Blueberry Sauce or Preserves

This blueberry sauce or preserves is made by cooking the blueberries until they break down and their natural juices are released.  This recipe should be made with fresh, sweet blueberries, since it does not have much sugar added and the flavor of the fresh blueberries really shines through.

If you add Wondra (a type of flour for mixing into sauces and gravy) as the blueberries are cooking, they will thicken up like a jam, which is perfect as a spread on toast or for filling cupcakes, such as my Blueberry Earl Grey Cupcakes, or you can leave it without flour to make a blueberry sauce which is perfect served over vanilla ice cream or as syrup for pancakes, waffles, or French toast.  I make this sauce or preserves in small enough batches so that it gets eaten before I have to preserve them using glass jars.  

Ingredients:

• 1 cup blueberries
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed (about ½ a lemon)
• About 1 to 1½ teaspoon Wondra (or all purpose or cake flour), optional

Combine the blueberries, lemon juice, and sugar into a medium sized saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved and the blueberries release their juices.  Add the Wondra, if using the blueberries as a filling or jam, and stir until evenly mixed.  

Continue cooking until the blueberries and their syrup become slightly thick, about 5-8 minutes.  

Let mixture cool to room temperature uncovered (about 20 minutes to an hour).  The mixture will thicken up even more as it cools.  They should be able to almost hold their shape when scooped up with a spoon.  Store the preserves in an airtight container in your refrigerator.