John Wright's Bramble Mousse

I am most grateful to my friend Pam Corbin for this substantial recipe. Blackberry picking is gruelling, exacting and dangerous work, so you deserve the best reward for your labours. Here it is.

Serves 4
500g Blackberries, washed
7g leaf gelatine
Juice of ½ lemon (omit if your Blackberries are strongly acidic)
3 large eggs
100g caster sugar
200ml double cream

Set aside 50g of the best Blackberries for serving. Put the rest into a saucepan, cover and cook gently for 5 minutes until softened. Meanwhile, soak the gelatine leaves in a shallow dish of cold water to soften.

Crush the cooked Blackberries in the saucepan using a potato masher, then pass through a sieve into a bowl, pressing with the back of a wooden spoon to extract as much juice as possible. If you want to get every last drop of juice out (and you should), squeeze the pulp left in the sieve in a muslin bag. Rinse out the saucepan.

Pour the Blackberries juice into the pan, add the lemon juice and heat gently until almost simmering, then take off the heat. Squeeze the gelatine leaves to remove excess water, then add them to the hot blackberry juice and stir until dissolved. Set aside to cool until tepid.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the caster sugar until thick, pale and mousse-like. Continuing to whisk, slowly pour in the Blackberry juice, followed by 150ml of the cream.

Pour the mixture into glasses and place in the fridge for a couple of hours until set. Before serving, pour a little cream on top and decorate with the remaining berries.