Lost Love: Blueberry Compote

I absolutely love blueberry compote. Blueberry anything really. Beers, breads, preserves, and pies. They’re the best! And I forget that sometimes. Until that season comes back and I start to see everything blueberry again.

This is the time of the year when all of the berries come out. Sure, you can get them all year long, but they’re not in season all the time. When you have a berry that is in season, it’s different. Somehow sweeter but in different ways. You can also see the freshness in the white natural yeast coating on blueberries. Yes, that is natural yeast. You can also find it on juniper berries.

This straight forward blueberry compote is super easy, has only 4 ingredients, and has a super fresh flavor to it! Frozen blueberries will work as well. It is the perfect addition to scones, breads, and other baked goods. It’s also a great compliment to a charcuterie board.

This super simple recipe will have you coming back to it over and over again. This is my favorite recipes to come back to whenever I have a surplus of berries. Which is a rare thing. Who doesn’t love to snack on some sweet berries? But say you do have a surplus, or just want to do something else. This is the recipe you need.

What to use it with:

My favorite thing to put this on is toast. Growing up in New York, there were always an abundance of diners. And diners mean toast and some small packs of suckers jams, spreads, butters, and apple butters. Also growing up in a Norwegian household, there were always fruit spreads for your morning breakfasts. So I highly recommend trying my wheat bread recipe with it sometime.

Another great thing to try it out with is the thin Norwegian pancake recipe or Pannekaker. It’s the perfect marriage of all things Scandinavian. We love berries, and we love baked goods.

Recipe Explanation: Blueberry Compote

Blueberries because they’re the best. They have an exceptional level of sweetness as well as a few tart ones to keep you on your toes. Add half at the beginning and the other half towards the end to have a nice texture to it.

Lemon zest to add a pure lemony flavor. The oils in lemon zest add a beautiful level of lemony flavor to things without the acid. However, we are going to add the acid to this one

Lemon juice because we need that acid to help break it all down and to add an acidity and balance to the recipe.

Sugar to help the sweetness to stay where we want it. Sugar is meant to create balance and should be used in all recipes. I learned from a place I staged once (Cooking job try outs), that you should not only use salt and pepper, but sugar as well to balance. This came down through people I know as knowledge from Daniel Boulud’s restaurants.

Water to help everything cook down without burning. This methodology can be used in almost all stovetop cooking.

Ball jars are a key piece of equipment to keep around the house. They’re perfect for keeping foods well past their peak season.

Cuisinart makes an amazing product for a very low price. Their 1.5 qt saucepan can be used for a variety of different projects.

For the blueberry compote

To start, place a small sauce pan over medium heat. Once the pot has heated up fully, add the water, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and half of the blueberries.

Cook for 10 minutes. Now mash the mixture with a fork and cook for another 5 minutes.

Add the rest of the blueberries and cook for another 10 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and allow it to cool for 10 minutes.

Serve with any of the recipes listed above or place along side some delicious charcuterie.