Red Berry Pudding Recipe
German Red Berry Pudding or Rote Grutze Recipe
This is an old family berry pudding recipe from the German side of my family. "Rote" in German means "red". The only translation of "Grutze" that I found, that makes sense is "Grits".
Red Berry Pudding is great to make in the summer when there is an abundance of berries: strawberries, red currants, and raspberries. It can be made with cherries as well. I have always seen it made as a combination of two or more of the above.
In the winter it may be made with frozen fruits and I have heard of it being made with canned tart red cherries. Also, if currants are hard to come by, you may add a couple of tablespoons of currant jelly.
We are going to use a food processor or blender for this recipe. My grandmother and great aunt would force the berries through a sieve.
It's bright colorful and refreshing. A nice healthy light dessert. Loaded with anti-oxidents and gluten free, as well as dairy free.
Great splash of red color to end a meal at Valentine's Day and/or Christmas.
Umlaut
The word "Grutze" should really have an umlaut over the "u". Unfortunately, the code used here for the font, won't produce it.
An umlaut is pair of dots above a vowel in German.
This is usually made with a combination of berries and served with a light vanilla custard sauce as a topping. Our family has always served it with whipped cream.
I must confess, I have never tried this without raspberries in it. In every combination, I have had, raspberries had a role.
If you are using fresh berries, you will need to wash and stem them and let them dry. Frozen berries need to be defrosted first and drained of juice. Fresh cherries should be washed and pitted and canned cherries should be drained.
Save any drained juice to mix with the cornstarch, rather than mixing it with water.
Ingredients
- 6 cups fresh or frozen strawberries or red currants or raspberries or cherries
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 1/4 cup cold water or juice from defrosted or canned berries
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- whipped cream or vanilla ice cream as a topping.
Instructions
- You may puree all the fruit in a blender or food processor, or you may puree 4 cups and only chop the rest if you want a combination of smooth and chunky.
- Put the berries and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly.
- Mix the cornstarch in cold water or juice until smooth and slowing add it to the boiling berries.
- Reduce the heat and let simmer until thickened -- about 3 minutes. Stir constantly.
- Remove from heat and add lemon juice.
- Pour into one large serving dish or 4 small dessert or sherbert dishes and chill overnight in the refrigerator.
Ounce to Gram Conversion
Ounce to Gram Conversion
1 cup = 8 ounces
Step by step photos of red berry recipe
Click thumbnail to view full-size
Okay, so how do you pronounce Rote Grutze?
Row ta - as if you were starting to say "rotary".
Grut za - The "grut" rhymes with "put".
Information on Berry Nutrition
The calories in berries are minimal and the anti-oxidants and vitamins are plentiful.
Cherry Nutritional Information
Currant Nutritional Information
Photo courtesy of morguefile.com
Raspberries a super food
One cup of raspberries will give you about a third of your daily fiber needs
© 2012 Ellen Gregory
