This berry sauce pulls double-duty as a sweet dip for fresh fruit and a lovely raspberry vinaigrette salad dressing (it does other tricks too!)–bottom line: versatility never tasted so good!
It happens to the very best of us…
We let our berries get a little too mushy in the fridge. We sigh, think of all the wasted potential and either grit-and-bear some mushy berries or toss them into compost.
Well, not anymore my friend!
From now on you’re going to take those babies and turn them into a super-yummy berry sauce that you can swirl into your banana nicecream, drizzle over your overnight oats, punctuate a summer salad or serve with your favorite fresh fruit!
And I’m going to show you how easy it is!
But first, more pictures! Because Mason jars, sunflowers and sweet summer berries just make me swoon…
You Can Use Any Berries You Have on Hand!
This recipe calls for raspberries and blueberries, but feel free to use what you have at your disposal.
I’ve used this technique with all strawberries, part blackberries and part blueberries and all raspberries. All the variations tasted wonderful, but I happen to like this combination best when you’re using it as a salad vinaigrette.
Plus, raspberries and blueberries always look so pretty and festive for Fourth of July, and they combine to create a lovely red-colored sauce.
5-Ingredient Freshness
You seriously can’t beat the ingredient list on this recipe:
- fresh or frozen raspberries
- fresh or frozen blueberries
- date sugar (or 2 whole dates)
- lemon juice
- water
The flavor is fresh, bright, naturally sweet, and refreshing! It’s amazing with apple slices or other berries, we even froze this into a batch of homemade popsicles!
Trust me, you’ll find no shortage of ways to enjoy this sauce all summer long!
Is Date Sugar Considered a Processed Sweetener?
No!
Date sugar is simply ground dates. They can be raw or cooked ground dates.
Dr. Greger of NutritionFacts.org has an amazing video on the topic of which sweeteners are the healthiest (watch it here)!
Based on the research, Dr. Greger says that there are only two health-promoting sweeteners: molasses and date sugar.
And guess what?
Date sugar took 1st prize with 1,300 FRAP antioxidants per serving!
So, not only is this berry sauce considered refined-sugar free, those 2 tablespoons of date sugar are actually making the berries even more antioxidant-licious.
Berry Bliss Sauce
Your overly-ripe berries can be completely transformed with a little time on the stove top and a few simple ingredients! Makes a tasty vegan, no-oil, no-processed sugar, nutritarian salad vinaigrette and a wonderful sauce for healthy desserts or fresh fruit!
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cup fresh raspberries (or sub frozen)
- 1/3 cup fresh blueberries (or sub frozen)
- 1 1/2 cup water
- 2 tbsp. date sugar (or two pitted Medjool dates, chopped)
- 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
Instructions
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Place all the ingredients in a sauce pan over medium high heat. Bring to a rolling boil, stir well.
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Reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Do not cover.
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After 30 minutes the berries should have broken down and liquid thickened--if not, let it simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes.
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Remove from heat and let it cool completely
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Once the sauce has fully cooled down add it into a blender and blend on high for 30 seconds, or until smooth.
Recipe Notes
If you're using frozen berries, decrease the water to 1 cup.
Stores for up to 2 weeks in a glass Mason jar in the fridge!
Use as a drizzle for Popsicles, nicecream, oatmeal, fresh fruit, or spinach salad!
If you want to know exactly why Dr. Fuhrman and Dr. Greger recommend eating berries daily, make sure to read this article on The 6 Nutritarian Superfoods (otherwise known as GBOMBS!).
If you give this recipe a try, I’d love to hear what you think!
I LOVE the new cookbook. I LOVE all the recipes I’m always finding on our member site. My husband and I were feeling great while on this plan. Our daughter was dxd with metastatic CA two years ago and we were travelling to NJ every other weekend to help with care. She has leveled out and we aren’t on the road as much and have restarted our plant based living. This time we won’t go back. We feel so much better by eating better. I have read and read and studied the recipes and we are so much more prepared when traveling. Thank you for your help this is one family that is making changes due to your hard work. You make it easy Our children and their families are starting to incorporate this eating lifestyle into their lives as well which we are all excited about….We have a son and two grandchildren with Type I diabetes..Several with celiac disease and I could go on. It helps as all. One of my granddaughter’s just asked me why we are always talking about health and nutrition lol. I do have one question. Do you always use fresh lemon? Never bottled right? Thank you again. You just never know how many lives you change.
So wonderful to meet you Cynthia!
I’m so, so happy to hear that you are back on your plant based path! And I’m so happy to hear your daughter is better!
I can’t thank you enough for leaving this comment and letting me know the impact of this site–this is the best part of what I do!!
Lemon juice: I use it in almost every recipe, and we happen to have a lemon tree in our backyard, and yes, I juice fresh lemons! But I always say do what you can!
xo, Kristen