I bought “jam” blueberries from Jean-Talon market. They were the cheapest wild blueberries I’ve seen in the city – $7 for about as many cups. None of this crazy $35 a basket business. I come from Newfoundland where you go out and pick your own gosh-darn blueberries. You maybe buy blueberries from the man who comes door to door selling them. Or maybe you buy the local ones at the grocery store to top up your own jam or frozen berry supply, but you don’t go spending a fortunate on them.
So these were the only blueberries I bought this year. I will not bankrupt myself for the sake of over-priced fruit.
I’ve also grown up on blueberry pie. It’s nothing special. Homemade crust-making is in my blood. So that’s the last thing I wanted to do with my blueberries. Oh, “jam” berries just meant the berries were a little over-ripe, or should be used right away, so they were cheaper. They were just fine, though. Not even squished. So I washed them, froze about half, stuck some of the firm, less-ripe ones in my fridge to eat fresh on salads or yogurt or cereal, and put the rest in a saucepan on the stove with about 2 tablespoons of sugar, a few tablespoons of water, and a cinnamon stick.
I brought the pot to a simmer over medium heat, and then reduced the heat to medium-low for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure they didn’t burn. Next time I think I’d do this in the slow-cooker with way more berries so I could cook them longer at a lower temperature and get more of the cinnamon flavour into the berries.
After the 25 minutes I added a few tablespoons of lemon juice (succo di limone – bottled, not fresh, but still good. I’d been disappointed in my organic lemons lately. They seemed too sweet. I’d had to use way too much fresh lemon juice to make things lemon-y). Just add it to taste. I like it a bit more sour because it brings out the flavour of the berries. Wild berries are usually naturally more sour, but these were both sweet and flavourful – a rarity.
This “sauce” is perfect on its own – eat with a spoon…or you can serve it over ice cream, yogurt or on sponge cake, angel food cake, any white cake, or cheesecake. I also think it’d be great on a rich fillet (lamb, beef, venison, bison, or even pork). It’d even be okay with chicken and very good with fish – trout, char, salmon or even white fish such as swordfish or halibut. Ooh! Scallops! But don’t expect to taste much of the fish if you’re heavy-handed with the sauce.
Pancakes or crepes! Crème caramel…panna cotta, chocolate cake…zabaglione. Toast, bagels, croissants, French toast. It basically is jam, after all, just without the fridge life. There’s a world of possibilities.
So go to Jean-Talon, and find the vendor on the south side of the fresh market stalls selling jamming blueberries (the small berries in the plastic containers), I think across from Au Pain Doré or Frites Alors. Take them carefully home without getting them more squished. They’re good for making jam because you would squish them anyway as the first step in the jam process, but they’re just fine for pies, or anything cooked, and I like them fresh too. The saucepan mixture also makes a great pie filling, so you can put it into a pre-baked pie shell, or add a little flour or cornstarch and let the filling cook in the oven in an un-baked pie shell instead of on the stove. I suppose most people love blueberry pie. I’ll just have the filling, thanks.
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