Stewed Berry Fool

From the garden

• 4 cups tart bush berries (gooseberries, currants, cranberries, lingonberries, or any tart berry you stew), stripped from the stems and rinsed · these are cooked-only fruits: elderberries in particular are never safe raw, so nothing here is tasted until it has simmered

From the pantry

• ¾ cup granulated sugar · start here, then sweeten to taste once the fruit collapses; gooseberries and chokeberries want more than currants
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1½ cups heavy cream, very cold
• ½ cup plain Greek yogurt (optional) · folded in at the end for a lighter, tangier fool
• 1 pinch salt

1. Strip every berry from its stems and rinse well. Green stems, leaves and hard underripe fruit go to the compost rather than the pan: cooking sweetens a tart berry, but it will not fix an unripe one.
2. Combine the berries and sugar with 3 tablespoons of water in a heavy saucepan. Simmer over medium heat 12–15 minutes, stirring and mashing against the side, until every berry has burst and the juice runs thick and dark.
3. Press the hot fruit through a sieve set over a bowl, working the pulp with the back of a ladle and leaving skins and seeds behind. Stir in the lemon zest and juice, then taste and sweeten if it makes you wince.
4. Chill the puree until cold right through, at least 2 hours. Whip the cream with the pinch of salt to soft peaks that flop over, folding in the yogurt at the very end if you are using it.
5. Fold two thirds of the cold puree into the cream in three or four strokes so it stays streaked rather than evenly pink. Spoon into glasses, pour the rest over the top, and chill 30 minutes before serving.