Mixed Berry Compote

Summer is in full swing here and do you know what that means??? Berries galore! Man oh man do I love when berries are in season; they are the sweetest and juiciest this time of year. I try to not buy them at any other time just because they are truly magnificent during summer.

My husband and I like to go on hikes and explore a lot. Well one time, when we were dating (a long time ago) we went hiking about an hour away from the city to a natural bridge. At this natural bridge, there is a huge pool of water that a small stream feeds into. And what feeds this little stream are little waterfalls, by which happens to grow a ton of blackberry bushes. We may or may not have hoped over a roped off area and gathered some super ripe and delicious blackberries that were growing (they would go to waste otherwise, so why not???) Ya’ll, these berries were the peak of what blackberries ought to taste like! They were incredible.

With summer now here, I have to share with you my knowledge on how to make an amazing berry sauce!

You can enjoy this on just about anything you can imagine: pancakes, waffles, crepes, angel food cake, pound cake, cheese cake, ice cream French toast… the list goes on and on. The key, in my humble opinion, is striking the perfect balance of sweetness and zing.

Now berries this time of year are quite sweet, however, by adding sugar to these berries you are encouraging a bit more of the sugars and juices to leech out of these beauties a bit more. The addition of lemon juice (just a small squeeze) and lemon zest add enough brightness to the berries to give the sauce a light taste and feel. You can probably literally hear the song of summer singing once you eat this sauce.

A sneak peak if an upcoming recipe this month!

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Mixed Berry Compote

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

25 mins

 

Sweet berry sauce with many purposes

Course: Fruit

Cuisine: American

Servings: 3 cups

Author: ijustmakesandwiches

Ingredients

• 8 ounces strawberries cleaned and hulled
• 1 dry pint blueberries
• 1 dry pint blackberries
• 4 ounces Sugar
• 1 squeeze lemon juice
• 1 each lemon zested

Instructions

1. In a medium sauce pot, mix together cleaned berries; add sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest
   
2. Stir together to evenly coat the berries in sugar
   
3. Bring berries up to a medium heat and cook until juices leech out of berries.
   
4. Cook berries until the juices has fully leeched out and the berries are super soft.
   

Recipe Notes

*The sugar will have to be adjusted depending on the sweetness of the berries. **For a coulis, take the finished sauce, puree in a blender and then strain through a fine mesh strainer. This is usually ideal for applications with cheesecakes or other instances where a smooth sauce is needed.