Make Berry Topping / Jam / Puree / Sauce at Home

Freezing blueberries

I love berries in any form – cheesecake, smoothie, ice cream, or eating as is.  But there are seasons when they’re super expensive and there are days when I forget about them in the overstuffed refrigerator and end up throwing away.  So I started to freeze the berries rather than wasting them – by rinsing them well, draining water, placing on tray in freezer, and then storing in a Ziploc the next day.

And then I also started making & storing jam / puree / sauce / topping – whatever you want to call.   Say you want to use the strawberry sauce on cheesecake, or strawberry puree for a smoothie, or spread strawberry jam (without pectin) on bread, or pour strawberry topping over ice cream – this is the simplest you can make  at home within 30 minutes!  Use and then freeze the excess.

Frozen strawberries ... and homemade strawberry jam / topping

How to make Strawberry Topping / Strawberry Jam / Strawberry Puree / Strawberry Sauce:

If you’re using 1 lb box of strawberries, fresh or frozen, have ¼ cup sugar on hand, 2-3 Tbsp of water, and a tsp of balsamic vinegar / white vinegar / lemon juice.

1. Cut the tops of strawberries, rinse well.  If using frozen, thaw an hour at room temperature.

2.  Chop strawberries in half or quarter (depending on how you like the chunks), throw in a wide pan on medium-low heat along with water, vinegar/lemon juice, and half the amount of sugar, stir around, cover and cook for 10-15 minutes.

3.  Keep checking & stirring in between.  Strawberries will get mushy, release water, thicken up.  Taste & adjust sugar.

4.  At this point, you can STOP to use it as a jam or ice cream topping with the strawberry chunks in between.

Gorgeous Strawberry Sauce / Puree without artificial preservatives or colors

5.  Or you can let it cool down, put in blender and puree until very fine consistency.  Don’t use any additional water.

This strawberry jam / strawberry puree / strawberry sauce / strawberry topping keeps well for 2-3 days when refrigerated, and the excess can be frozen – measure & put in ice cube tray, freeze and store in a Ziploc to use later.

Blunder Alert!

Cover the pan only if it is deep enough, otherwise the liquid will ooze out.  Since sweetness varies in berries, add only half the sugar at first then taste and add more rather than making it way too sweet.  Put only a tsp or two of the vinegar or lemon juice otherwise the puree will be weirdly sour to have with anything.

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Can you make blueberry topping or raspberry puree or berry compote this way?  By all means.  You can even add few drops of vanilla extract (for flavor) and/or little cornstarch+water mixture (for thicker texture) toward the end of cooking process and mix well.

I don’t throw away any more berries – now I put them to good use.  And you?
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