Fruit compote is a 17th century French desert made up
of fresh slightly cooked fruits. It is seasoned with orange, lemon, vanilla,
cinnamon and cloves. Many
Jewish people associate it with holidays. The fruit
compote served on holidays is supposed to
indicate sweet wishes and good luck in the coming year.
The
base of fruit compote
is, of course, the fruit. Some variants use dried
fruit while others may make berry compote. Some fruit compotes follow a theme, such as tropical compote,
while others use preserved fruits in syrup from the summer, or an assortment of
whatever looks good. Depending on the type of fruit
used, the spicing and level of sweetness is usually adjusted to make the fruit compote's flavor
optimal.
Whatever
the fruit this is a healthy dessert that packs a punch when it comes to
antioxidants. That’s because fruit is a great source of antioxidants, vitamins
and minerals. Some of the fruits used are pineapple, peaches, pears, apples,
apricots, cherries and berries.
When
I was young we lived on an Island off the coast of Maine. It was difficult to
get fresh fruit and vegetables in the long winter months. So in the summer my
Mother would can fresh fruits so she could make fruit desserts in the winter.
Traditionally canned or preserved fruits were used to make compote.
Fruits
were first discovered wild. Humans no doubt liked the look, then the smell and
finally the taste. Eventually humans began to cultivate fruits and thus began
early farming. Today we enjoy a vast variety of fruits from around the world;
however, there is nothing better than tree or vine ripened, in season, locally
grown fruit. It has a sweetness and texture that just doesn’t exist with half
ripened, imported, out of season fruit.
Fruits
contain essential vitamins and minerals needed for good health. It’s important
to get fresh whole fruits because the vitamins and minerals in fruits have a
synergistic effect meaning that they work together to produce the greatest
amount of health benefits. For example; oranges are rich in vitamin C, but to
get the vitamin C you need a bit of the fleshy white stuff(bioflavonoid) which
synergizes with the Vitamin C, delivering the maximum amount of nutrients.
When
you mix a variety of fruits together in a fruit salad or compote you get both a
wonderful collage of flavors and a healthy portion of nutrients. We need to get
three to four servings of fruits a day and sadly most Americans get little to
none. The fiber, the skin, the seeds and the pulp of fresh fruits are a far
better choice than fruit strips or fruit juice which is often times missing
essential nutrients and loaded up with sugar.
There’s
nothing like compote of fruits to make for a healthy melodic composition.
For dessert its fresh homemade fruit compote. Your choice of fruit, but I
chose:
1 pear ripened
2 peaches ripened
3 black apricots soft and ripened
1-
½ cup unsweetened apple sauce
¼ cup of brown sugar
¼ cup of uncooked oatmeal or any other dry cereal
A few dabs of butter
In a bowl combine the first four ingredients. Mix
well and turn into a square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle
sugar, oatmeal on top and dab small amount of butter randomly on top. Cover and
bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve warm.
Happy New year - sweet wishes for good luck and good health
Doctor Lynn
