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Dessert

Stewing Dried Fruit

Stewed dried fruit is made by soaking dried fruit in cold water, boiling until tender, and sweetening with sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Stewing Dried Fruit

Ingredients

Directions

Soak the fruit

  1. Cover the dried fruit with cold water and soak for 3 to 4 hours.

Cook and sweeten

  1. Bring the soaked fruit to a boil and cook until tender.

  2. Add sugar to taste.

  3. Avoid stirring the fruit too much while it is cooking to keep it intact.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Dried fruit
Main ingredient that softens during soaking and cooking, providing the dish's body and fruit flavour.
Sugar
Sweetens the stewed fruit, added after cooking so the amount can be adjusted to taste.

The step that matters

Avoid stirring the fruit too much while it is cooking. Once the fruit has softened, vigorous stirring rubs against the fragile skins and flesh, causing pieces to break apart. Gentle handling keeps the fruit whole and the texture pleasant.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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