Make Stewed Fruit

Stewed or poached fruits are delicious and a great way to use up surplus fruit if you have a bumper harvest or found good fruit on special. It can be used in a lot of ways and many different fruits can be stewed. Here's what to do.

Steps

 * 1)  Choose your fruit. You can mix and match but good choices can be:
 * 2) * Fresh fruits such as: Apples, pears, plums, peaches, quinces, apricots, grapes, orange wedges (without pith), pineapple, berry fruits etc. Mushy fruits, such as banana, mango etc don't always stew well, but some can make a good hot fruit sauce (mango in particular).
 * 3) * Dried fruits such as dates, prunes, apricots, sultanas. (Try to get preservative free dried fruits for best results).
 * 4) Make a poaching syrup. This is usually 2 to 1 ratio of water to sugar, so 2 cups of water, to 1 cup of sugar. Some tart fruits will benefit with a little extra sugar, some sweet fruits can use less. The ratio of syrup to fruit should be about 1 to 1. You just want enough to cover the fruit as too much syrup will make the fruits lose flavour. Apples can use much less syrup, but peaches won't mind more.
 * 5)  Add flavourings. Keep it simple as some make a great combination, some may be too complicated for your fruits.
 * 6) * Fruit peel such as Lemon, orange or lime.
 * 7) * Spices such as vanilla, cloves, cinnamon.
 * 8) * Red or white wine or fruit juice. You can use just wine, or a little to add flavour.
 * 9) Peel and cut your fruits. The size of cut depends on your intended use. Pies and crumbles are good with smaller even slices, for breakfast with yoghurt/porridge or a dessert, they can be chunky or even whole (such as the pear image above).
 * 10) * Try to keep pieces the same size so they cook evenly. Some fruits will cook quicker than others so the simple method is to cut them larger or add them later.
 * 11)  Simmer for 10-15 minutes or until cooked. Test with a skewer to ensure the fruits are tender.
 * 12)  Serve hot or cold. You can drain the syrup off, or serve it as a sauce in its own right. Stewed fruits have so many uses such as:
 * 13) * Pies, cakes (pour the batter on top of the fruit prior to baking), puddings, crumbles.
 * 14) * breakfasts,
 * 15) * Snacks,
 * 16) * jelly/jello and more.

Warnings

 * Be careful around hot syrup.

Things You'll Need

 * Chopping board, peeler & knife
 * Large saucepan to suit your need
 * Measuring utensils.