Okay so lemme just walk you through what I did yesterday. See I live right near the woods in Alaska and this time of year? Berries freakin’ everywhere. Got some highbush cranberries, a ton of blueberries, few lingonberries too. Walked out with just a bucket – no fancy gear needed.
First thing was pickin’. Took maybe two hours max, bendin’ down grabbin’ handfuls. My fingers were all purple sticky mess by the end. Washed ’em in the kitchen sink – water turned completely blue! Dried berries on paper towels spread out everywhere, looked like berry confetti explosion on the counter.
Berry Crumble Disaster & Fix
Tried makin’ crumble first. Mixed berries with sugar in a bowl – dumped way too much though. Spoon was standin’ up straight in that bowl from all the dang sugar! Then made the crumble part: flour, butter, brown sugar squished together with my fingers like playdough. Smelled amazing already.
Baked it 45 minutes. Huge bubble volcano erupted in my oven! Hot berry lava all over the rack. Had to yank it out quick. Waited for it to cool and tasted… holy sweetness batman! Toothache city! So I threw spoonfuls of plain yogurt on top to balance it. Actually saved it – tasted pretty great cold actually.
Quick Berry Sauce Surprise
Had tons of leftover berries so made sauce. Threw like three cups in a pot with just a little water and sugar this time (learned my lesson!). Simmered on low heat stirring with this wooden spoon I carved years ago. Berries exploded and turned this deep purple color. Let it bubble like 20 minutes while mushin’ bigger chunks against the pot sides.
Then tried straining it – worst idea ever. Seeded jam monster clogged my strainer immediately. Gave up and poured it chunky style over vanilla ice cream. Hot sauce + cold ice cream = mind blown. Kids went nuts for it even with the weird seeds stuck in their teeth.
Overall? Would totally do the crumble again but with WAY less sugar. And berry sauce takes like zero skill – just dump and boil basically. Still finding purple berry splatters in my kitchen though. Worth it.
