One of the funniest gastronomic experiences for me is when you look at a French pastry chef tasting a sea buckthorn dessert. At this time, incredible grimaces are built on their faces, of simultaneous surprise, confusion and attempts to figure out what orange is hidden in the cake. The first version is absolutely always mango-passion fruit. But then the happy subject immediately dismisses this option, because the taste is certainly different. Further reasoning is like wandering in a heavy fog – when versions are so far from reality that it is a shame to say them aloud. Then the agitated foreigner throws out a white flag and begs to reveal the secret.
Further, there are traditionally explanations of what sea buckthorn is, a search for pictures on the Internet and the second stage of tasting, when a person realizes that he has not tried it before, but really wants to remember this unique taste. I played enough sea buckthorn as a child, the Far East will understand that sea buckthorn is as much an everyday product as other berries like strawberries or raspberries. However, once a year I come up with a new dessert with her, because this is our taste and our pride. Recently, I once again asked a friend from France how familiar they are with this berry, and he confidently stated that no one had heard of it. Therefore, when they ask me how to surprise foreigners, I immediately advise sea buckthorn, not to come up with a second such product or dessert.
Last year I had a beautiful cake with sea buckthorn and fermented baked milk – a very bright and interesting combination. In this I decided to play a mono story. Everything in the cake tastes like sea buckthorn. In the very center, the filling “sea buckthorn yogurt” is a delicate creamy layer, which has a mild sour taste and a pleasant milky note, the filling itself is large and, one might say, plays the first violin. Then ganache with sea buckthorn, in fact, the same taste, but slightly diluted with chocolate. And outside – vegan mirrored glaze made from sea buckthorn puree. Here you have a real bright taste and natural color and pleasant depth, such glaze seems more voluminous than the usual mirror ones. Yesterday we already discussed it in the profile of Two Carrots. All this sea buckthorn splendor is rounded off by an interesting base of spicy shortbread cookies, a subtle contrast that completes the whole idea fantastically.
