On this page, you will find the easy-to-make and traditional recipe for Danish Red Berry Pudding. This very old and traditional Nordic recipe is in Danish known as Rød Grød Med Fløde (Rod Grod med Floede) and is a very easy dessert to make. It takes about one hour and 25 minutes to make this delicious Danish dessert. However, the actual working time is only about 5-10 minutes and requires a minimum of skills in the kitchen. This Danish dessert contains four different red berries which are cooked together with sugar and water into a thick berry pudding. It is a perfect dessert if you are looking to make a very traditional Nordic dessert.
The pronunciation of Rød Grød med Fløde
The full Danish name of this dessert is actually one of the most difficult things to pronounce for foreigners. In Danish, Red Berry Pudding is directly translated into Rød Grød. The traditional way of serving this Rød Grød is together with heavy cream (in Danish with heavy cream).
This is why the original name for this recipe is Rød Grød Med Fløde, which translated, means Red Berry Pudding with Heavy Cream. Because this name Rød Grød Med Fløde contains relatively many of the Danish letters Ø it is very difficult for non-Danish people to pronounce.
I have been told, that we Danes sound like we are having a potato in our mouth when we talk. When I travle around the world and I meet people who would like to learn to speak a little Danish, the name of this dessert is normally what I try to learn them. It is always a lot of fun for everybody when they try to pronounce the name of this Nordic dessert.
Traditional Danish dessert
As already mentioned, this recipe for Danish Red Berry Pudding is very traditional and old. Actually, Danish Red Berry Pudding is not as popular anymore as it used to be. However, it is still a very delicious dessert and it is served from time to time.
Personally, I like this dessert a lot and I make it from time to time. Especially, when we are looking for a very traditional Nordic dessert this dessert is a very great choice.
As said, the name Red Berry Pudding with Heavy Cream, reveals how this dessert is traditionally served. After you have made the red berry pudding you let it cool off before serving it with some cold heavy cream on top. It is a very simple dessert but also very delicious Danish dessert.
If you are looking for other traditional Nordic or Danish food I have a section here on my food blog with great recipes. Find the traditional Danish section in the menu above.
Thickening agent for Rødgrød med Fløde
The traditional Danish Red Berry Pudding is just different red berries and sugar, which are cooked together with water into a thicker berry pudding. Even though the berry mixture is getting thicker as the water is evaporated away it is not enough to get the best and traditional consistency.
What you need to do just before the berry pudding is ready is to add a thickening agent.
In the traditional recipe for Danish Red Berry Pudding potato starch is used as the thickening agent. Potato starch is an old, cheap and very effective thickening agent and is very often used in berry puddings and other desserts.
In Denmark, you are able to buy potato starch in every supermarket. I am not sure how popular potato starch is outside Denmark. In the case that you are not able to find potato starch then you can just substitute with a different thickening agent, which can be used in desserts. If you are able to find and use potato starch, then make sure to add this at a lower temperature and not reach boiling temperature after adding this to the berry pudding.
Recipe for Danish Red Berry Pudding
As already mentioned, it is actually really easy to make Danish Red Berry Pudding. You only need a saucepan with a lid, the ingredients and then you are good to go. If you are using fresh berries then you start by rinsing and cleaning these using cold water.
If you are using frozen berries then you just pour them in the saucepan as they are. Frozen berries are cleaned and prepared from the factory.
In the saucepan, also add water and sugar. Mix all the ingredients well and let the berries soak in the sugar and water mixture of about one hour. After one hour, turn on the heat and slowly bring the red berry mixture to boil. Let the berry pudding simmer for eight minutes before you add the thickening agent. Potato starch is the traditional thickening agent. However, you can use any thickening agent which are intended for desserts.
If you are using potato starch then make sure not to heat the berry pudding to boiling temperature after adding this.
Ingredients
- 125 g strawberry (4.5 oz)
- 125 g raspberry (4.5 oz)
- 125 g blackcurrant (4.5 oz)
- 125 g redcurrant (4.5 oz)
- 125 g sugar (4.5 oz)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2.5 dl water (1 US cup)
- 2 tbsp potato starch (dissolved in 5 tbsp water)
Instructions
- If you are using fresh berries, then start by rinsing and cleaning them using cold water.
- Cut the strawberries and raspberries into smaller prices.
- Transfer all the ingredients except the potato starch into a saucepan. Mix the ingredients well and let the berries soak in the sugar water for about one hour.
- Using medium heat to heat up the berry and water mixture until boil. Let the mixture simmer for eight minutes.
- Lower the heat and add the dissolved potato starch. Let the red berry Pudding simmer for another 3-5 minutes but avoid the mixture to boil.
- Pour the pudding into 3-4 dishes and let it cool off before serving it with cold heavy cream. Alternative to heavy cream is sour cream mixed with some vanilla seeds.
Nancy Gulsoy
Thank you so much for this recipe and the website. I've just returned from a visit to friends in the town in Jutland from which my ancestors emigrated, and I grew up eating this dessert. Unfortunately, I am unable to actually say it! One question: the pudding I have always eaten was smooth - is it OK to put it through a food mill?
Kim Nielsen
Hi. I happy that you like my site. You can easily make this berry pudding smooth by blending it just before you add the potato starch (thickening agent). :-)
Kathryn
My Grandmother made this pudding with plums and put the pudding through a sieve and then cooled it ..
Dennis Severin
I too just returned from a trip to Denmark visiting relatives for the first time. When I saw this recipe upon our return to United States I had to give it a go. WOW! I just love it. Had difficulty finding black and red current so I just doubled the strawberries and raspberries. I will be making this again real soon!
Kim Nielsen
Hi. I'm happy that you also like this recipe. It's differently one of my favorite traditional Danish recipes
Lis
My Danish mother made this with rhubarb and strawberries. I love to have it cold with half n half on a hot summer day! I have 3 rhubarb plants and they produce twice in the summer. Any combination of berries works. But I like rhubarb the best!
Dane
My grandmother was danish, but she passed away several years ago. She made this for me back when I was younger (I’m 18 now). She also made it with rhubarb and strawberries, and used half and half for cream. How would I prepare the rhubarb to use for this recipe? I’m not much of a cook but I’ve always been interested in my danish heritage and would like to know how to make this the way she did
Kim Nielsen
Hi - If you are using rhubarb and strawberries then you can basically use the same recipe as the the Red Berry Pudding. It is mainly about pouring berries and other fruit into a sauce pan and cook until you have the preferred consistency. Maybe add some thickening if you need it to be more thick. Hope this answers your question. Regards Kim (NordicFoodLiving.com)
Bonnie Kruger
I had this once in a now-closed Danish restaurant in St Louis and they later published the recipe in the Post Dispatch, which I kept. However, they changed it a little by using rhubarb in addition to the strawberries and raspberries. My husband's grandmother, who was Czech said to use whatever fruit was ripe and needed eatin'...I just finished making it for friends who wanted a recipe for rhubarb and it adds a wonderful tartness to the pudding.
Donna
I am so excited about finding your site. My mother-in-law always made this for the whole family at special dinners and everyone LOVED it. She has been suffering from alzheimer's for some time now so these recipes had disappeared from our table. This was my favourite and I want to pass it along to our children so thank you for letting us do that. I plan to go through and rediscover some other recipes as well!!
Kim Nielsen
I'm happy that you like this recipe. It's also one of my favorite Danish recipes. I hope that your mother-in-law is doing OK. Maybe this dessert can bring back some good memories.
Tom Rothschild
Thank you for sharing this recipe. It brings up many strong, warm memories of family dinners.
I grew up with a Danish chef in the family. She told me she was in the Queen's household, which would have been before the war. On special occasions, she made rødgrød med fløde, and we children were always required to say "rødgrød" before we could have any. Of course, she was very polite and never laughed, no matter how silly we must have sounded.
Her recipe (which we have someplace) w with raspberries only, perhaps because my uncle grew them, and nothing else suitable would have been in season.
My only quarrel with your recipe is that the dessert I remember--like all other recipes I've found--was always strained and completely smooth,; straining should not be optional.
For "fløde" we always had sour cream.
So thanks again, I looking forward to trying this and tasting the memories.
Kim Nielsen
That's a nice story. I'm happy that you like my recipe and hopefully it will bring back some good memories :-)
Barbara Nash
I am so happy to find this recipe! My mother made it for special occasions, although she made the smooth type. My Danish grandmother, who taught her to make it said that it was more “fency” that way. I loved her Danish accent. I am proud to say that I can pronounce it properly!
Kika
I must doing rødgrød. I love each whit thise fruit and I like "kisiel". Kisiel it is polish name the same dessert, like rødgrød.
When you translate name of recipe in english I don't know, what it is! When I see danish name of recipe is: aaaa ;)
Jeanine Hughes
I am so happy to have found this recipe! I haven't had this dessert since my grandmother passed when I was 12. I reconnected with a childhood friend, and she gave me the Junket Danish Dessert box. My grandmother never made anything from a box! I tried the recipe with cornstarch, but it did not set. I remember the texture as being firm (and smooth). Any ideas why it didn't set up properly?
Kim Nielsen
Thanks for your comment. I'm happy that you like my blog. When I think about it I know that some people like to make this berry pudding using Husblas which is just the Danish name for gelatin sheets which are "soften" in cold water just before it is added to the simmering/boiling berry pudding. This galetin will make the pudding more firm. Next time you can try adding 3 sheets of galetin in the hot pudding instead of using the cornstarch. I hope it makes sense.
Amy E Kearns
I made some with fresh blue berries and black currents
Maureen Legge
I stayed in Denmark 30 years ago and the most l was ever able to say was tak. I have a large amount of berries to use and l suddenly remembered this pudding. Will give it a go today.
Amy Brassieur
I stayed on a farm in Langeland through an exchange program in 1975. The mom of the house made this as each fruit ripened - strawberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries. It was a dairy farm, and they would just take the stainless steel pitcher and scoop fresh milk from the milk cooler in the barn. Since I was the guest, they’d give me the pitcher first, so I’d get a good portion of cream with the milk on my dessert. Each bite was a wonderful explosion of the fresh fruit flavor. She only used one fruit at a time. I wish I had seen how she thickened it. She kept it in the pantry next to the kitchen, the refrigerator was too small to hold a large bowl of it. I’m glad to see a recipe, plan to try it with strawberries this week.
Kim Nielsen
Thanks for your lovely story. I really enjoy reading stories like yours. It makes me happy that we live in a time where we can share recipes and stories online like mine and yours. You can easily make this berry pudding using strawberries. I've done that several times. It's perfect.
Ivana Pecarevic
Mmm!!! Finally my danish friend could remind me of the such-impossible-to-remember danish dessert her mama made us when we were for a visit. I look forward to make it in my own crountry, Argentina! Thanks for sharing the recepe!
Kim Nielsen
You are welcome - I'm just happy that you like the recipe and that it can remind you of a good story.
Mary-Anne Helms
I fell in love with this when traveling in Denmark
What thickening can Inuse in the USA? Thank youl
Maggie
Cornstarch would be a good substitute
Rebecca Richards
I just made this for the first time and it was wonderful. I couldn't find black currants but blackberries were in season so I used that instead. It seems like it's easy to mix and match the berries so long as you end up with 500g of red berries to boil down.
I'm an American transplant to the Nordics and I live in Finland but I heard about this dish and one of my Swedish co-workers mocks me relentlessly for how badly I mangle the name. Well, I still can't pronounce it but I can cook it now at least!
Kim Nielsen
I am happy that you like the recipe for "Rødgrød med Fløde" and yes - the name can even be hard to pronounce for a Dane :-) Regards Kim (NordicFoodLiving.com)
JWallace
Mmm, thank you for sharing this! Today I tried the challenge of pronouncing this. Haha, I’ll work on it some more. I’m learning about my Danish roots. I can’t wait to try this! It’s similar to a red berry pudding I used to make, except I would add a little bit of lemon pith while cooking, which helped to thicken/gel it.
Eric Sorensen/Clumsy Crow Baking
I love this recipe and use it as a sort of template for a pound of some sort of berries. Tonight I used a pound of strawberries and about 10 ounces rhubarb, adjusting the sugar. I think it's just tart enough to have cream or half and half balance things out nicely. I am challenged by potato flour, though, and watched the slurry turn into a rock several times. Tonight I sprinkled it directly on to the pudding while whisking aggressively. It seems to do the trick.
Tusind tak for alle dinne fine opskrifter.
Eric
Kim Nielsen
Hi Eric. I am happy that you like the recipe for berry pudding. And yes you are right, it is a great recipe which can be used as a base for many different variations. Regards Kim (NordicFoodLiving.com)
Cathy Panich
This is a lovely recipe and brings back a lot of memories from my family. Some recipes don't strain the cooked fruit, others do. What is the traditional idea about this? I find that so many small seeds gives an uncomfortable mouth texture. Thanks, Cathy
Kim Nielsen
Thanks. I'm happy that you like the recipe. Straining the cooked fruit is a personal preference. I normally do it but if you like the seeds they you can skid that part. Regards Kim (NordicFoodLiving.com)
Carolyn Soto
Excellent recipe. I've been wondering since 1967 how to reproduce this unpronounceable delicious dessert!
Les Adams
I love Danish food !!!!
Lawrence Anderson
When I was 13 (in 1957) my father had a Fulbright Scholarship to teach at the Kunstakademiet in Copenhagen. I travelled all over the city on the electric trams, learning to say: Kan jeg skifte sporvegen? to ask the driver if I could switch the tracks at an upcoming intersection (done by pulling a long crowbar lever off the tramcar and jamming it into the track mechanism). the conductors would always challenge me to say "rødgrød med fløde"; my return challenge was to ask them to say "Massachusetts" (my home state at the time), which apparently they found equally difficult. Great conversations ensued.
Kim Nielsen
I love your story. I was not born in 1957 so I do not remember the "sporvogn". I hope that you like my danish recipe site and that it can bring back some good memories of yours. Regards Kim (NordicFoodLiving.com)
Karen Bolce
My grandmother was second generation Danish. She used to make a fruit pudding she called (phonetically spelled here) “roogra”. It was thick and dense, and she typically used blackberries or boysenberries. And she used tapioca! The result was a thick fruit tapioca pudding, almost gelled, with no dairy in the ingredients. As a young woman I had made it once or twice, but unfortunately the recipe is long gone. Do you suppose my grandmothers recipe is a variation of the basic rodgrod (using tapioca as a sub for other thickener), or could it be an entirely different recipe? Have you heard of anything like it? Thank you!
Kim Nielsen
Hi. I have not heard about the pudding called "Roogra" However, as you mentioned it could sound like a variation of the name "Rodgrod". If I pronounce the name "Roogra" in Danish then it could actually sound like "Rodgrod". The Danish "Rodgrod" is basically just a pudding of your favorite berries no just the berries that I have mentioned in the recipe. Regards Kim (NOrdicFoodLIving.com)
Karen Bolce
Thank you so much!
Joyce Mustoe
When I was growing up in Eastern Washington state (I'm 56 now), my mom used to make something she called "Raspberry-oca." It was made using our home-bottled raspberries sweetened with sugar and thickened with tapioca. She never strained out the berry pulp and seeds, because we liked the texture. She served it warm with fresh thick cream atop (we had a milk cow), and it was delicious! My mom had German-immigrant grandparents, so I wouldn't be surprised if this was some derivation of Rødgrød, which she had eaten with her family.
Barbara Kass
Our Danish church is celebrating 150 years! This was the suggested dessert. I am thinking the serving bowls must be large to get 4 servings from over a pound of fruit. Do you have a guesstimate if I serve in small sauce dishes with maybe a 1/4-1/3c of pudding in each? We are serving 100. Thank you!
Peter Randrup
My Danish Mom {Rigmor Randrup nee Bang] made it with raspberries and red currents we grew in the yard. Not my favorite - quite tart. Always fun to try to say. Actually translates to Red Porridge/Gruel [not berries] with Cream [Rødbær Med Fløde not quite the same.]
Lily
Thank you so much for this! I grew up eating this as my father was 100% Danish and he would make it for us (he raised us in Los Angeles, CA). I have ALWAYS loved it.
Now I can make it for myself since he has left us at the old age of 90.
Thank you again also for the history and other informative information.
Kim Nielsen
You are welcome. I am happy you like the recipe.
Lily
Oh one question for you. When my dad would say its name - he would say the Danish equiv of "Red Gruel with Cream on top"
Rod Grod Med Flode (and the what sounded like "opod" - which I assumed was the "on top" - have you ever heard it said that way? If so, how would it be spelled?
Thank you again from a Jensen!
Kim Nielsen
I know what you are looking for. The frase is "Rød Grød Med Fløde" when directly translated means "Red pudding with cream". Actually I have a recipe for this "Red Pudding"
https://nordicfoodliving.com/danish-red-berry-pudding-rodgrod-med-flode/
Anne Engelking Wellman
Kim, I was an American Field Service exchange student to Korsor, Denmark in 1961 and attended Slagelse High school. My Danish "mother" in the Karl Gunner Rasmussen family I lived with for half a year introduced me to Rød Grød Med Fløde which I immediately loved. For Thanksgiving this year I took this fruit pudding in a pie shell with cooked strawberries added and served it with whipped cream and for fun had New Jersey and Pennsylvania folks at the table try to say it in Danish first. It made an excellent pie! I'm baking one again this Friday for a birthday party. Thank you for the recipe!