Fruit Paste | Apple and Honey - Whole Natural Kitchen

Name: Fruit Paste | Apple and Honey
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 90 min
Total time: 585 min
Ingredients: 1.3 kg Fuji apples, or other sweet apples in season; 1 cup honey ((roughly 300g)); 2 Tbsp lemon juice ((30ml))

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Many a fruit paste has been placed on the table to complement a cheese board. They’re a perfect pair. More often than not, this will be a quince paste. After finding myself with a couple of kilos of apples to use up recently though, I decided on trying out an apple paste. It yielded absolutely delicious results!

What Is Fruit Paste?

Fruit pastes are spreadable or firm, quite opaque in colour, and made with minimal ingredients. They generally contain an abundance of fruit, an added sweetener, and occasionally other ingredients such as lemon juice.

They can be eaten as soon as they’re made and had time to chill overnight. However, they’re also an excellent way to preserve your fruit if you have lots to use up.

Apple and Honey Paste Ingredients

This recipe contains three simple ingredients. Apples, honey, and lemon juice. It’s not complex to make though will require a bit of time so you may want to save this for a weekend project.

The apples I used were fresh from the orchard at Bilpin. I had the opportunity to stop off at this famous apple growing area here in NSW after a recent road trip. They had mountains of Fuji apples at the time of my visit, so that’s what I’ve used here. That being said, I’m certain any variety of sweet apple would work equally well. Just use what’s in season and available to you in your area.

Sweet apples – I used Fuji here because of their availability right now, but any sweet variety would be fine.
Honey – This is my preference as a sweetener in this recipe because it adds an extra dimension of flavour. If a granulated sweetener is all you have on hand this is also fine. Just replace it 1:1 with the honey.
Lemon Juice – Adds some acidity, which helps to balance out the sweetness of the apples and honey.

Nothing else needed! These delicious three ingredients will create a lovely, sweet paste that can adorn your dessert platters for months to come.

How to make this apple and honey paste

I’ve given the time it took me to thicken the apple purée but it’s important this is used as a guide only. There are so many variables when cooking something on the stove. The size of the pan, the level of heat used etc. You may find your paste is thick enough in 40 minutes, or it may take closer to 2 hours. Just work with what you have in front of you and don’t rush it.

Peel and core the apples then chop into small pieces.
Place in a large saucepan with a little water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 – 20 minutes or until the apples have softened.
Remove from the heat and strain the apples through a colander. Push down on the apples with the back of a spoon to force any excess water out.
Place apples into a blender and blend on high until a smooth purée forms.
Tip the purée back into the saucepan, then add in the honey and lemon juice. Place back on the stove over a low heat and simmer until the mixture is thick enough to stand a wooden spoon up in it. This was 1 hour and 15 minutes for me. It may be more or less for you.
Pour the thickened paste into a container that’s been lined with baking paper and smooth out. Allow to cool slightly then put on a lid and place in the fridge to firm up overnight.
Remove the apple and honey paste from the fridge and chop it into any shapes you like. You can leave the paste in this container though I like to add another piece of baking paper on top before putting the lid back on to ensure it doesn’t dry out.

I’ve kept these pastes in the fridge for as long as 12 months, but in most cases they get eaten well before that!

FAQ

Why didn’t my fruit paste firm up?

It’s likely you haven’t reduced the fruit paste enough when cooking. If it doesn’t set, you can either pour it back in the pot the next day to reduce it some more or use it as a spread. Remember – a wooden spoon should stand up in it when it’s done.

How do I use apple fruit paste?

Hands down a cheese platter is the best place for these. You can just cut off a slice and eat it that way or have some on toast too though. It’s delicious any way.

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