Steamed or steamed fruit is delicious and a great way to use extra fruit that you may have picked up or bought on offer. It can be used in many ways and you can put different varieties in the stew. This article will tell you how.
Steps
Step 1. Choose the fruit
You can mix and match it, but good choices can be:
- Fresh fruit: apples, pears, plums, peaches, quinces, apricots, grapes, orange slices (without the white part), berries etc … Soft fruit, such as mango or bananas, do not always stew well, but if you want you can make spicy fruit sauces (especially mango).
- Dried fruit: dates, plums, apricots, raisins. For best results, use preservative-free dried fruit.
Step 2. Make the syrup
The recommended proportions are: a cup of water for 2 of sugar. Sugar can be added for sour fruit and less sugar can be used for sweet fruit. The proportions of fruit and syrup should be 1 = 1, enough to coat the fruit. Too much syrup causes the fruit to lose flavor. For apples use less syrup, for peaches use more.
Step 3. Add flavorings
Use simple flavors as some may go well, but others may be too complicated for the type of fruit you are using.
- Citrus peels such as orange, lemon or lime
- Spices such as vanilla, cloves, or cinnamon
- Red or white wine and fruit juice. You can also use wine alone, but in small quantities.
Step 4. Peel and cut the fruit
The size of the pieces depends on how you want to use the fruit. For cakes it is better to use small pieces or thin slices, for breakfast with yogurt or porridge or sweets in general chunks or even whole fruit are good (like the pear in the image).
For homogeneous cooking it is advisable to cut pieces of fruit of the same size. Some types of fruit cook faster than others so cut them into larger pieces or add them when the other fruit is already cooking
Step 5. Simmer for 10-15 minutes
Taste it or prick it with a skewer to make sure it's soft.
Step 6. Serve it hot or cold
If you want you can drain the syrup and serve it alone as a sauce. Stewed fruit can be used in various ways:
- Cakes (put the batter on top of the fruit before baking), puddings, crunchy pastries,
- breakfasts,
- snacks,
- jellies etc….
