It's Time To Start Turning Frozen Berries Into Soup
If your freezer is stocked with more berries than you know what to do with, it's time to start whipping up bowls of soup. Not to be confused with smoothie bowls, berry soup is a treat all on its own, although the base ingredient remains the same. We may not see this combination on the average restaurant menu in the U.S., but berry soup is a versatile Scandinavian delicacy, often eaten as a snack, dessert, or breakfast dish. Unlike smoothie bowls, which are served cold and typically incorporate some mixture of fruit, milk, juice, ice, and greens, berry soup offers a more concentrated flavor of the fruits themselves. You can serve it cold as a refreshing meal on a sweltering day, or hot as a sweet treat to warm up during the winter — and either way, feel free to pile on toppings to elevate this dish even more.
Today's berry bowls are easy to make, typically with a short ingredient list. A modern recipe for Swedish raspberry soup includes the fruit, water, sugar, and corn or potato starch, the latter of which serves as a thickener. Since berries are boiled to make the dish, frozen fruit will work just fine here, although fresh can be used as well.
Soupy berries and cream
While the standard ingredients for berry soup pretty much remain consistent in every recipe, there are a few add-ins you can include here to amp up the flavor. Lemon slices, juice, or zest are all great contenders, along with vanilla extract, cinnamon, ginger, sugar, honey, maple syrup, or salt. You can either leave your mixture chunky once everything has been combined and the fruit has been boiled down, or you can use an immersion or regular blender to puree it to a smooth consistency. Then feel free to chill it in the fridge for a cold soup, or eat it steaming hot right off the stove. These Scandinavian dishes are often garnished with a dollop of sour cream, yogurt, or whipped cream, or a drizzle of milk or cream, depending on what meal they're served for.
Of course, there are also plenty of delicious ways to adapt this dish in the U.S. If you're eating it for breakfast, sprinkle some granola, pepitas, or chopped nuts on top; and if you want an even tastier dessert, scoop some vanilla ice cream over your bowl. It will also make a tasty base for flaky biscuits or a streusel topping, where the pastries will soak up all that soupy goodness much like in a berry cobbler or crumble. Once you experiment a little, you may find that fruity soup is your new favorite way to enjoy this frozen produce.