Every year, I celebrate the arrival of the first berries at the farmers’ market by making summer pudding. I can’t think of any other dessert that captures the flavor of the season so well. Not only is this traditional English dessert delicious, it’s also incredibly simple to make. There’s hardly any cooking involved, no long list of ingredients or complicated techniques—just line a mold with white bread, fill it with sugared berries, and refrigerate it overnight. But when it’s unmolded on a plate, the tall, crimson pudding drenched in its own sweet juice is wonderful to look at. And it tastes of summer itself.

Summer pudding begins with berries

适当的英国夏季布丁只用覆盆子和醋栗制成，但您可以将其与任何浆果组合制成。除了覆盆子和红醋栗外，我还喜欢黑莓，Loganberries，草莓，Boysenberries和Black Crants。让您的选择由最成熟的一切决定。

The surest sign of a fresh berry is a heady perfume.购物浆果时要做的第一件事是闻到它们的气味。陶醉的香水是浆果在其顶峰的标志。浆果篮子底部的污渍表示碎果碎；拒绝那些浆果，以及任何显示霉菌迹象的人。浆果非常脆弱，在从农场到市场的旅程中并不总是很好。如果您知道可以选择自己的领域，请务必这样做。

避免洗浆果：它们像海绵一样吸收水。只需轻轻挑选它们以去除任何叶子或茎即可。如果您真的需要洗净它们，请在柔和的水中短暂冲洗它们；在任何情况下都不会浸泡。草莓是一个例外：它们通常是从它们生长的土壤中的沙质，而沙质的布丁听起来很迷人，对磨牙很难。将草莓放在漏勺中，用温水冲洗它们，将其放在纸巾上，然后将它们擦干。

The berries need to be cooked briefly to bring out their juices and melt the sugar. Don’t cook them too long or they’ll lose their shape and their fresh taste.

Good-quality frozen berries work well, too.但是请注意，煮熟时它们比新鲜浆果汁。您可能需要保留一点果汁，以添加到未镀料的布丁中。

Improvise a pudding mold

A charlotte mold is ideal for summer pudding. It looks like a bucket with little heart-shaped handles on the sides. Often made of tin, it has a flat bottom and tall, slightly sloping sides that are easy to line. When it’s unmolded, you’ll have a pretty pudding that won’t fall over. A soufflé dish, with its flat bottom and deep sides, makes a fine substitute for a charlotte mold. You can even use a deep mixing bowl. You may have to cut your bread a bit differently to accommodate the size and shape of your mold.

Use a fine-crumbed white bread

The bread for summer pudding must be a dense, fine-crumbed white loaf. This is no place for fluffy bread or a rustic country loaf. Look instead for a long, brick-shaped loaf with a thin crust and a close-textured crumb, sometimes called apain de mie或铂尔曼面包。检查您当地的面包店，看看它是否提供您喜欢的面包店。Pepperidge Farm的白色三明治面包也很好。两到三天大的面包变得更坚固。

用保鲜膜衬里模具将使布丁更容易卸载。它还有助于将更多的浆果果汁保留在布丁内。当您组装布丁时，请确保将面包片安装在一起，否则多汁的馅料会溢出。使布丁的顶部和底部的三角形切片应尽可能近。剩下的面包的废料可用于填补任何空白。当您将矩形切片设置在模具侧面时，请稍微重叠。这将有助于防止浆果泄漏，并制成更坚固的布丁。

Once you’ve assembled the pudding, put a flat plate on top and weight it with a large can. Set the mold inside a larger plate or dish to catch the juice that will overflow. As the pudding sits under the weight overnight, the bread absorbs the juice and the bright color of the berries, and the whole thing is compacted into a firm, unified shape.

Unmold just before serving

Wait until you’re ready to serve the pudding before unmolding it. It将要stand up, but probably not for very long. Choose a serving plate that’s slightly bowled to catch the escaping juice. Put the plate on top of the mold, invert both, and remove the mold. Reserve the juice to spoon over each serving.