What’s a flummery, you say? Aside from being a fun word, flummery is a sweet, fruit, pudding-like dessert that has been mostly lost to history and time. A quick Google search will bring up a few recipes here and there, though certainly not a mainstream dessert like in the days of old.
While thumbing through a colonial cookbook I have on hand, I came across a recipe for raspberry flummery. Seeing as though our raspberry season is nearing its end here in New Jersey, and I still have a good amount of locally-picked fresh raspberries on hand, I sought to honor this dessert of yesteryear.
Flummeries were quite popular in Britain and Ireland from the 17th to 19th centuries, and was usually made with raspberries, blackberries, strawberries or gooseberries. In the 1700’s the American colonists would have included flummery in the pastries and desserts that would have appeared on the table after an elegant dinner.
I made some minor adjustments to the recipe though, like straining out the seeds to suit the tastes of a certain 7 and 10 year old. I also added a dash of vanilla, because hey, why not! To take it up a notch, I added a generous dollop of homemade whipped cream and nestled in a few whole raspberries and a sprig of chocolate mint as garnish.
Give raspberry flummery a go, and let us resurrect this lovely dessert!
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Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh raspberries
- 1 ½ cups water, divided
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 3/4 sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or a vanilla bean
- 4 tbsp cornstarch
For Homemade Whipped Cream (Optional):
- 1 cup heavy cream (or whipping cream)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp confectioner’s sugar
Instructions
- Gently rinse the raspberries and add to a medium saucepan. Add 1/2 cup (118 ml) of water, cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the raspberries soften and breakdown, about 10 minutes.
- Strain the raspberries through a fine mesh strainer. Use the back of your cooking spoon to rub and push the raspberries against the strainer to release as much of their juice as possible. Be sure to use your spoon to run it across the underside of the strainer to scoop any of the pulp that has accumulated. Discard the seeds that remain in the strainer.
- Add the raspberry juice back into the pan. Add the salt and sugar and cook over a low-medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar fully dissolves. You’ll know the sugar has dissolved when you no longer feel the grain of sugar beneath your cooking spoon.
- In the meantime, make a slurry by dissolving the cornstarch in 1 cup (240 g) of water. Do this by vigorously whisking together, or add the cornstarch and water to a jar with a fitted lid and shake well. In either case, it should well mixed and free of lumps.
- Very slowly add the slurry to the pan while constantly stirring. Continue to stir, taking care to tend to the sides of the pan, until the mixture thickens, becoming almost pudding-like, about 5 minutes.
- Spoon the mixture into pretty, heat-tolerant, glasses and refrigerate until well-chilled.
- To make homemade whipped cream:In a large bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Add the vanilla and the powdered sugar and beat again until the peaks form. Do not over beat. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.
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