Emily Jenkins will bring out the foodie in any reader as she traces the preparation of blackberry fool through four centuries in A Fine Dessert. Starting in 1710 in Lyme, England, a mother and daughter pick wild blackberries from the field surrounding their cottage. Then begins the labor-intensive process that includes milking the cow, skimming the cream, beating the cream with twigs, straining the berries through muslin to get rid of seeds and chilling the delightful blend of berries and cream in an ice pit in the hillside.
The recipe travels to mother and daughter slaves who serve up the dessert to their owner’s family on a Charleston plantation in 1810; to a metropolitan housewife and daughter in Boston in 1910; and finally, to a father and son from San Diego in 2010. Along the way, readers see the evolution of cooking, from picking berries to buying them at an open-air market. They also see the increasing role of technology as horse-drawn wagons deliver cream from a local dairy and cartons of organic cream are purchased at the supermarket.
Sophie Blackall’s folksy watercolor and blackberry juice illustrations depict further differences in clothing and traditions over time. But one thing never changes: wanting to lick the spoon! This is a picture book treat that will charm readers across generations.
This article was originally published in the February 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.
