A berry nice time of year for summer food

Valerie O’Connor can’t keep her purple-stained hands off the juicy berries in the garden and delights in converting them into mouthwatering drinks or deserts

Blackcurrant cordial has to be one of the biggest selling drinks when it comes to squashes for kids and it has an amazing flavour that can only come from the tart blackcurrant. Needless to say, it’s also sugar-laden or aspartame-laden, but let’s not go there.

During my stint at the Organic College in Dromcollogher in Co Limerick I was asked to pick blackcurrants one day and, as it’s the kind of task you can get lost in, I ended up with several buckets full and nice purple-stained hands.