Berry Compote

A Compote is a dish made by by boiling fruit in sweetened water. This dish can be made with almost any fruit, and is quite easy to make. The dish preserves the natural flavor of the fruit used, so it can be served whenever you serve fruit. It is usually served along with pancakes, waffles, but can accompany almost any baked good. My wife sometimes has compote with just bread, and I like to put to replace the Jelly in a Peanut-Butter-Jelly sandwich with compote. This dish is also good for extending the life of fruit that is starting to go bad. You got some good fruit that no one is eating, just throw them all together and make something different. You can mix any types of fruit in there (and even add dried fruit if you wish) Depending on what kinds of fruit you put in, the different flavors can blend together to create a refreshing new taste.

Since, the amount of sweetness in the fruit changes from fruit to fruit and season to season, you are not guaranteed to get the same flavor everytime you make a compote. That's why I tend not to get too concerned about measurements when I make compote.

Recipe after the jump



What you need is

Half cup sugar 
If you note, it's really more than half a cup of sugar. I didn't even realize that until I saw the photo. That's because a) I was sloppy about measuring and b) the berries are a bit tart. You have to adjust the amount of sugar based on your own taste, and the the natural sweetness of the fruit, which changes from fruit to fruit, and month to month. Also, there is no need to be exact. Just go with the flow. The beauty of home-made compote is that it allows the chef's hand to express itself. You don't want your compotes to taste the same everytime. You might as well get some jam from the store. Let your hand do the measuring, not your head. Just use your head to double-check your hand

One cup water
Again not exact. Let my hand measure it.
The amount of water changes from fruit to fruit too. Most fruit release their own juices when boiled. So, you need surprisingly less amount of water. To start with you need enough water to dissolve the sugar. Use more water if you are going to use hard fruit that need more boiling (for eg:- pineapples)

Assorted fruit, washed and diced
I have blueberries, blackberries and strawberries, all bought from Trader Joe's. You can use any fruit you want. The only thing is that since, you want your compote to have an even texture, you have to cut the fruit so they are equally sized. So, here, since blueberries were the smallest fruit, I diced the blackberries and the strawberries to be same size as the blue berries



Now, before we start boiling the fruit, arrange the fruit in order of how hard the fruit is. You want all the fruit to be of similar consistency in the compote, so you will add the hardest fruit first, and the softest fruit last. In my case, strawberries are firmer than blueberries and blackberries, but strawberries have high water content (~90%), so they disintegerate quite fast. So, I am going to add strawberries first, and then the other berries as soon as the strawberries become squishy. Here goes. It's pretty easy from now on

Boil water and sugar on high until dissolved
Please note that my utensil is stainless steel. If you are cooking sugar and fruit, please please do not use copper or iron pots. Please cook in non-reactive utensils. The acid in the fruit can react with metal and leech metal into the compote. Not only will this make the compote taste bad, it can even make you sick

Add strawberries

Boil on medium

until strawberry is squishy

Add the other berries and keep boiling on medium
Don't get worried about the white thing skimming on top. It's a natural part of fruit. You have to keep boiling until it is a) thick enough and b) the fruit is cooked enough. Now, the thickness and consistency of fruit is matter of individual taste. The main thing that you need to look out for is don't burn the fruit. Initially, you can let it boil, but once you start smelling the fruit, keep stirring so the fruit doesn't stick to the bottom. If it's sticking too often, you are about to overcook it:- take it off the fire and stop cooking.

Liquids are tricky. Water becomes more watery when it's hot. So, you might be looking at this thing boiling away, and at boiling temp, it may not look thick, but it may thicken when it cools down. What I do, is after stirring the boiling compote, I let most of the liquid back in the pot, but I keep some on the spoon. I hold the spoon in the air for a few secs and then I check the consistency. That gives me an idea. Also, I turn the spoon around, if the liquid is clinging to the back of the spoon, it's very close. Determining when to stop cooking is an acquired skill. If you are making this for the first time, it's better to err on the side of getting more thick, as long as you don;t burn it. Compote as long as it's thick and not burnt is good

Also, it isa good time to taste the compote when you are checking for consistency. A note about tasting:- Wash your tasting spoon after tasting. Tasting a dish and putting the spoon back is just yucky.

Set it to cool
Look at that color!! I mean look at it. I didn't add any coloring. That's the fruit doing it's magic!

Refrigerate once it's at room temperature
See how it stuck to the sides as it cooled down. That's perfect. Again look at the color against the side of the bowl. It's like a translucent blood red.