This compote is a step short of a topping or sauce, and not as rich or thick. The fruit is cooked briefly with sugar until it releases its natural juices, softens without disintegrating much and creates a light syrup. It's quick, easy, and has a deep strawberry taste.
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Streamlined topping
This is a great recipe for when strawberry season hits and you find your favorite type of fresh strawberries, buy too many, and then need to find more recipes to use them.
The beauty of this fresh fruit compote is the strawberry chunks and the not-overly-sweet juice or syrup.
What's different about mine is that I macerate the berries with the sugar first, so they release their natural juices. It makes the strawberry flavor more intense.
Compote recipes, and I include mine, usually add water to create a good amount of syrup, as the juice released by the fruit might not be enough. Lemon juice is a good addition to be used instead of, or in addition to, water to cut through all the sugar and balance the compote. Similar to what we use for our strawberry sauce or topping.
Uses for compote
- On its own with ice cream or whipped cream.
- Morning fare, like pancakes, overnight oats, yogurt, waffles and French toast.
- Desserts like rice pudding, ice cream, plain cheesecake, strawberry shortcake, strawberry trifle, and panna cotta. Prepare it according to instructions, let it cool down, and put it in the refrigerator for a few hours to thicken the syrup. Just remember it's not as thick as a homemade strawberry sauce.
- Cakes: I like it served with a slice of pound cake or vanilla bundt cake and lightly sweetened whipped cream.
Testing Notes
A compote is meant to be lighter and less sweet than jam, a sauce or a topping. Avoid using a lot of sugar and cooking for an extended period, or adding thickening ingredients like cornstarch.
Strawberries: The more seasonal they are, the better the flavor and sweetness. This is a forgiving recipe, so even though we always aim to get the sweetest strawberries, it's perfect for using berries that are not in their prime. And, it works well with frozen strawberries. The flavor will not be as deep, in my opinion.
Maceration: This means that you mix the berries with sugar, and they start to release their natural juices. This adds deep strawberry flavor and avoids adding too much extra liquid. Don't skip this step.
Thicker compote and syrup: Though it's meant to be lighter than a sugary sauce or topping, you can thicken the compote by boiling the strawberry juices released during cooking.
This is not a smooth strawberry sauce, and it's not meant to be processed. That would be more of a coulis. A compote is chunky, and the fruit is noticeable, with exceptions like a mixed berry or blueberry compote, where the fruit naturally shrinks or falls apart a little.
Process steps
Preparing the strawberries: I mostly like to leave them whole, but it's up to you if you want to halve them or cut them into quarters. Remember that the smaller the pieces are, the more they soften when cooking.
Macerate
Combine strawberries with sugar in a medium bowl and let macerate for 45 minutes to 1 hour. You will see that the berries have sweated, and a thick juice pools at the bottom.
Liquids
Add the water and citrus juice, transfer to a medium saucepan, and cook over medium heat. Let it all come to a simmer; don't boil rapidly, or it might scorch.
Don't overcook the strawberries
When the strawberries are soft but not mushy, check if the syrup has thickened. This, again, is up to you, however thick or thin you like it. If it's too thin, remove the berries from the saucepan and transfer to a bowl.
Thicker syrup
Return the juice to the stove and reduce the syrup further, cooking it for a minute or two more.
Pour the syrup back with the reserved strawberries and let it cool down until ready to refrigerate in an airtight container or bowl covered with plastic wrap.
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Easy Strawberry Compote
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh strawberries, if using frozen, don't thaw and reduce the added water amount
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar, white can also be used
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, or orange juice, which is sweeter
- 3 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Wash 1 pound fresh strawberries, hull them, leave them whole if small or cut them in half, and put them in a large bowl with 3 tablespoons brown sugar. Stir lightly and let stand 45 minutes to macerate. The strawberries will release their natural juices.
- Put the berries with the collected juices, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 3 tablespoons water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. As soon as it starts to boil, lower the heat.
- Cook over medium-low heat until it comes to a slow simmer, stirring a few times until the liquid starts to thicken and the berries soften slightly. You can cook them more or less depending on how soft you like them, but we don't want the strawberries to turn to mush or break up much.
- Transfer the fruit to a bowl, leaving the syrup in the saucepan. Using a skimmer or other type of colander for this step makes it very easy. Cook the juice a minute or two more so it thickens further, and mix it back with the fruit.
- Let the mixture cool down and then cover the bowl with plastic wrap or put it in an airtight container or glass jar before refrigerating it. It lasts a few weeks in the fridge. Use it cold, at room temperature, or warm; it's really up to you, depending on what you serve it with.
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