Raspberries are at their best in the summer, and though they seem to disappear at a faster rate than I can keep them stocked in the kitchen, farmers' markets brim with them all season, creating ample opportunities to use them for cooking fun. Their fresh, bright taste makes an excellent sauce poured over ice cream or even store-bought angel food cake.
Only three ingredients are involved, so it’s easy to have the kids help out. With the sweetness of seasonal fruit, you can quite easily minimize the sugar for a healthy treat.
RECIPE: Raspberry Sauce
Yields approx. ¾ cups of sauce
Ingredients
3 cups raspberries (or 3 x 170g containers)*
¼ cup sugar
squirt freshly squeezed lemon juice
*You can also use thawed, frozen fruit in the winter; just drain off some of the juice before using the berries (you can always add it back if you need to).
To start, you’ll need about 3 cups (or 3 x 170 g packs) raspberries. Rinse them gently.
Prepare one lemon and ¼ cup sugar.
Add the sugar to the berries. Ideally, you would purée the berries in a blender or food processor — less messy. For this recipe/photoshoot, I was at the cottage, where only an electric hand mixer was available (which could be the case for numerous readers, with or without a cottage!) so I used that instead. I recommend a deep bottom bowl, to avoid splatter. Still, the mixer worked just fine.
Cut your lemon in half and squeeze some juice into the sauce. Taste it, and squeeze in extra juice if you need a little more acidity. Depending on the sweetness of the berries, you might also want to add a bit more sugar.
This is the point where you can be done, finito, no more effort required. If you would like to refine the sauce a little bit, you can strain it through a fine sieve.
If strained, the sauce will be a little thinner but still perfect for topping purposes. If you’re super-ambitious, you can reduce this on the stove (or Coleman?) to thicken it up.
After straining, you’ll have just under one cup of sauce; closer to ¾ of a cup, really. This will keep in the fridge for about three days (covered).
Pictured here, I stole my mom’s creamer and used it to serve the raspberry sauce. Trust me, this will make you look like a cottage culinary superstar in return for about 10 seconds of effort. Sweet!
Here’s a quick recap of this recipe’s ingredients and instructions. Enjoy!
RECIPE: Raspberry Sauce
Yields approx. ¾ cups of sauce
Ingredients
3 cups raspberries (or 3 x 170g containers)*
¼ cup sugar
squirt freshly squeezed lemon juice
*You can also use thawed, frozen fruit in the winter; just drain off some of the juice before using the berries (you can always add it back if you need to).
Instructions
1. Put the berries in a food processor or blender, with a ¼ cup sugar. Blend until you have a liquid, and then taste.
2. Add more sugar if necessary. Squeeze in a bit of lemon, and mix.
3. Using a fine strainer, pass the sauce into a bowl, eliminating the seeds.
4. Put sauce in a sealed container; it should keep for about 3 days in the fridge.
Sue Riedl is a Toronto-based food writer with a passion for cheese who writes a column called The Spread for The Globe and Mail. She loves to push stinky cheese on her 3-year-old.
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by Sue Riedl