Everyone needs a good, basic go-to fruit sauce. You know the one–you put it on cheesecake and pancakes and ice-cream sundaes and…you get the picture(s). Really yummy pictures. Pictures that make you get up off the couch and go cook something. And eat. And wish that someone else would clean up the kitchen. When my kitchen gets trashed (general condition) it would be great to have a magic wand like Harry Potter. I could point it at my kitchen and forcefully pronounce something like, “cleanupeo” or “expungeo” or even better “getmeanewkitchen-eo“.
Back to reality. Although the pictures accompanying this post are specifically about strawberry sauce, the same principles will apply to many different types of fruit.
- A fruit sauce can be served either warm or cold, depending of course on its use. Warm – heat it gently in a sauce pot or maybe the microwave. Cool – serve at room temperature or put it in the fridge for a while.
- Think about how you want your end product to look – do you want it chunky or smooth? For smooth sauces, give the sauce some extra time in the blender. You may decide to strain the sauce if you want to get out the seeds, as with raspberry or blackberry sauces. It’s your call. For a chunky sauce, either pulse blend the fruit in the blender until it is the right consistency or set aside some smallish fruit chunks to add back into the sauce during the cooking process.
- You can use either fresh or frozen fruit. If using frozen fruit, let it thaw before making the sauce. Zap it in the microwave on “defrost” for a couple of minutes to hasten defrosting. If you get it a little too warm, not too worry, because the sauce will get cooked anyway.
- You can mix and match different fruits to get more interesting flavors.
Strawberry Sauce or Any Basic Fruit Sauce
This recipe will work for many different fruits. Mix or match 2 cups of fruit puree. Use flavorings, extracts or spices as desired.
Servings: 2 1/2 cups
Ingredients
- 2 cups fruit puree (see #1 under Instructions)
- 1/2 cup sugar, more or less, depending on sweetness of fruit
- 1 teaspoon flavorings or extracts such as vanilla, almond, or rum
Instructions
- Wash and prep fruit. For strawberries, hull or cut off tops; then halve or quarter. For peaches, apricots, and mangoes, peel and pit fruit, then cut into chunks. Leave small berries whole–(blackberries, raspberries, blueberries).
- Put fruit into a blender or food processor and process until fruit is smooth or to whatever level of smoothness/chunkiness that you prefer. Note: for blackberries, raspberries, or blueberries, you may want to strain them through a fine mesh strainer or cheese cloth to catch the seeds before proceeding with step #3.
- Pour puree into an appropriate size sauce pot and add sugar. Stir to mix the fruit puree and sugar.
- Over medium or medium-low heat, bring the fruit mixture to a simmer and cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently so that the fruit will not stick to the bottom of the pan. Do not boil because the sauce will burn quite easily and will also splatter out of the pot.
- If you find that the sauce is thicker than you’d like, simply thin it a little with either water or a fruit juice of choice such as apple, pear, orange juice. Remember that the sauce thickens as it cools. If by chance, however, you find that the sauce is too thin after it cools, simply reheat and allow sauce to reduce.
- At the end of the cooking time, turn off heat and stir in flavorings or extracts.
Notes
- The sauce will freeze well, so portion it into appropriate amounts and freeze in freezer-safe containers such as glass jars or plastic freezer containers.
- A fruit sauce can be served either warm or cold, depending of course on its use.
- Warm–heat it gently in a sauce pot or maybe the microwave.
- Cool–serve at room temperature or put it in the fridge for a while.
- Think about how you want your end product to look–do you want it chunky or smooth? For smooth sauces, give the sauce some extra time in the blender. You may decide to strain the sauce if you want to get out the seeds, as with raspberry or blackberry sauces. It’s your call. For a chunky sauce, either pulse blend the fruit in the blender until it is the right consistency or set aside some smallish fruit chunks to add back into the sauce during the cooking process.
- You can use either fresh or frozen fruit. If using frozen fruit, let it thaw before making the sauce. Zap it in the microwave on “defrost” for a couple of minutes to hasten defrosting. If you get it a little too warm, not too worry, because the sauce will get cooked anyway.
- You can mix and match different fruits to get more interesting flavors.
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I am so excited to try this out…will go perfect with my cheesecake!
Yep, cheesecake would be a great one for some strawberry sauce!
Made this yesterday (raspberry) and served it over pudding and french toast (separately, of course). It was uh-mazing!! Thanks for the recipe. Love your blog!!
That’s great, Carol! I’m so glad that it worked well for you with raspberries.
Thank you! This was just what I was looking for, and my blueberry and strawberry sauces are delicious.
Cynthia, I am so happy for you! Thanks for letting me know that the recipe is working well for you. ~Terri
I will try with frozen fruit , fresh is just so expensive
I agree. At this time of year, at least in the U.S., fresh berries are pretty expensive. Frozen fruit will work well in this recipe. ~Terri
Hi! just wondering if you have any fruits other than berries and mango that this recipe works well with. I have a family member (unfortunately) allergic to those fruits. Thank you 🙂
Hi, Natasha. Stone fruits such as peaches and apricots work well. For fun, you could use a mixture of fruits such as peaches, apricots and cherries. I don’t know if your family member is allergic to blueberries, but those also work well in making fruit syrup. ~Terri
This looks great! Would this work with store bought passion fruit puree?
Carolina, I’ve never tried it with passion fruit, but I can’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work. If you decide to try it, please drop back by and let us know how it worked for you. Best wishes! ~Terri
If making peach sauce to freeze, would you need to add fruit fresh or something like that to keep it from darkening when you bring it out of the freezer?
You might want to add Fruit Fresh prior to cooking the sauce if you are concerned about the peaches browning. It should not darken after freezing because the fruit has been cooked.
Hello, I just discovered this blog and seems amazing. Do you think this can be done with kiwis?
Thanks!
Hmm… probably. I honestly haven’t tried that one yet. If you decide to use kiwis, let me know if it works.