Berries can only mean one thing: the warm weather has arrived! Or should I say, the hope of warmer weather has arrived, as we all know New Zealand can sometimes be cold right until January 1st. I’m writing this in advance, hoping that by the time you read it the strawberries in my garden will be pumping out juicy, red morsels and I’m walking around in shorts and a T-shirt. I love all berries, but hold a soft spot for the boysenberry, a Rubus hybrid berry believed to have arisen from a cross between loganberries, raspberries and blackberries in the 1920s in California. They’re a berry many Kiwis grew up eating, if not in the fresh form at least in the form of boysenberry-ripple ice cream. I’ve taken those flavours to create a gluten-free frozen version of a traditional chocolate roll, filled with boysenberry semifreddo. Should you be looking for something plant-based, I’ve got you covered with a lush roasted-strawberry and rose ‘cheesecake’ and there are also a couple of savoury berry numbers too.

MINI GOAT’S CHEESE TARTS WITH BLUEBERRY SALSA

STRAWBERRY & CRESS SALAD, HONEYED WALNUTS & BLACK PEPPER DRESSING

CHOCOLATE & BOYSENBERRY SEMIFREDDO ROLL

VANILLA CREAM WITH STRAWBERRY & HOROPITO GRANITA

ROASTED-STRAWBERRY & ROSE VEGAN ‘CHEESECAKE’