Black Currant Rosemary Crème Brûleé

In this twist on classic crème brûleé, frozen or fresh black currants give the custard a deep berry flavor and beautiful purple hue. A mixture of finely crushed rosemary and sugar infuses the crackly sugar top with nuanced earthy notes to deliver decadent flavor in every bite. 


This recipe is featured as part of the Attainable Opulence trend from the 2026 Flavor Forecast. 

Ingredients

Procedure

Procedure

1. Place heavy cream in small saucepan. Split vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape to remove seeds from pod. Add seeds and scraped pod to saucepan with cream. Cook on medium-low heat 5 minutes, being careful not to bring mixture to a boil. Remove from heat and let steep 15 minutes. Remove vanilla bean pod from saucepan.
2. Mix black currants, 3/4 cup of the sugar, 1 teaspoon of the rosemary and salt in separate small saucepan. Bring to simmer on medium heat. Simmer about 10 minutes, stirring to crush currants until mixture resembles a thick jam. Strain mixture through a fine mesh sieve. Whisk black currant mixture into vanilla-infused cream until well blended. Allow to cool to room temperature.
3. Preheat oven to 300°F. Gradually add egg yolks to black currant cream mixture; mix well, being careful not to create foam. Place eight (4-ounce) oven safe ramekins (about 4 to 5-inches in diameter) in deep baking dish. Pour custard mixture evenly into ramekins.
4. Carefully pour boiling hot water into the baking pan, filling so that water reaches about half to two-thirds of the way up sides of ramekins.
5. Bake at 300°F for 1 hour, until custard is set and only slightly jiggly in the center. Remove from oven and let stand in water bath just until cool enough to handle. Remove from water bath and cool to room temperature, about 1 hour. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or up to 2 days.
6. Mix remaining 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon finely crushed rosemary in small bowl. To finish crème brûleé, sprinkle each serving with 1 tablespoon of the rosemary sugar, coating tops evenly. Caramelize sugar with a kitchen torch, moving flame in circles about 1 to 2 inches from top of custard, until sugar is melted and dark golden brown. Refrigerate 15 minutes before serving.