How to Poach Fruit
Ronnie's Notes
When you learn how to poach fruit, you can make more dessert dishes than you can imagine. Poaching is one of the most versatile cooking methods available. You can store the poached fruit in the fridge, in the poaching fluid, for 1–3 days.
Tips: Kitchen Clue The amount of poaching liquid in this recipe will be enough for up to 11/2 lbs. of fruit. If you use vanilla extract in a recipe instead of vanilla bean, do not add it until you remove the pan from the heat. Heat dissipates the intensity of extract.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Instructions
Combine the sugar, water, lemon peel, and vanilla bean in a saucepan.
Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat.
Reduce the heat to low and cook .
Add the fruit.
The fruit must be completely immersed in the poaching liquid; using a smaller pan makes this step easier.
Alternatively, you can cut large fruit such as pears or peaches in half.
(Remove the seeds or pit.) Cook the fruit until it is barely fork tender.
The time depends on the fruit.
Remove the pan from the heat and let the fruit cool in the poaching fluid.
The best fruit choices for poaching are pears, peaches, apricots, plums, nectarines, and blueberries.
You can peel fruit before you poach it, but you don’t have to.
The skin of peaches and pears comes off easily after the fruit is poached.
To serve, peel the fruit and remove the seeds and core.
Transfer the fruit to serving dishes.
Strain the poaching liquid.
You may serve the poaching liquid as is, on top of the fruit, or boil it down over high heat for several minutes, until it reaches a syrupy consistency.
Let the liquid cool and pour it over the fruit.
You may season the poaching liquid in several delicious ways by adding one of the following to the liquid: • 3" piece of cinnamon stick • 1 cup red wine • peel from half an orange • a chunk of fresh ginger or several pieces of crystallized ginger • 4–5 cracked cardamom pods