Brandied Tropical Fruit Compote

October 20: National Brandied Fruit Day

Islander’s family would often buy dried tropical fruits from the vendors at the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet and Marketplace. They would sprinkle li hing powder on the fruits to make a popular local snack.

Instead of li hing dried fruit, we tried a different recipe on the mainland—a brandied compote. Compote means “mixture” in French and refers to a dessert made of fruit in syrup.

While compote can be eaten on its own, we use it as a relish/condiment. Brandied tropical fruit compote lends a sweet texture to plain vanilla ice cream or yogurt and is an alternative spread on toasted Hawaiian sweet bread/Portuguese pão doce.

Bring brandy and the tropics together by cooking a compote on National Brandied Fruit Day.

 Recipe

(Adapted from Southern Living magazine – November 1999 via MyRecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 3 ½ cups dried fruit mix (we used a tropical mix of mango, pineapple and papaya)
• 1 ½ cups water
• ¾ cup sugar (we reduced this amount to ¼ cup because the fruits were already naturally sweet)
• ½ cup brandy (we used Cognac)
• shredded coconut for optional garnish

Directions

Chop the dried fruit into smaller chunks. Place in a saucepan and pour water over the dried fruit. Stir in the sugar. Add the brandy. Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and chill in bowl to allow the syrup to thicken. Serve in ramekins. Garnish with shredded coconut.

Notes

• See our blog recipe post for li hing (dried) apricots on National Apricot Day on January 9.
• See our upcoming blog recipe post for pão doce on National Homemade Bread Day on November 17.