Berry Dessert Sauce

This elegant sauce is bursting with berry flavor. In our family, we use a blend of raspberries and marionberries from our garden. Our neighbors use the wild blackberries that are everywhere in the Pacific Northwest. You can put up the juice in pretty Weck bottles like I did, and for a very festive presentation, wrap the bottle tops in brown paper and tie with hang tags.

Sauce directions:

In a large saucepan heat 6 pints of berries, fresh or frozen, and 2 cups water. Heat until berries burst. Strain through a cheesecloth – does not need to be clear. Mix 4 cups of this juice with 1-1/2 cups sugar, heat until sugar dissolves. Pour, hot, into sterilized jars or bottles, secure tops, and process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

To serve as sauce:
Pour straight from the bottle over ice cream, warm vanilla pudding, fudge cake or pancakes. Or, for a very elegant dessert, serve a delicate wedge of almond cake or 3 profiteroles (small cream puffs filled with vanilla ice cream) on a pool of berry sauce. My 11-year-old son Nick is crazy about this sauce… he loves it over ice cream but especially over warm rice for breakfast.

To serve as juice:
Mix 1 cup berry sauce with 2 cups water. Serve in stem glasses with a cube of ice – or for a summer dessert, float a small scoop of vanilla ice cream in the glass.

European juice bottles for home canning can be obtained online from Weck Canning. Kerr canning jars can be found at most grocery stores.

Jeanne Williamson (138 Posts)

Jeanne and her husband David launched My Own Labels in January of 2000. It was a spin-off of their successful graphic design firm, plus it allowed Jeanne to incorporate her love of baking, making, sewing and creating. Today David and Jeanne continue to be the heart of the operation both creatively and practically.