If there's one thing I remember about summer as a child, it's being squashed in the back of a hot car, my hands sticky with berry juices. An afternoon at the pick-your-own garden was a weekend ritual during the scant few weeks of the strawberry and raspberry season.
I remember my amazement at being told the juicy mouthfuls were good for you - I'd assumed that because berries were so sweet and moreish they would be rationed like chocolate. But the only reason my siblings and I were scolded for scoffing them was to ensure some made it home.
Another memory is of picking blackberries in the woods. Plump and pippy, their bursts of inky juice stained our hands and faces. I ate as many as I dropped into the plastic containers.
Back home we peered into the purple depths, then cried: "They're moving." So they were - the bucket was alive with tiny, white worms. Just like the ones wriggling around in my belly, presumably. I went off blackberries for a while after that.
Berries are ideal for quick puds too. In just one minute you can assemble a bowl of strawberries drizzled with a tart balsamic vinegar to bring out their sweetness. In two minutes you can puree raspberries with icing sugar and swirl into softened vanilla ice cream. In an hour, fill a pastry case with creme patissiere and stud with jewelled berries.
Raspberries arrive slightly later than strawberries. Their juiciness is hardly surprising - each berry has about 100 juicy little sacks waiting to be burst.
Choose plump berries and wash them before hulling. Keep covered in the fridge and eat them at room temperature as chilling dulls their fragrance. Too many? Freeze them in cubes to be blitzed into smoothies with fruit juice and yoghurt.
