Instructions

1. Zest the lemons and oranges before you touch the berries. Zesting is slow, and cut sugared berries start weeping juice within minutes of being left standing.
2. Dice the strawberries and raspberries no bigger than a pea. The raspberries collapse as soon as they are cut, which is fine — they are the color here, and the strawberry pieces supply the body.
3. Stir the fruit with the sugar, orange juice and both zests and leave it a few minutes. The sugar draws juice out, that juice picks up the citrus oil, and the flavor ends up spread through the mixture rather than sitting on top of it.
4. Spread it thinly over lined sheets, breaking up any clumps of fruit as you go. A clump stays a wet lump at its centre and will not grind.
5. Dry at 120 °F for 7 hours. The low setting is about color — this whole recipe exists to look bright on top of something, and heat dulls red fruit faster than it dulls anything else.
6. It is done when the fruit has gone from sticky to papery and a cooled piece cracks rather than compressing. There must be no tackiness at all, because a sprinkle with any moisture in it cakes into a solid lump the week after you grind it.
7. Let it cool completely on the sheet before it goes near the grinder. Warm fruit sugar smears on the blades and gives you paste instead of sprinkles.
8. Pulse in short bursts and stop while the pieces are still visible. Keep them in a small airtight jar at the back of a cupboard for three months, shaking it before use — they settle, and they lose their color in the light.