Take advantage of berry season with these ideas for using up all those delicious summer berries.

Whether you grow your own summer berries or buy them at the farmers market, it is easy to quickly find yourself overwhelmed with the abundance of sweet and juicy berries. While it’s possible to eat fresh berries all day long, it’s definitely not recommended. Instead, use up those summer berries in delicious recipes ranging from savory to sweet–and maybe even a cocktail or two.

11 Recipe Ideas for Summer Berries

1.Berry Kombucha – Use summer berries to add flavoring during your secondary ferment when making kombucha for a sweet, sour, and probiotic healthy delight.

2. Berry Trifle – A trifle is a layered dessert made with fruit, a thin layer of sponge cake, custard, and whipped cream.  It’s super easy to make, but adding summer berries makes it far more impressive.

3. Homemade Berry Yogurt – While making homemade yogurt does take a little patience, it is easy enough to make. Use fresh summer berries in your homemade yogurt for the ultimate breakfast.

4. Berry and Meyer Lemon Semifreddo – A semifreddo is an Italian dessert that can best be described as a frozen mousse. This meyer lemon and berry version is perfect for a warm summer evening.

5. Summer Berry Sangria – What better way to use up all those delicate summer berries than tossing them into your favorite red wine sangria recipe?

6. Savory Blackberry Sauce – Believe it or not, this savory blackberry sauce goes well with salmon, steak, lamb, and pork.

7. Mixed Berry Cobbler – A cobbler is a super easy yet impressive and delicious dessert to make. It’s kind of like a deconstructed pie and it’s perfect served with homemade vanilla ice cream.

8. Summer Berry Salad – Toss summer berries onto your salads for added sweetness and some depth of flavor.

9. Berry Hand Pies – Hand pies are another super easy dessert to make, and are a great way to use up lots of berries. They even freeze well and can be reheated for a snack, or dare we say for breakfast?

10. Mixed Berry Margarita – Who knew that berries and tequila could be so tasty? Puree up some mixed summer berries, strain, and add tequila and Grand Marnier to taste. Sugar the rim of your glass for extra points.

11. Blueberry Salsa – Substitute tomatoes with blueberries with this recipe for blueberry salsa goes equally well with chicken or chips.

Related on EcoSalon

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Vegan Coconut Mousse Recipe with Strawberry and Mango

Berries in Baskets image via Shutterstock

Strawberries and Whipped Cream via Shutterstock

Strawberry Hand Pies via Shutterstock

Homemade Sangria via Shutterstock

The post 11 Perfectly Juicy and Ripe Recipes for Summer Berries appeared first on EcoSalon.

Do you have a few pints of berries leftover from the farmer’s market? Maybe you went berry picking recently and you have more berries leftover than you could ever dream of using. No worries, this berry crisp recipe will use them right up.

Crisps or crumbles, which ever name you prefer, are an excellent way to put summer berries to work. They’re simple, colorful, and loaded with flavor. For those of us, myself included, who aren’t natural bakers, crisps are the ideal dessert.

Use whatever berries you have on hand. If you want to reduce the sugar content, feel free. Make this recipe your own. Don’t stress about perfection, just throw what you have together in your summer berry crisp recipe. It’s also a great addition to a summer picnic or dinner party.

Triple Berry Crisp Recipe

Serves 18

1 1/2 cups fresh blackberries
1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
4 tbsp. sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups butter

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. At the same time, in a large bowl, gently combine blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and white sugar.

2. In a separate large bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

3. Cut in butter until crumbly. Press half of the mixture into a 9 x 13 inch pan.

4. Cover with berry and sugar mixture. And bake in a preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, until the fruit is bubbly and golden brown.

5. Top with a scoop of organic vanilla ice cream or a dollop of homemade whip cream and you’re all set.

Recipe: All Recipes

Related on EcoSalon

No Bake Acai Truffle Recipe

Barbecue Dessert Recipe

Vegan Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe

Image: slettvet

The post Triple Berry Crisp Recipe: For Gobs and Gobs of Summer Berry Goodness appeared first on EcoSalon.

Springtime is special. The birds and bees are out and about doting over every gorgeous flower. It’s a vibrant, flavorful time of year; and for the sweet tooth, it’s the berry best vegan dessert time of year!

Who doesn’t love a good dessert? As a vegan, I’ve learned to do without, more often than not, those cakes, cookies, tarts and pies that are usually slathered in butter and full of eggs. I can skip the wintery fruitcakes, pumpkin pies and heavy chocolatey treats, but it’s not quite the same in spring.

Spring is full of so many seasonal yummy berries and fruits that make desserts taste light and fresh, especially when they’re vegan. They’re certainly nothing to feel guilty about…at least not that guilty, anyway. In fact, some of them can be a bit on the healthy side…although, it’s never an excuse to overdo it!

Where to begin? How about the most spring of all treats…

Rhubarb

It’s the sweet treat of the season. And while a fruity rhubarb pie is a must, consider some of these other options, veganized:

1. Strawberry and Rhubarb topped Sundaes

2. Poached Rhubarb

3. Rhubarb Sorbet

4. Rhubarb Oatmeal Bars

Berries

Of course they’re perfect all by themselves…but sometimes we want to eat fancy foods.

5. Strawberry Shortcake

6. Strawberry Cobbler

7. Strawberry Pistachio Tart

Citrus

Citrus fruits are available year round, but their true season is winter through the end of May or so. And it’s a good thing because they make some of the best vegan desserts ever.

8. Key Lime Pie

9. Lemon Bars

10. Lemon Ginger Cookies

11. Lemon Cake

Keep in touch with Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

Image: various brennemans

The post Tart, Sweet and Fresh: 11 Springtime Vegan Dessert Recipe Ideas appeared first on EcoSalon.