Not So Eton Mess with Matcha Green Tea & Frutti di Bosco



I didn't really know what to call this dessert because it's not really your conventional Eton Mess because of the Matcha green tea addition and the choice of fruit but the basic ingredients and method are the same.  So the most fitting name I could give it is Not So Eton Mess with Matcha Green Tea & Frutti di Bosco.  Don't you agree?


Lately, I've been coming home with punnets of raspberries, blueberries, red currants, blackberries & strawberries.  Some of these frutti di bosco (mixed berries) are produced in Italy and some are imported from other countries.  They are not always available like the apples so when I see some, I just grab those punnets and take them home.  These are the only fruits that I don't mind if they are in season or not.  I am usually attentive where the produce come from and when they are in season.  For these reasons, I prefer the Italian ones because they are fresher, having traveled less than the imported ones and more importantly, they're more reasonably priced. 


It's exactly the objective of the prodotti a chilometro zero (produce at zero kilometer) in Italy.  Fresh produce don't need to travel hundreds or thousands of kilometers to reach the buyers.  There is a given range of 0 to a maximum of 70 kilometers from producers to consumers to lessen the handling & transportation costs and to improve the quality of freshness of what we eat.  Of course this exempts the fruits & vegetables that some towns specialize in.  I would still want to eat the cherries of Vignola or the onions of Tropea.


This dessert is so simple to put together and judging from the ingredients, you can already understand that it's very good, with or without the Matcha green tea.  Cream, meringue & fruit, how can it disappoint anyone?  The English made a good invention here with its simplicity in taste, ingredients and preparation.  

Buon appetito!




Not So Eton Mess with Matcha Green Tea & Frutti di Bosco

Ingredients:
Serves 2
  • 150 ml. cream (I used the light one with mild taste.)
  • 1 teaspoon Matcha green tea powder
  • 2 - 3 teaspoons sugar
  • 35 g. meringue (you can put however much you want) + extra for garnishing
  • 200 g. mixed berries (frutti di bosco) + extra for garnishing
  • 1 teaspoon Creme de Cassis (optional)
Directions:
  1. Mash 1/3 of the berries with a potato masher or put them in a food processor.  
  2. Chop the remaining fruit and put them in a bowl.  Mix in the pureed berries, Creme de Cassis & 2 teaspoons of sugar.  
  3. In a mixing bowl, whisk cream with green tea powder and 1 teaspoon sugar.  Whisk until stiff.  
  4. Using your hands, break the meringue to small pieces and fold them in the whipped cream.  
  5. Pour mixture in glasses.  Usually, you should also fold in the berries with the cream & meringue.  In this case, I spooned the berries in the middle of the cream in the glass because I didn't want to alter the color of the green tea cream. 
  6. Garnish with fresh berries & crumbled meringue.