C H E F ’ S TI P S & TR I C KS
A
Summer’s Sweet Refrain BY KEANE STRAUB I PHOTOS BY DONG KIM AND KEANE STRAUB
lbertans are experts at drawing out summer as long as possible. We might be clinging to warm weather and the outdoors a little bit harder this year, in denial of the fact that the days are getting shorter. But, as the season winds down, we’re moving right into the beginning of harvest season, and fruit that has ripened on branches and vines is bursting with deep flavour, while golden honey drips like a late summer sunset. In the spirit of holding on to our summer for a bit longer, we’ve sought out fruit gardens, honey farms, and wineries in Alberta to bring you those last tastes of this sweet season and learn a little more about the raw ingredients that are grown and used at these businesses and how to incorporate them into your kitchens at home.
For more than a decade, Ilse and Hugo Bonjean of Spirit Hills Winery, near Millarville, have been producing food-pairing wines that come from the terroir of the Rocky Mountain Foothills. “What we do is pretty unique in the world,” says co-owner and president Hugo Bonjean. “Just like people know different grapes produce different wines, so do different flowers produce different nectars. That in turn creates different wines.” Wildflower nectar is collected, dried, 10 Culinaire | September 2021
and stored as honey by Spirit Hills’ bees. Full of antioxidants, raw honey is a sterile product, which can’t be fermented. “What we do when we make wine is we rehydrate the honey, turning it back into its liquid nectar state and that is what gets fermented,” explains Bonjean. The fermented nectar is then infused with a variety of hand-picked wildflower petals for white and rosé varieties. For red wine, blackcurrants are macerated in the tanks throughout the fermentation period. “Blackcurrants are one of the berries with the highest amount of antioxidants,” says Bonjean. They also contain anthocyanins – the compound in grape skins that gives red wine its colour and flavour – but at a concentration 30 to 90 times higher, making currants an ideal replacement for grapes when making wine. They also make for delicious desserts, like this blackcurrant ice cream parfait.
Blackcurrant Ice Cream Parfait Serves 2-4
1 cup blackcurrants ¼ cup (60 mL) water ½ cup (120 mL) honey or granulated sugar (adjust for taste) 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs 4 cups (1 L) good quality vanilla ice cream 4 short, wide mouth mason jars 1. Wash and drain blackcurrants and add to a small saucepan with water. Heat to a boil and add honey or sugar. Blackcurrants are quite sour so you will get that beautiful sweet-sour flavour. If it is not sweet enough add more honey or sugar. Let simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Cool in fridge for 2 hours. The syrup will thicken as it cools. 2. Divide graham crumbs among the mason jars. Add a layer of vanilla ice cream and top with blackcurrant syrup. Finish it off with a dusting of the graham crumbs and serve immediately.
