Cream.