August 2015
It’s berry season! If you’re like me, when you spot ripe berries growing on bushes on the side of the road you slam on your brakes, jump out of the car and start picking. My kids and I learned our berry-picking techniques from my father, Horst. He was a berry-picking expert. Growing up in the rich farming area of Saxony in eastern Germany, he learned the rhythm of the seasons as a very small child. His spring and summer days were spent in the fields working with his brothers and sisters, bringing in the harvest. Spring was rhubarb and asparagus. Summer was strawberries, peaches and cherries. Fall was apples, pears and potatoes. Pickling, canning, preserving and loading the cellar to last for the winter months was a way of life. Eating seasonally and locally is something we millennials are all trying to get back to, but in Horst’s day, it was how you lived. Even though it was hard, uncomfortable work, picking strawberries was one of my father’s favorite activities. He loved nothing better than packing both my children, Francis and Erika, and me into his truck and driving out to one of the local strawberry farms in Andover, N.J., to spend the entire morning picking. Wearing our quart plastic containers on strings around our necks (a hands-free adaptation) we’d march out onto the long rows of strawberries. His advice: “pile the baskets high and eat as many as you can.” We’d spend hours out in the strawberry field, gently treading between the rows, our bodies bent over searching out the ripest, most luscious specimens. Horst liked the biggest ones—I liked the small, delicate ones. After unloading our haul back home, Horst would rest at my kitchen table and say, “Ach…when I close my eyes, I am still seeing all of the red strawberries.” I recently rediscovered Rote Grütze, a red berry dessert that my mother, Gertrude, made every now and then. Rote Grütze (meaning red porridge or red groats) is a dessert common in northern Germany and Scandinavia that features fresh strawberries, raspberries and red currants. (The red currants are not easy to find, but we had a couple of red currant bushes in our backyard.) In mid-summer, Gertrude would also add the wineberries that grew wild behind our mailbox on Castle Rock Road in Lake Hopatcong. Wineberries are a shiny, red, transparent cousin of raspberries and, in my opinion, even more delicious. The deer are fond of them, too, so when you spot them, pick them before Bambi and his friends find them. Blackberries and blueberries can also be added if you have them on hand. You’ll need about 6 cups (2 pounds) of mixed berries for the recipe. Half will be cooked with the sugar, cinnamon and vanilla and the rest get mixed in raw, towards the end of the cooking process. It is traditional to serve Rote Grütze with Vanillesoße, a sauce made with egg yolks, sugar and milk. I’ve cheated a little here—a couple of tablespoons of vanilla pudding mix cooked in some milk works just fine.
6 cups (2 pounds) of mixed fresh berries: strawberries, raspberries, red currants, blueberries or blackberries 1¼ cups sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 cup red wine 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons water 21/2 tablespoons plus cornstarch
1/2 small box (about 2 tablespoons) vanilla pudding mix (the kind you cook) 2 cups milk
1. Bring the sugar, cinnamon, wine, salt and half of the berries to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer until berries are soft, about 1 minute. 2. Roughly mash the remaining berries, add them to the saucepan and return the mixture to a boil. 3. In a small bowl, mix all of the cornstarch with the water until the cornstarch dissolves, then whisk the mixture into the berries. 4. Cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until boiling in the center and the Grütze looks clear, about 5 minutes. 5. Let cool for 5 minutes. 6. Divide mixture among 6 small glasses.
Rote Grütze can be served immediately, warm, topped with warm Vanillesoße. It can also be chilled and served with warm or cooled Vanillesoße, a small scoop of vanilla ice cream or sweetened whipped cream.