THE FINISHING TOUCH: SUGARED FRUITS - A Woman Cooks in Asheville (2024)

You’ve heard it said before: you eat with your eyes first.

It’s why I walk through a restaurant and look at the plates on the tables around me, and ask myself “What looks good?” It’s why we linger in front of bakery shop windows with their displays of carefully constructed tarts, cakes and pastries. And it’s why we are so disappointed with something doesn’t taste as good as it looks.

The winter holidays are upon us. It’s a time when bakers like to shine, dusting out their recipes for pies, cakes and cookies. Every holiday table finishes with a flourish of dessert. We’ve beaten, whisked, whipped and folded. Melted, separated, dusted and infused. Anxious moments spent turning out baked goods, checking for the set of a custard and hoping it worked have reached their culmination in your finished dessert.

Now comes the hard part! Decorating your offering.

It doesn’t have to be a daunting task of melting sugar and tempering chocolate to put the finishing touch on your dessert. I am here to offer up a pretty easy way of adding some pow to the look of your hard work: sugared fruits.

You have seen them before: shining cranberries piled on top of tarts and cakes, sweet grapes shimmering in the light, gooseberries and kumquats glistening.

Here’s how to make them.

Sort your fruits to make sure they are clean and unblemished. They will keep for a week or so in an airtight container so it’s okay if you have more than you need. They also make a really nice treat by themselves. The slightly sour pop of cranberry or grape combined with the sweet crunch of sugar is hard to resist.

Make a simple syrup by heating a 1:1 ratio of sugar and water over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Let it cool to warm. You don’t want to cook the fruit! Toss the fruit in the syrup

and place the fruit on a wire rack and leave it to dry for at least an hour.

Once the fruit is tacky to the touch, roll it in sugar

and place it back on the rack for an hour or two.

Once you have made the fruits, they will keep in an air-tight container for a number of days. You can always reroll them in sugar if you need to.

Put the fruit on your dessert shortly before you plan to serve it. It will be fine for 4 hours or more but eventually the sugar will take on the moisture from the dessert (and the air) and start to dissolve.

If you like you can add some sprigs of fresh herbs, rosemary is one of my favorites, to add some “greenery”.