Melba sauce is often associated with this fancy desert called Peach Melba, but in my neck of the woods it’s associated with the far more common mozzarella stick. This is about a combination of sweet, salty, and gooey that creates the most amazing flavor burst.
The origins of this combination seem to be up for much debate, but the fact of the matter is that it’s a local favorite that really shows our native tastes. I have always believed that upstate New York was one of the biggest melting pots in the US. Having had so many people come to the US threw Ellis Island, not to mention a long history of Native America, Dutch, French, English, Irish, Italian, and German influences (I’m sure there’s a few missing also).
Food here has always been a wild card, I didn’t realize until later in life that most people that grew up in semi-rural towns like mine didn’t also grow up with their choice of Italian, Asian, German, Indian, and French food at a minimum. It makes sense that we have some unique local favorites with all of these influences hanging around.
So back to this Melba sauce and mozzarella stick thing. I know it sounds totally gross and weird, but I’m promising you that it’s not at all. In fact it’s incredibly delicious and once you’ve tried it you probably won’t go back to standard marinara sauce. You’ll be forever changed.
The sauce while similar to raspberry preserves there is a few noticeable differences. For starters it is not cooked down the way preserves are, all the ingredients are placed in a blender and blended to desired thickness. A few pulses produces a thicker sauce then a longer puree. I prefer something in between for maximum mozzarella stick coatage (my own word, obviously).
I think it’s also important to note that this sauce is also great on ice-cream, waffles and pancakes (much like Chucks Strawberry sauce), and on toast, like jam. Just a few ideas to try out.
Once made the sauce will keep in the fridge for a couple weeks or frozen for a few months. I chose to can mine, because despite having 3 freezers we lack a lot of freezer space right now.
- 2 cups fresh raspberries
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Combine all ingredients in a blend and pulse until desired thickness is reached.
- Serve immediately
I’m originally from Rome NY but moved away 16 years ago. I miss upstate so much and will be moving to Rochester in May. I can’t wait. It seems like western New York has foods that I never knew about. I’ve never heard of Melba sauce being from central New York. What part of upstate is it from?
From what I’ve read it started in the Albany area and expanded from there. Glad to have another up-stater around!