Desserts
Finnish berry kissel with vanilla custard
Berry kissel is a familiar Finnish dessert. Serve it chilled with silky homemade vanilla custard.
Servings in this printout: 6
Ingredients
- 500 g frozen berries
- 800 ml waterfor the kissel
- 80 g sugarfor the kissel
- 3 tbsp potato starch
- 100 ml cold waterfor mixing the potato starch
- 250 ml heavy creamfor the vanilla custard
- 250 ml whole milkfor the vanilla custard
- 2 egg yolks
- 40 g sugarfor the vanilla custard
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar
Method
- Heat the water and the sugar for the kissel in a saucepan. Add the berries and boil for a few minutes.
- Mix the potato starch with the cold water. Remove the saucepan from the heat and pour in the starch slurry in a thin stream, stirring as you pour.
- Heat the kissel until the first bubbles rise. Do not let it boil vigorously. Pour into a serving dish and sprinkle a little sugar on top to prevent a skin from forming. Let cool.
- Whisk the yolks and sugar until pale. Heat the cream and milk with the vanilla sugar until almost boiling.
- Pour the hot milk mixture into the yolks in a thin stream, whisking continuously. Return it to the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring until the custard thickens slightly. Do not let it boil.
- Chill the custard and serve with the kissel.
Nutrition per serving
Nutrition values are approximate estimates, not laboratory analyses. Products and portion size affect the result.
- Net carbs
- 35.74 g
- Total carbohydrates (incl. fibre and polyols)
- 38.56 g
- Protein
- 3.6 g
- Fat
- 19.32 g
- GL estimate
- about 20 / serving
Confidence · Low Some values or assumptions in the calculation are uncertain.
The calculation also uses comparison values from similar foods or food groups. Small amounts of carbohydrate were left out of the calculation.
Estimate details and sources ↗
How was the estimate calculated?
The serving’s GL is calculated from ingredient data. Confidence describes the evidence behind the calculation. Your blood sugar response may vary.
- frozen berries · Food group average
- sugar · Food group average
- potato starch · Food group average
- heavy cream · Food group average
- whole milk · Food group average
- sugar · Food group average
- vanilla sugar · Food group average
Calculated ingredient-based estimate per serving, not a measurement of the prepared meal. All supported positive carbohydrate amounts are included. An unmatched individual portion under 1 g available carbohydrate per serving may be omitted only while all such portions total less than 2 g per serving; the omitted amount is disclosed. This is an editorial tolerance, not a clinical precision limit.
Small portions omitted: 0.01 g available carbohydrate per serving.
Research sources and technical details
Source names and technical notes appear in their original form.
- frozen berries ·
fruit-category-mean-gi-51 · afcd-F009881-2026-10-24 - sugar ·
sugar-syrups-category-mean-gi-58 · fineli-1-2026-10-24 - potato starch ·
potatoes-category-mean-gi-71 · fineli-162-2026-10-24 - heavy cream ·
dairy-category-mean-gi-35 · fineli-631-2026-10-24 - whole milk ·
dairy-category-mean-gi-35 · fineli-689-2026-10-24 - sugar ·
sugar-syrups-category-mean-gi-58 · fineli-1-2026-10-24 - vanilla sugar ·
sugar-syrups-category-mean-gi-58 · fineli-1-2026-10-24
Carbohydrate data sources
- Mixed berry, frozen · Available-carbohydrate value from AFCD Release 3; FSANZ attribution and CC BY-SA 3.0 Australia terms apply.
- VESI, VESIJOHTOVESI · Available-carbohydrate value from THL Fineli Rel20; CC BY 4.0.
- SOKERI · Available-carbohydrate value from THL Fineli Rel20; CC BY 4.0.
- JAUHO, PERUNAJAUHO TAI -SUURIMO, PERUNATÄRKKELYS · Available-carbohydrate value from THL Fineli Rel20; CC BY 4.0.
- Kerma, kuohukerma, rasvaa 38 % · Available-carbohydrate value from THL Fineli Rel20; CC BY 4.0.
- MAITO, TÄYSMAITO, D-VITAMIINIA 1 UG · Available-carbohydrate value from THL Fineli Rel20; CC BY 4.0.
- KANANMUNAN KELTUAINEN, 34 % KANANMUNAN MASSASTA · Available-carbohydrate value from THL Fineli Rel20; CC BY 4.0.
GI and calculation sources
- International tables of glycemic index and glycemic load values 2021: a systematic review · fruit category mean; used only as a broad tamarind-paste analogue (Low)CATEGORY_MEAN
- International tables of glycemic index and glycemic load values 2021: a systematic review · sugars and syrups category mean (Low)CATEGORY_MEAN
- International tables of glycemic index and glycemic load values 2021: a systematic review · potato category mean; this is not preparation-specific (Low)CATEGORY_MEAN
- International tables of glycemic index and glycemic load values 2021: a systematic review · Category mean, not a measured GI for the recipe's cream cheese. (Low)CATEGORY_MEAN
Notes
Heat the custard to about 82–84 °C or until it lightly coats a spoon. Boiling can cause it to curdle.