How to make autumn berry sauce

Have you seen the autumn berry before? It was unknown to me until last year. A family was picking & eating the berries at an edible community garden.

The mother told me that they are called autumn berries.

(Whaatt?! How did I not know! We have autumn berries in Japan called gumi. I knew the name, but I have NEVER seen the actual plant!!)

They are tasty as is, and making a sauce is even better! So, you can enjoy the long-lasting flavour in the cold winter.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to make autumn berry sauce.

Equipment

• pot
• bowl
• big strainer
• measuring cup
• measuring spoon
• spatula/spoon
• mesh strainer

Ingredients for the autumn berry sauce

• 3 cups autumn berries
• 1 tbsp lime/lemon juice
• 3 tbsp sugar

How to make

Step 1: Prepare the autumn berry sauce

To begin with, remove small stems off the berries and wash them a couple of times. Using a bowl makes it easy to wash for stem/dirt removal. When it’s done, simply drain the water using a strainer.

Next, squeeze either lemon or lime juice. Don’t forget to remove the seeds, and put them aside.

Step 2: Cook the berries

First, put the berries into a pot, and place it on medium-high heat. Bring it to a boil, then add 1tbsp of lemon/lime juice. Cook it for 5 min, and occasionally stir.

As you can see in the picture below, berries liquefy so you start seeing the seeds.

Next, bring the heat down to medium-low. Add 3tbsp sugar, and let it simmer for 20min until the sauce starts thickening. Don’t forget to give it the occasional stir. So it doesn’t get burned! Cook it with eyes and ears – you can hear the sound when it starts to boil.

Then turn off the element. You can either strain it right away or cool it down then follow the next step.

Final Step: Strain the autumn berries

Finally, strain the berries. The sauce is quite thick, so use a spoon/spatula to squeeze extra juice. When it’s done, pour the sauce into a container.

Notes for making the autumn berry sauce

The prep takes a longer time due to the actual harvesting & removal of the small stems. Any helper can shorten the prep time…except someone like my son who concentrates on eating.

You can certainly substitute sugar for honey. It’s fun for sure to make both, and compare which one you like better! I usually use less sugar, so please adjust the amount of sugar/honey.

It will be a great Christmas or thank you gift for your family and friends!

Autumn berries give you the joy of fall. This sauce adds a beautiful colour and tanginess to your dish. It is versatile and very handy to have in the fridge!

My mother used to tell me that if we eat seasonal food, our body stays healthy. Not only did she tell me the health tip, but she also took me places to pick seasonal foods. It definitely influenced my parenting, and I know my sons will do the same (I hope) for their children…