Rose Raspberry Sorbet with Bilberry Basil Sauce ‒ Ruusu-vadelmajää mustikka-basilikakastikkeella

Besides the Mofo, I though I'd also take part in the food challenge Finnish food bloggers circle around every month since these are both wonderful ways of connecting us food bloggers into a community. This month's theme is the ball shape. Mushroom balls would be my oblivious choice at the moment, but instead I decided to go with something more experimental.

I just gathered a bag of rose hips and since cleaning them out is quite a hard work, I wanted to use them in  something that would really bring out their flavour. Kissel is a classic for a reason, but you can do it with dried rose hips too. Paula of Veikeä Verso just made rose ice cream from the flower petals, and that sounds beautifully aromatic as well, but this time I thought I'd try sorbet for the first time in my life. After all, sorbet is just as great for rolling cute little ice cream balls. And that raspberry still sounded like a nice pair for rose.

I find it a shame how most rose hips just rotten in bushes though they grow everywhere. Still, I felt a bit nervous, picking the hips in the middle of bright daylight. As if I was a kid stealing apples. An old lady came to me and I was sure she was going to scold me off for stealing something from their housing cooperative, but instead she just asked me what I was going to do with them and told how delicious they are.

This doesn't really need a sauce, but once I had my mixing wand in my hand, I thought I'd try the idea of combining bilberries and basil which I nicked from here. They fit together just perfectly, though next time I might omit the sugar.

- 200 g cleaned rose hips
- 200 g raspberries
- 2 dl water
- 1 dl dark sugar (I find this more aromatic)
- 1 tsp agar (not really necessary, just wanted to play it safe)

For the sauce:
- 2 dl bilberries
- 2 tbsp bilberry juice
- 2 tbsp basil leaves
- 1 tbsp sugar (unless the juice is sweetened already)

Bring the water to a boil. Add the agar and once it's dissolved, also the sugar. Mix in the rose hips and raspberries. Blend smooth. In case you want the sorbet really smooth, press the mass through a filter. This is a nice option if you're using rose hips without cleaning their seeds out beforehand, but not necessary otherwise.

Place the bowl in the freezer. Blend smooth again after couple of hours. Repeat every hour until the sorbet feels sturdy enough.

For the sauce, just blend everything together. Adjust the consistency by adding bilberry juice if needed.

Nutritional values / 850 g:
energy 698 kcal
fat 3 g
protein 10 g
carbohydrates 148 g
fiber 24 g