Fruit Sauces

A method rather than a fixed formula, so the proportions are left to the cook. The two things worth pinning down are the sugar and the arrowroot.

• "Rather less sugar than for preserving"Victorian preserving worked at roughly equal weights of sugar and fruit, so this implies something a little under 1 lb (450 g) sugar to 1 lb fruit rather than a drastic cut. Modern palates will want considerably less; adjust once the fruit has broken down, since tart gooseberries or damsons will take more sugar than ripe raspberries.
• ConsistenceAdd water a few tablespoons at a time after the fruit has collapsed, aiming for something that coats a spoon and slides off it, not something that mounds. It will thicken slightly as it cools, so leave it a shade thin.
• Arrowroot proportionAbout 1 teaspoon arrowroot slaked in 2 tablespoons cold water per cup of finished sauce. The recipe simply mixes it with the water; modern practice is to stir the slurry in off the heat, then bring back just to a bare simmer for under a minute, as arrowroot thickens at a fairly low temperature (roughly 150-160F) and can turn thin and slimy if held at a hard boil.
• StrainingStrain while hot, before the arrowroot has begun to set, or it will drag on the sieve. For berries with hard seeds, pass through a fine sieve rather than a colander and press with the back of a ladle.
• Fruit choiceAnything that breaks down readily suits this treatment: gooseberries, currants, raspberries, damsons, plums, rhubarb stalks, apricots. Firm apples and pears need to be sliced thin and cooked longer, and are better mashed than strained.
• Yield and serving1 lb of fruit will give something in the region of 1 1/2 cups of sauce, enough for about six servings of a plain steamed or baked pudding. Serve warm; refrigerated it should keep a few days, though an arrowroot-thickened sauce tends to lose its gloss and slacken on standing.
• An alternative thickenerCornstarch will do the same job, though it needs a little more of it, goes cloudy, and tastes faintly floury unless it boils a full minute. Arrowroot gives a clearer finish, which shows to advantage when the sauce is poured over a pale pudding, though the recipe itself gives no reason for the choice.