BLUEBERRY SAUCE / COMPOTE

8 cups blue berries
2 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
4 teaspoons lemon juice
8 teaspoons cornstarch

Mix 4 cups of berries with 1 cup of water, all the sugar, and all lemon juice in a very large deep pot.

Stir and bring to a rolling boil, stirring continuously.

Turn down the heat, simmer 7 to 10 minutes, and stir often.

Mix cornstarch into the remaining 1 cup of water until dissolved and add to the berry mixture.

Stir until thickens, and only then add the remaining blue berries and cook for 3 minutes on low, stirring lightly as you do not want to break the last batch of berries.

This mixture fills up 8 consol jars.

Clean the bottles as directed below. I usually place them on a cooling rack in a baking tray with parchment paper below the wire rack and then pack the bottles on the wire rack to sterilize it in the oven.

This way when you scoop the sauce into the bottles and as its a bit messy and you may have spilled sauce, it does not cause a sticky and gooey mess to clean up.

All you need to do would be to pick up the parchment paper and discard it.

I also found that a 1 cup muffin scoop with a pouring lip does help with ‘spooning’ it into the jar. (Wilton Scoop-It 3-Piece Batter Spoon Set)

Bottle warm and store.
Prior to cooking, be sure to prepare and sterilize the jars.

How to sterilize jars for jams and preserves:
Preheat the oven to 160°C.
Wash the jars and lids in hot soapy water and rinse but don’t dry them.
Place the jars onto a baking tray and into the oven for 10 minutes.
Soak the lids in boiling water for a few minutes.
I will do another 1-2 batched tomorrow to use up the remaining berries we have.

There are many ways to enjoy this Blueberry sauce/compote:
Top waffles or pancakes
Swirl it into yogurt
Spoon it over oatmeal
Add to chia oats
Serve as a jam on toast, scones, or an English muffin
Spread on a dessert plate and serve with cheesecake
Ladle it on ice cream
Add to your favorite BBQ sauce and serve with chicken
Fill a crepe
Sweeten up a smoothie

Recipe and photo: Esme Slabs