Eating seasonally is like being in a state of renewal. You get to enjoy things at the first picking, in the full flush of the season, and like a loved one leaving after a joyful visit, you soak up all it you can, until the next time. Until the next season.
We have such a vast array and so many varieties of certain fruits, like mangoes, bananas, pears, watermelons etc that choosing can make one dizzy. That’s a nice problem to have isn’t it?
Golden apples are in season. While I grew up eating golden apples in Guyana it was always with salt and pepper when green, or as a fruit drink when ripened. It was not until I came to Barbados that I would fall in love with golden apples made into a drink with the un-ripened fruit. Later, I would go on to experiment by making a crumble with the ripe fruit. And for the first time, I would make my own stewed golden apples, all of which I shared in my book, Tastes Like Home, My Caribbean Cookbook (Randle 2011). I believe that coming from an amazing place like Guyana where there is so much to enjoy and experience, and then being in a place where there’s not that much variety (of certain things), that you look for other ways to delight in a taste of home.
Last week I bought a bag of golden apples specifically to make stewed golden apples. It’s a fruit that holds up to long cooking and pairs well with spices. In the past when I have made it, I never added any food colouring. I let the sugar do its thing and marvel at how the juices caramelise and turn to rich hues of brown to brick red when cooked with brown sugar. When stewed with white sugar it’s richly golden like an evening sunset. Thinking of Trinidad and Tobago’s Red Mango, I decided that I wanted to stew my golden apples with red food colouring. And to get the full effect of the colouring, I opted for white sugar. The finished dish was beautiful. Gorgeous golden apple. An adjustment I made was to not put a lot of sugar in the stew, mostly because a couple of my taste testers are watching their sugar intake. In my book I do recommend sugar to taste. So if you’re looking for something seasonal, fruity and not too sweet, you will definitely enjoy stewed golden apples.
This is the type of treat that you can serve as a fruit dessert on its own or with ice cream. Either way, it’s a winner. It is a good make-ahead treat that’s lovely when served cold from the refrigerator.
Here’s how to make it. Use amounts based on what you have available and to suit your taste. I used what I had.
INGREDIENTS
8 firm ripe golden apples
4 tablespoons white sugar (or to taste)
2 cinnamon sticks
1 ¼ cups tap water
Red food colouring
DIRECTIONS
Peel and rinse the golden apples and add them to a pot along with the rest of ingredients (except the food colouring) and place the pot over medium heat. Stir to mix until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a rolling boil, then cover pot and reduce heat to low and let cook for 45 – 50 minutes, or until the golden apples are cooked through (knife inserts easily) and the liquid is significantly reduced and syrupy.
Add the food colouring 20 minutes before the stew is done.
Let cool completely then serve or refrigerate in an airtight container until ready to use.
NOTE
The food colouring can be added at the same time with everything at the start of cooking. I wanted the dish to have a particular look when finished hence adding the food colouring later.
Enjoy!
Cynthia
