How to Make Berry Sauces with Great, Fresh Flavor

Last weekend, for an outing with some freedom-minded folk, I made a New York cheesecake, and wanted a topping to offer with it. I recalled that Lobo picked huge quantities of blackberries while we were gone, and most of them are still waiting patiently in the freezer for my attention ... so I made a blackberry sauce. It's very easy to make sauces full of fresh-fruit taste, from frozen fruit—but it does require some advance planning. I discovered the secret from Rose Levy Beranbaum, whose recipe I found in The Cake Bible. While she gave specific recipes and exact measurements (for raspberry and strawberry sauces), I've found that that much fussing isn't necessary—and her technique works well for other berries too. So, without further ado, my method for making berry sauce:


Frozen berries of your choice ― 2 C. is usually sufficient to make enough sauce for 6-8 dessert servings (and you'll probably have some left over)
sugar to your taste
fresh-squeezed citrus juice

Place frozen berries in a strainer over a bowl. Let berries thaw completely—this will take several hours. Once they're thawed, stir them to extract as much juice as possible, but don't press hard enough to force the pulp through. Set berry pulp aside.

Pour juice into a saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until juice is reduced by about 3/4. When it's to this point, it should be noticeably thicker—just a bit thinner than honey is good. Don't let it cook down too much, or over higher heat, or you run the risk of caramelizing the sugars in the juice. Remove from heat and let cool about 5 minutes.

While the juice is reducing, put the berry pulp into a blender or processor and puree until smooth. If necessary or desired, return pulp to strainer and push through to remove pips, seeds, and/or skins.

Combine the syrup and pulp, blending well. Add sugar to your taste, and stir until it's completely dissolved. Add citrus juice to your taste (approximately 1 t. to brighten the sauce, more if you want its flavor to feature more prominently in the sauce) and stir well. Cover and refrigerate until serving time.

This sauce is wonderfully smooth, and excellent over many desserts. Leftovers are great the next morning on pancakes or waffles, or in oatmeal or yogurt. It will keep, covered, in the refrigerator for about a week (I think—it always disappears very quickly in our house!).

Notes: I've made this recipe using raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries, and all work beautifully (this is what I use to flavor my raspberry truffles). Cranberries might work well also; I plan to try that variation this year.

Lemon juice is the most common recommendation; but I like to use other citrus fruits for an unexpected flavor note. Orange juice would work well with all of these; I used lime in my blackberry sauce and that was a terrific flavor combination. (Blueberries and limes also pair well.)

Wine might be a nice substitute for citrus juice. I've used reds in fruit sorbet recipes with great success, which is why I think it would add a nice flavor here. Do note, though, that as the wine isn't heated, there will be some alcohol content to the sauce.

I also like to add appropriate spices to the sauce, to give it another flavor note. I prefer to add a bit of cinnamon stick, a whole clove or two, and/or a nubbin of nutmeg to the juice as it reduces, rather than stirring in powdered spices along with the sugar. Be sure to remove these from the reduced juice before proceeding with the recipe.

One can probably also vary the sweetener to good effect. Honey would substitute well for all fruits, I should think; and I'm intrigued by the thought of using brown sugar with blackberries or cranberries. I haven't tried any of these possibilities yet, though.

Last, if one wanted a sauce with whole fruit in it, I'd recommend making the sauce as above, and then, right before serving, add whole, fresh fruit to it (slices in the case of strawberries). Frozen fruit would be okay, but they would almost certainly water the sauce down some, and would be mushier than fresh fruit.