Blackberry Soup

This soup was probably the most successful result of our day-long Team AJ/Soupereasy chilled soup project.

We both really enjoyed this spiced soup (blackberries simmered in water with a cinnamon stick, a clove, lemon slices, and some sugar). The mixture is then put through a food mill or a fine mesh strainer and thoroughly chilled (as with all the soups in this book, it is best to make this many hours or even the day before serving).

The recipe then calls for adding a mix of buttermilk and sour cream and here's where we parted ways with the recipe. It called for 1.5 cups of sour cream and .5 cups of buttermilk. Neither of us wanted to go there since we really liked the spiced soup just as it was. Both elements would have added tanginess so we started by just adding the buttermilk as the healthier option. And very nice it was. Then we add some of the sour cream and really didn't think it added all that much to what was already a really tasty soup.

What we might do instead is just add a small dollop of the sour cream at the time of serving with maybe a thin half-slice of lemon, grated lemon zest, or possibly a small amount of chopped candied lemon peel on top.

The soup itself -- without the buttermilk/sour cream elements -- would be a nice topping for a pound cake or ice cream.

7/8 -- served with vanilla ice cream and fresh blackberries for an al fresco dinner party and all agreed that this was just a delicious summer dessert. Leftovers -- combined with some buttermilk -- made a lovely smoothie for breakfast the next day.