God**mn Blueberry Sauce!
Cooking time: ~7-10 minutes
Yields: One Sauce (~1.5 – 2 cups)
Ingredients
About this recipe
We have a patch in our front with about a dozen blueberry bushes in it. My lovely wife Karin got them at Lowe’s over a decade ago, at entirely the wrong time of year. It was late September (apparently, one should plant these in the spring), and they were sitting forlornly in the Lowe’s ‘remainders’ area at the back of the nursery. Having long outlived their time to be happily installed in someone’s beautiful garden plot, Karin bought them all, for $1.25 each. There were fourteen of them.
I built a border for a blueberry bed, and put them in. After adding some water and some mulch, I told them they’d be okay, and they didn’t have to grow right away. I knew they were stressed, and they could take their time.
And so they did. A year and a half later, they finally sprung up and grew. And grew. And sprouted flowers, then berries. We got a few quarts of berries that year, and the kids were delighted. We all took turns picking them (and eating them) and picking them (and eating them). A few have died over the years, and have been replaced.
Every year after that, they grew taller and gave more berries. We were getting gallons of them now, and this was great, because there were always mouths to devour them. We were a household of six, and then five, and then three, and then two.
So now we still have a lot a blueberries, and only two people to pick and eat them. One evening, I had been smoking a pork butt, and was picking berries in between poking at the smoker. I went inside with yet another gallon of berries, knowing there were at least two or three more gallons still ripening on the bushes, and asked Karin this most definitive question:
“What are we going to do with all these goddamn blueberries?”
Karin smiled and shooed me out to tend to my butt, and told me not to worry about it. An hour later, I came to the table with the finished pork and began slicing. (I prefer it sliced over pulled or shredded. Don’t judge.) Karin happily dished out some sides, and then ladled a dark gravy over the sliced pork on my plate.
“Surprise!” she said. “It’s the goddamn blueberries!”
I was thrown. It went so well with the pork, and wasn’t just another BBQ sauce variant. I’m amazed. I looked for similar sauce recipes on the net, and found nothing quite like it. It has sugar, but not much. It has a touch of warm spices, but not much. It has tartness, but that comes from lime juice, not lemon or vinegar. And that’s the key ingredient. Lime juice goes so well with blueberries that it’s insane, and I rarely see this in recipes; everyone uses lemon juice instead.
So give this a try. It’s far preferable to a poke in the eye.
EDIT: I should add that Karin's recipes are never written down, are (almost) always marvelous, and as such are never repeated. Ever. I got the gist of what she had done, then set down to replicate it. After a few variants, I found I had reduced the sugar and spices, and doubled (tripled) the lime juice. I wanted to make sure this was absolutely not pie filling masquerading as a savory sauce. You might find this too strong with Lime, but it's designed to pair with and set off a salty main course.
As for the lime juice, I just use store brand in a bottle (Great Value!). True foodies and soccer moms will squeal that fresh-squeezed is best, but seriously who has time? Or that many limes?
Yields: One Sauce (~1.5 – 2 cups)
Ingredients
- 2 cups god*amn blueberries
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2-3 tbsp Lime juice
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp cornstarch
- Put the god*amn blueberries in a saucepan over medium heat. Sprinkle everything else over them. Start with just 2 tbsp of the Lime Juice.
- Stir them gently, then keep stirring as they come to a low boil.
- Keep cooking until the goddamn berries have mostly burst, and the sauce has thickened to a glossy gel, about 5-7 minutes total.
- Have a taste. If you think it needs it, add the 3rd tbsp of Lime Juice and stir it a bit longer until thickened.
- Remove from heat. Serve warm.
- One can purée the sauce to smoothness if you like.
- One can also back off further on the Lime Juice, if you find it too bright in flavor.
- Play around with proportions. There’s room.
About this recipe
We have a patch in our front with about a dozen blueberry bushes in it. My lovely wife Karin got them at Lowe’s over a decade ago, at entirely the wrong time of year. It was late September (apparently, one should plant these in the spring), and they were sitting forlornly in the Lowe’s ‘remainders’ area at the back of the nursery. Having long outlived their time to be happily installed in someone’s beautiful garden plot, Karin bought them all, for $1.25 each. There were fourteen of them.
I built a border for a blueberry bed, and put them in. After adding some water and some mulch, I told them they’d be okay, and they didn’t have to grow right away. I knew they were stressed, and they could take their time.
And so they did. A year and a half later, they finally sprung up and grew. And grew. And sprouted flowers, then berries. We got a few quarts of berries that year, and the kids were delighted. We all took turns picking them (and eating them) and picking them (and eating them). A few have died over the years, and have been replaced.
Every year after that, they grew taller and gave more berries. We were getting gallons of them now, and this was great, because there were always mouths to devour them. We were a household of six, and then five, and then three, and then two.
So now we still have a lot a blueberries, and only two people to pick and eat them. One evening, I had been smoking a pork butt, and was picking berries in between poking at the smoker. I went inside with yet another gallon of berries, knowing there were at least two or three more gallons still ripening on the bushes, and asked Karin this most definitive question:
“What are we going to do with all these goddamn blueberries?”
Karin smiled and shooed me out to tend to my butt, and told me not to worry about it. An hour later, I came to the table with the finished pork and began slicing. (I prefer it sliced over pulled or shredded. Don’t judge.) Karin happily dished out some sides, and then ladled a dark gravy over the sliced pork on my plate.
“Surprise!” she said. “It’s the goddamn blueberries!”
I was thrown. It went so well with the pork, and wasn’t just another BBQ sauce variant. I’m amazed. I looked for similar sauce recipes on the net, and found nothing quite like it. It has sugar, but not much. It has a touch of warm spices, but not much. It has tartness, but that comes from lime juice, not lemon or vinegar. And that’s the key ingredient. Lime juice goes so well with blueberries that it’s insane, and I rarely see this in recipes; everyone uses lemon juice instead.
So give this a try. It’s far preferable to a poke in the eye.
EDIT: I should add that Karin's recipes are never written down, are (almost) always marvelous, and as such are never repeated. Ever. I got the gist of what she had done, then set down to replicate it. After a few variants, I found I had reduced the sugar and spices, and doubled (tripled) the lime juice. I wanted to make sure this was absolutely not pie filling masquerading as a savory sauce. You might find this too strong with Lime, but it's designed to pair with and set off a salty main course.
As for the lime juice, I just use store brand in a bottle (Great Value!). True foodies and soccer moms will squeal that fresh-squeezed is best, but seriously who has time? Or that many limes?
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