This is the time of year for berries. Are you looking for great ways to add fresh, flavorful, antioxidant rich berries to meals, snacks, or desserts? I’ve got a great recipe for you. It’s sweet and delicious and naturally low in sugars, far lower than most recipes because of the way I skillfully combine honey or maple syrup with good tasting brands of stevia used in the right proportion in recipes. The sauce recipe below isn’t just for ice cream or non-dairy frozen desserts, it’s fantastic served over sliced peaches, nectarines, honeydew or cantaloupe, or stirred into plain (organic) cow’s milk yogurt or goat milk yogurt for a real fruit flavor. It’s also amazing over goat cheese cake (there’s a recipe for that on this blog). I’m sure it would be great over pancakes or waffles and there are plenty of great paleo, primal, and gluten free recipes for these on various blogs and websites and in cookbooks.

To make it even easier for to make this, I’ve included a link to a Youtube video showing you all the steps. This video was created several years ago in conjunction with Southwest Institute of Healing Arts in Tempe for their online holistic nutrition program and the online Whole Foods Cuisine courses I taught and continue to teach for them.

Here’s the video:

Most of the recipes are grain-free in both the DVD set and the cookbook. The Whole Foods Cuisine DVDs contains two grain recipes, one made from quinoa and one from brown rice tortillas; the Ice Dream Cookbook contains some cookie recipes that call for gluten free flours as well as cookies that are grain free. Most recipes in this book are totally paleo, primal, and grain free. The bulk of the recipes fit with paleo, primal, and other grain-free diet styles.

Here’s the recipe:

Blueberry Sauce     

Hands-on: 20 minutes / Cooking: 8 minutes/  Yield: 4 cups; 16 servings

If you like blueberries, you’ll like this chunky fruit sauce. It cooks up quickly, and it goes well with Vanilla, Cocoa, Dark Chocolate, Avocado, Macaroon, Lemon, or Ginger Ice Dream, the dairy free, low-sugar, naturally sweetened ice cream alternatives I created from coconut milk and published in my Ice Dream Cookbook, the first book of it’s kind. This sauce also makes a great stand-in for jelly in Peanut Butter & Jelly Ice Dream (all from The Ice Dream Cookbook).

For a delicious finale to breakfast, lunch, or dinner, spoon some of this sauce over sliced melon, peaches, or nectarines and drizzle with raw coconut butter (not the oil) or sprinkle with shredded, unsweetened coconut. Or, if you tolerate yogurt, you can stir this sauce into plain cow or goat milk yogurt to produce naturally-flavored fruit yogurt without all of the sugar used in commercial brands.

Note: The brand of stevia and the particular form you use matter enormously. People who say they don’t like stevia have enjoyed my recipes. You must buy the right kind and measure carefully. Stevia is very concentrated and some brands are more bitter than others. Liquid stevia is easiest to add and has the smoothest flavor and blends in best. The best tasting brands I’ve found include Kal, Nu Naturals or Wisdom Naturals liquid stevia. If using stevia extract powder, make sure it has no added fillers, starches, or FOS.

Ingredients:
4 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup honey or 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 pinch unrefined mineral-rich sea salt
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder/starch
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pure stevia extract powder or clear stevia extract liquid (start with less; add more only if needed; you might need a tad more liquid stevia)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or orange juice

• Combine blueberries and honey in a heavy 2- to 3-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat until berries bubble and release their juices, about 5 minutes.
• Dissolve the arrowroot and stevia in lemon or orange juice and add to the fruit. Bring the mixture to a low boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 2 to 4 more minutes until thick. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
• For a smoother sauce, mash or purée half the berries with a potato masher or pulse on and off in a Vita-Mix, blender, or food processor. For a sweeter taste, add an additional 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon stevia and/or 1 tablespoon honey. Repeat if needed.
• Transfer mixture to wide mouth jars or glass bowls. When cool, cover and refrigerate. When cold to the touch, freeze what you don’t plan to use within 3 weeks, leaving at least 1-inch of space at the top of the jar.
• Serve close to room temperature, or warm briefly in a small saucepan over low heat, or use the bowl-on-a-rack method (listed in my Ice Dream Cookbook).

¼ cup (blueberry) sauce: 44 calories, 0.2 grams protein, 10.6 grams carbohydrate, 0.1 grams fat, 2 milligrams sodium

¼ cup (strawberry) sauce: 35 calories, 0.2 grams protein, 8.2 grams carbohydrate, 0.1 grams fat, 0 milligrams sodium

Variation:

*    Strawberry Sauce: Replace blueberries with 1 quart of rinsed, hulled, and sliced fresh strawberries. In step #1, reduce cooking time to 3 minutes; in step #2 reduce cooking time to 1 to 2 minutes.  This sauce does not store as well. It loses its bright color within a few days.