This one is quite fun - it pops in your mouth! It requires specialty ingredients and needs to be started 1 day in advanced.
Berry Reverse Sphere
Ingredients
Berry reverse sphere base
350g Frozen mixed berries (blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries)
5g Calcium lactate gluconate powder
Sugar and lime to taste
Alginate bath
1000g Cold water
5g Sodium alginate powder
Lemongrass granita
100g Water
50g Sugar
2x Lemongrass stalks, finely sliced
2x Kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced
Lime juice to taste
Recipe
Prepare the mixed berry spheres (1 day before you plan to serve).
In a bowl, heat the berries in the microwave until thawed. Then blend until smooth.
Strain through a sieve to remove seeds.
Weigh out 250g of puree, add lime juice and sugar to taste.
Add the calcium lactate gluconate powder to the berry mix, blend for 30 seconds to combine.
Transfer the mixture into 2-3cm diameter hemisphere moulds and freeze overnight.
Prepare the alginate bath. Sprinkle the sodium alginate powder over the water in a large glass bowl. Using a stick blender, blend until the powder fully dissolves into the mixture.
Cover the alginate bath with cling film or a plate and refrigerate overnight.
Prepare the lemongrass granita. Put all ingredients except the lime juice into a pot and bring to the boil. Once boiled, turn to a low heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the syrup is fragrant.
Transfer the syrup to a flat-based plastic container, add an extra 50-100g of water to the mixture. Allow to cool in fridge then season with lime juice, the mixture should be sweet and tangy.
Next, place the plastic tub in the freezer. Mix with a fork every hour, breaking up large chunks and crystals. Continue this until the ice has set in fine chunks.
When ready to serve, make the reverse spheres. Heat the alginate bath in the microwave until 50C or hot to the touch.
Create a whirlpool in the alginate bath, (it doesn’t need to be vicious so long as the water is rotating around). Place 2-3 frozen spheres into the mixture.
Using a dessert spoon, stir the bath to ensure spheres don’t touch. Once the berry spheres appear to be melting and a thin skin has formed, remove the spheres with the spoon. Carefully drain the bath liquid from the side of the spoon as you remove the spheres.
Transfer spheres to your desired serving spoons, add a spoon of the granita and garnish with lemon balm. These are best eaten all at once - like a shot!