Strawberry compote

When you have a glut of strawberries and they are very ripe, and you’re frantically stuffing your face with them whether you fancy or not because you couldn’t bear those lovely berries going to waste, and you’ve made your jam for the season and there’s only so much cake you can eat – make strawberry compote.

What is a compote?

Compote sounds awfully posh, and French. Un compotier is not a piece of tableware many of us own, and it’s more likely to feature in Cézanne’s or Courbert’s still-life paintings than amongst our dinnerware.

And it’s true that it’s quite a forgotten dish, though once it would be a staple dessert served both in France and in Eastern Europe. It was also a method of preserving fruit for winter months in a colder climate.

Some describe it as fruit cooked in a syrup, but in fact the compote I know from my childhood would be barely sweet. It would also be cooked very briefly so the fruit retained its shape.

There should not be too much liquid as it is supposed to be eaten with a spoon. That said, my recollections are more of a drink, and I’d usually leave all the fruit at the bottom of a cup. Even though that means water must have been liberally added to the cooking fruit, it was evidently a healthier soft drink than 7UPs and Cokes guzzled in Western Europe at the time.

What fruit for compote?

Any fruit you like, or a mix. There is no rule or superiority ranking, and frozen fruit might well be used too, though admittedly to a much worse outcome (mushy, broken up).

I’d probably hesitate at exotic fruit - banana compote doesn’t sound appealing though pineapple might be all right. If the fruit is on the tart side, like red- and blackcurrants, just add more sugar and skip lemon juice.

Cooking compote

Traditionally, compote is boiled fruit: simmered for a while with sugar to taste. As I said before, this is no jam, so the amount of sugar should be just enough to make it taste like dessert but not too sickly for breakfast, for instance.

But I prefer to lightly and briefly roast the fruit instead of simmering it on the hob. That way there is less risk of it falling apart and becoming mushy. The released juice is also slightly more concentrated especially if you spread it over a larger dish in a comfortable single layer though that's by no means a must.

It takes all of ten minutes or so, and the strawberries can be kept whole or halved, as preference and their size dictates.

When the dish cools down slightly, the compote can be transferred to a jar and kept in the fridge for at least a week.

How to serve compote?

You can serve it old-school fashion, in a dainty bowl for dessert. You can spoon it over a sponge cake or a cheesecake, or any cake you like. You can serve it alongside shortbread biscuits with custard or whipped cream for a decadent treat. It will be lovely over scoops of neutral-flavoured ice cream, vanilla or clotted cream.

And my favourite way with compote is to fold it into Greek yoghurt for breakfast, with or without a sprinkling of toasted oats.

More strawberry preserve recipes

Slow roasted strawberries become jammy but not too sickly, coated in luscious syrup, and they have a multitude of uses in desserts, cakes and afternoon tea confections.

Homemade strawberry jam recipe, made with jam sugar. You can halve the ingredient amounts to make just two jars of the jam. The addition of lemon juice and black pepper hugely enhances strawberry flavour.

Italian style homemade ice cream without eggs with pureed fresh strawberry swirl. It’s not always all about raspberry ripple, you know.

More summer berry recipes

We call it bramble crumble, you might know it as blackberry crisp. It’s a delicious dessert, put together in minutes, divine with a scoop of ice cream. Brambles, wild blackberries grow everywhere in the UK and in a good summer they are juicy, sweet and free to foragers.

Almond cake with fresh raspberries, flavoured with cinnamon and lemon zest. It’s flourless, dairy and gluten free, yet wonderfully airy and soft.

Blueberry parfait recipe for a dessert or breakfast dish, delicious at any time of day. This parfait is made with lightly roasted blueberries and strained yoghurt. Easy and exquisite, good for breakfast or dessert.