A Classic British Dessert, Guest Written by Dana

Eton Mess is a very simple English dessert made with strawberries, meringue and whipped cream which is served on the last Wednesday in may at Eton college at the “Fourth of June” picnic/cricket match with Winchester University.

This recipe is what I fed my 3 year old daughter but you can also add port or balsamic vinegar or pomegranate juice. Some people add sugar, Heston Blumenthal makes his with bananas.

The story behind the recipe is that a dog crashed into (or sat on) a picnic basket on the way to the picnic and it made a “mess”. My neighbor says its because of the way the dish looks. A third option in Wikipedia describes it as “a quantity of food”, particularly “a prepared dish of soft food” or “a mixture of ingredients cooked or eaten together”.

Once you make the delicate meringues (which is not a good project with toddlers) the dish is really easy to assemble even with a toddler. I whipped my own cream, my daughter crumbled the meringues, big pieces are better (dyed in pastel colors and decorated with dinosaur sprinkles) and those were mixed. and strawberries plopped on top.

Forgot to take pics of ours, the photo is from My Best Days Ever.

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Posted on June 8, 2011