Frutti di Bosco with Basil, Roses & Creme de Cassis


Little trays of raspberries, blueberries, cranberries & blackberries are carefully lined up inside the box of frutti di bosco that I took from the fruit section. When I was maneuvering my way towards our cart, my five year-old's eyes almost popped out.  Then when I went back with yet another big box of strawberries, I got scared that his eyes were really going to pop out.  I see that I struck a good chord.  He can easily dethrone Cookie Monster with his remarkable appetite of frutti di bosco.  In fact, at barely 2 years old, he was already able to pick his own wild strawberries & blackberries in the mountains.


Since my son proclaims ownership of 90% of the frutti di bosco, and generously gives us 10% of the remainder,  I just add some white sugar according to his liking.  This time, I bought more than his usual capacity (or so I hoped) so I added  a dash of liqueur.  Creme de Cassis (blackcurrant) went amazingly well with the berries.  The basil was a first for me in mixing with a sweet dish and it surprisingly vivified the flavors. 


After this frutti di bosco salad, I added another plant to my growing basil population of 5 plants.  They cannot keep up with my daily snipping so they remain dwarfed.  As opposed to my balding basil plants, I have an abundance of roses staring at me around the house that I had to to include them in this berry salad.   It gave a pleasant subtle floral hint. 



Frutti di Bosco with Basil, Roses & Creme de Cassis

Ingredients:
Serves 4
  • 500 g. frutti di bosco
  • 100 g. strawberries, quartered or halved
  • 2 tablespoons Creme de cassis
  • 2 - 3 tablespoons white sugar
  • handful of basil, chopped finely
  • 2 roses, petals only
Directions:
  1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  
  2. Refrigerate for at least half an hour before serving.