Lüchow’s Preisselberry (aka Lingonberry) Sauce

You will also need:

1. A strainer placed over a bowl.
2. A heavy-bottomed pot or casserole.

For the sauce:

1. Drain the preisselberries in the strainer placed over a bowl, reserving the liquid to add a bit to the finished sauce to adjust thickness and flavour if necessary.
2. Put the berries, sugar, lemon and orange peels and the cinnamon stick in the heavy-bottomed pot over low heat. Do not add any water. Stir everything together. The sugar will begin to dissolve and create a juice with the berries.
3. Simmer the mixture over low heat. In about 20 minutes, the juice will become a syrup and the berry mixture will be reduced to a thick sauce. When it’s done, a wooden spoon will cut a clear path through the sauce and the syrup will only gradually creep out into it.
4. Taste the sauce. If the sauce has thickened more than you like or to sweeten it more according to your taste, add a little of the reserved syrup from the drained berries.
5. Remove the cinnamon stick and the orange and lemon peels as well—or leave them in the sauce but make sure they don’t end up in anyone’s serving.
6. The sauce is good warm, cold or at room temperature and will last for several weeks stored in the refrigerator.

Note on uses for Preisselberry Sauce: Preisselberry Sauce may be spread on a German dessert pancake, as was the custom at Lüchow’s German Restaurant. The complete recipe for this is decribed in the related link. The sauce is very good served with a festive Christmas roast goose or pork loin, too.

Acknowledgement: The recipe is adapted from one in ‘Lüchow’s German Cookbook’ which may be accessed in its entirety online. Directions for how to find it are also on the related link.