Blackberry Puree

Blackberry season should be starting where I live any day now. With that thought in mind, it occurred to me a few weeks ago that I needed to do something with the berries still in my freezer.

Though I like the flavor of blackberries, the seeds make me nutty. While the berries can simply be defrosted, or cooked a bit, to extract the juice, you want to get as much fruit pureé as possible, too. Especially when you go out on a hot day and pick them yourself.

I’ve tried mushing my berries thru a fine-mesh strainer placed over a bowl. It takes too long when you have a few pounds of berries to work with. I guess I’m a berry-picking maniac. I found seven pounds of blackberries in my freezer that I wanted to make seedless. So I finally sprang for a food mill. I remember one of my grandmothers using this gadget. I recall she found it very useful, so quite frankly, I don’t know why I waited so long to get one.

Here’s the process I used to make my puree.

My frozen berries didn't need to be cooked to extract the juice.

But a little heat did help them defrost sooner.

I was hoping to get my berries thru the fine-mesh strainer faster.

The stick blender was used to pureé the fruit while still in the pot.

The pureéd berries.

The juice will stain out easily, but the fruit pulp is another matter.

It usually takes a good bit of stirring and mashing to push it thru the strainer.

If you're working with a lot of fruit, time is of the essense to get the pureé into a recipe or the freezer.

When I realized the strainer was going to take too long, the pulp went into the refrigerator

while I went to get a food mill. 

This nifty gadget was a big time saver. I highly recommend getting one with legs and sticky feet.

Make sure it comes with at least 3 plates that have different size holes.

I used the plate with the smallest holes for my blackberry pureé.

After all, the whole point was to remove the annoying seeds.

With the food mill, your fresh or defrosted berries can go in whole. Keep a silicone spatula handy.

You'll occasionally need to scrape the pulp off the bottom of the mill into your bowl.



I’m sure you’re asking yourself, “Now that I have all this lovely, seedless pureé, what do I do with it?” Here are a few suggestions: popsicles, blackberry jam, ice cream topping, swirled into a quick bread batter, added to a fruit cobbler (see Peach-Blackberry recipe posted a few months ago), or our personal favorite, blackberry lemonade. You can add the puree to store-bought lemonade or a frozen concentrate if you’re in a hurry. But I highly recommend making the lemonade from scratch when you have the time to juice a few lemons. One of my favorite recipes comes from Southern Living. You can find it here. http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/homemade-lemonade-10000000456849/ 

If you opt to make blackberry lemonade, do a taste-test after you add the blackberry pureé (1-2 cups).      I can almost guarantee you will want to add some additional sweetner, unless you like to get your pucker on. To avoid having sugar crystals that will never melt, stir in some agave nectar or simple syrup a little at a time until you’re satisfied with the end-product.

In the event you’re a berry-picking maniac too, and have a few pounds of pureé you want to preserve for later, you can freeze it. Divide it into portions that are suitable for your recipes.

The Project Queen