Adventures with Apples and Pears

Photo © Anne-Marie Minhall

The thoughtful chap at the café in the workplace has come up trumps again.

More free fruit on a Friday:

CG: "A bag of apples to take home? It would be a crime to waste them."

Me: "Yes please."

**BEAMS**

The initial idea was to make a chutney until I realised that there weren't the jars to hand. 

Plan B

There are pears in the fruit bowl & newly arrived Kilner Jars.

And there's red wine (pretty much always).

Oven set at 150C/300F/Gas 2 

Photo © Anne-Marie Minhall

To fill a 1L sterilised jar:

750g mix of peeled apples & pears, stalks intact, (pop all into a bowl of cold water with some lemon juice or salt to stop the fruit browning)

250ml red wine

65g granulated sugar

Some cloves (5/6)

Star Anise (2/3)

Gently heat 250ml of water with the sugar, stirring now & again but it will need to come to a boil

Halve the fruit, insert some cloves & then into the jar they go along with the Star Anise gems

Add the wine to the sweet mix & once again get it to a bubbling boiling point

Funnel to hand

Pour the syrupy sweetness into the jar, lid on but not the screw top

Oven for an hour

Remove very carefully (the glass jar will be really hot) & then secure with the screw top asap

A Merlot-infused harvest

AMM