Fruit’s versatility makes it a must-have on the winter menu

Fruit has always been a key ingredient in desserts, but such is its versatility across savoury as well as sweet dishes and its ability to complement the flavours of heavier meat-based dishes that it’s also a must-have ingredient for the ‘winter warmer’ menu. 

George Diamond, Group Executive Chef at Trippas White, is a keen advocate of modifying or enhancing flavours and textures by compressing fruit in flavour syrups with spices or herbs – “for example you can compress some watermelon with sangria in a cryovac bag, and the watermelon will absorb all the sangria with its cinnamon, citrus and star anise notes and that perfumes the fruit.

“Or rather than poaching pears in the traditional manner, in a pot with some sugar syrup, spices and lemon peel, today we can use a thermal circulator and vacuum bag which enables us to impart other flavours and aromas, which makes them a much more powerful ingredient when applied to a dish.

“The flavours penetrate much more intensely than with the traditional method. Modern technology has given us the ability to intensify flavour and fruit lends itself to that exceptionally well.”

While we’re usually encouraged to eat fruit at its peak ripeness, George makes the point that underripe fruit is now being used more extensively on menus. “There’s a higher amount of digestive starch in underripe fruit, which is healthy for the gut,” he explains. “Underripe fruits also usually have a higher amount of fibre, so they’re good from a dietary perspective, and they tend to be more acidic which is helpful when it comes to pairing with meat, seafood or poultry.”

In choosing complementary flavours to go with fruit, George says a good rule of thumb is to follow the classical pairings, such as orange with chocolate, pineapple with rum, banana with peanut, apple with caramel, emphasising “Fruit really lends itself to a great application of flavour marriages. And this is true on the savoury side as well – take for example a roast duck breast which is beautiful with some roasted grapes and brussels sprouts. The grapes will impart that sweetness which complements the gaminess of the duck.

“Heavier dishes like this go very well with fruit – think of the classic marriage of pork and spiced applesauce. Here fruit cleanses the palate and lifts the dish. Another point to bear in mind is the different ways of cooking fruit will produce different tastes – roasted fruit has a distinctive flavour profile, poached fruit has another, fresh fruit has another. It’s all about making the right choice for the dish.”

Experiment with less familiar fruits

It’s also worth investigating the potential applications of fruit with which you may be less familiar – take pomegranates as an example. A staple of middle eastern cuisine, they’re regarded as a superfood thanks to their nutritional profile as they’re rich in antioxidants, vitamin C and folate.

“Pomegranates have an amazing acidity that lends itself well to lamb and chicken,” George says, “and pomegranate juice is well known for its anti-inflammatory properties – it’s ideal for teas, cordials and frappes.” 

However, fresh pomegranates are not the easiest for untrained staff to cut open – and using the wrong approach will break some of the crunchy edible seeds (arils) which are the prized part of the fruit. A simpler approach is to use pre-packed individually quick frozen pomegranate arils, available from Pomlife (part of the SPC Food Solutions brand portfolio).

“Pomegranate arils have a beautiful piquancy – sweet but with a tartness to them, which makes them great for savoury applications as well as sweet,” says SPC Food Solutions General Manager Foodservice and Industrial Jenny Thomas. Pomlife also sells them in fresh punnets, but the IQF packaging in 1kg and 10kg pouches has proven particularly popular in foodservice, enabling QSRs and other high-volume users to keep them on the menu as an ingredient/garnish all year round.

“It’s important not to damage the arils when extracting them from the pomegranate, but that takes a certain level of skill, and then you also need to get rid of the white pith,” Jenny points out. “With the Pomlife IQF product all that work has already been done for you, plus the IQF process gives frozen shelf life of up to two years for added convenience along with effective portion control. You just store them in the freezer and portion out what you need as a garnish or ingredient because they thaw so quickly.”

With the fresh pomegranate season lasting only eight to ten weeks per year, this innovative product is a great way to ensure ongoing supply of a quality product made to SPC’s rigorous assurance standards. “SPC’s tagline is ‘better food for the future’ and since our return to Australian ownership in 2019, our focus has been on producing solutions which meet the evolving needs of the modern foodservice marketplace, rather than just the traditional lines on which we were founded,” says SPC Food Solutions Director Luke Dillon. “We’re moving out of our comfort zone, looking at new channels and areas where we can add value for our foodservice end-users.” 

“Pomegranate arils are often called the jewels of the fruit because they’re so pretty,” Jenny Thomas adds, “and they’re highly sought after because of the short season. They look great on top of dips or salads and go right across sweet and savoury – adding colour and beauty on the plate, along with the health benefits which foodservice operators are increasingly calling out on menus.”

Fruit purees ideal for thickening sauces

Chef Peter Wright recommends using fruit purees in sauces, pointing out “apples and pears become quite thick when pureed, and if you then mix with some chicken stock and fresh herbs you have a great flavour. Chefs are moving away from long cooks, 10 hour stocks and reductions and looking for approaches like this which are a lot quicker. Fruit purees are also a great way to thicken sauces as an alternative to sugar.

“Custard apples are coming into season right now, and avocadoes are going down in price right now. A lot of the winter fruits have very intense flavours – for example rhubarb and quince which you can use in slow cooking to bring out that richness.

“We all know rhubarb makes a great dessert served with crème anglaise or a nice sweet ice cream but equally it can enhance a savoury sauce, be sliced thin in salad and the colour looks gorgeous on a plate.”

Peter also recommends taking advantage of the natural appearance of fruit: “When you segment an apple or pear, as opposed to slicing and dicing, you’re using the full shape of the product which has its own natural beauty. There are some great seasonal fruits available right now like nashi pears and pomelos, and the more abundant a product the cheaper it’s going to be. That said, you don’t have to rely exclusively on winter fruits – strawberries and raspberries are available all year round and ideal for garnishing, they pack a nice pungency and sweetness. My all time favourite dessert is ice cream and any fruit with that will be a hit on the menu – I probably shouldn’t say this but you don’t necessarily need a pastry chef to do a winning dessert that you can charge a good price for!”

Benefits of pickling fruit

Gary Johnson, National Executive Chef at ALH Group, is a keen proponent of pickling fruit – “once it’s done right, it’s adaptable to so many other great recipes. I do an American style barbecue pork belly served with pickled peaches and shaved pork crackling – it’s a share dish as well as a main and the pickled peaches work so well to offset the barbecue flavour, which is ideal for a savoury application.”

Another example Gary cites is baked brie cheese served with toasted sourdough and fresh figs, with a drizzle of honey and a sprig of thyme – “again, all those flavours go so well together. You break off some sourdough, drag it through the honey and the figs and enjoy it with a glass of your favourite tipple. That’s a great wintry dish and we serve it in a cast iron pan.

Warm salads with fruit are also popular on ALH menus. “Pears is one of my favourites – you can put them with prosciutto, with pickled walnuts. We serve a roasted pear and kale salad, with the pears served warm with those robust kale leaves and some crumbled smoked feta, a beautiful pomegranate dressing and some pistachio dukkha sprinkled on the side. It’s nice and colourful as well as tasty.”

When it comes to fruit-based desserts, Gary says it’s hard to go past the classic apple pie. “I think that’s probably the quintessential winter fruit in any generation. Apple and rhubarb is another classic, and one of my favourites is apple with cape gooseberries, which are only available for a short window of the year, from around July to September, and come from the Granite Belt, out Stanthorpe way in the Darling Downs. They’ve got a wonderful lemony flavour, almost like a cumquat; they can almost be a little bitter but when you add them to apple with a little sugar the taste is just fantastic. You can make up an apple and cape gooseberry pie and add a little tinned pineapple – that works perfectly in a commercial situation because it’s been par-cooked which makes it a better performer in a sweet pastry – then serve up with a beautiful vanilla anglaise and some ice cream on the side and it’s a great comfort finish to any roast dinner or family meal. Another thing I do with the cape gooseberry is to dip them in caramel, hang them up and let the caramel drip to a spiky point.”