Seasonal Fresh Fruit Meringue

Seasonal soft fruit such as raspberries, blackberries and
strawberries are delicious in this recipe from Gaia’s Kitchen,
a cookbook for family and community at Schumacher
College, in Devon England. Inspired by E.F. Schumacher, author
of Small is Beautiful, the college has been working for ten
years towards raising ecological awareness.

Fresh Fruit Pavlovas
For 10-15

Meringue
8 egg whites
2 1/2 cups Sucanat (an unrefined sugar available in health food
stores)
4 tsp organic apple cider vinegar
2 tsp arrowroot (found in health food stores)

Filling
2 1/2 cups whipped cream
5 cups fresh local, organic fruit
flaked almonds (optional)

1. Whisk the egg whites until stiff white peaks are formed.

2. Whisk in Sucanat, a little at a time.

3. Whisk in vinegar and arrowroot.

4. Prepare 1-3 12″ baking sheets as follows. Line with baking
parchment or greaseproof paper, coat thinly with vegetable
oil and dust with cornflour, using a sieve. This will stop
the meringue sticking.

5. Using a large metal spoon, swiftly shape the thick meringue
mixture into 1-3 large open nests with roughly 1″ bottoms and meringue mounded up around the edges.

6. Bake at 250 F for 1 hour until dry and crispy on the outside and slightly chewy in the middle. The meringue will feel quite strong and brittle to touch, and sound hollow if you tap it.

7. Leave to cool, and then move to a decorative plate or board if you have one big enough.

8. Peel and slice the large fruit into smallish pieces. Slice the strawberries as necessary. (Avoid rinsing the soft fruit if possible, as it may get too watery. Drain it well if you do have to rinse it, or pat dry.) Mix fruit together with the cream.

9. Whip the double (or whipping cream) until it is thick enough to hold an impression, but not grainy. Be very careful once it starts to thicken. If over-whipped, it can separate and turn into whey and butter.

10. Two ways of putting the pavlova together:
(a) simply fill with the whipped cream and then the fresh fruit. Or,
(b)) line the meringue nest with half the cream. Pile the fruit on top and hide it like buried treasure under a second layer of whipped cream. Decorate the top with flaked almonds, and even a few telltale pieces of fruit.