Mixed Fruits for Fruit Cake

Soaked Mixed Fruit

Soaked mixed dried fruits is a very important part of making a very delicious fruit cake. The dried fruits are soaked months a head of time. The soaked mixed fruits can be used for fruit cake, Jamaican fruit cake, black cake, wedding cake or Christmas cake.

Directions

Wash the dried fruits. Cut the larger fruit to match the smaller ones
For the alcoholic version, fill up a glass container with the mixed fruits. Pour the wine and rum to cover the fruits. Seal and store in cool place for up to a year. Check the fruits monthly and add more wine if it looks dry.
For the non-alcoholic version, soak the fruits in cranberry juice and store in the fridge for up to a week. The cranberry mimics the taste and flavor of the wine.

Ingredients

1 cup Black Currants

1 cup Cherries

1 cup Raisins

1 cup Golden Raisins

1 cup Dates

1 cup Prunes

Red wine

Rum

Cranberry juice

Stewed Mixed Fruit

Stewing of mixed fruits for fruit cake is a very quick way to prepare mixed fruit for Christmas, Black, Caribbean, Jamaican fruit cake. Sometimes, people tend to forget to soak their mixed fruits on time and when they remember, it is too late. Cooking the dried fruits helps to hydrate and plum the fruit in a very short time.

Directions

Wash the dried fruits. Cut the larger fruits to match the smaller ones.
Add some water in a pan, add cinnamon stick, cloves,zest of a lime (or orange peel), ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, vanilla extract and bring to a boil.
Add the mixed fruits and ensure that the water is at the same level as the fruits. Cover to cook on medium heat until to comes to a boil. When it comes to a boil, lower the heat and cook for 30 minutes. Do not open or stir it.
After 30 minutes, the water would have reduced considerably. Stir more frequently and cook for 20 more minutes or until most of the water evaporates.
Remove from heat, remove cinnamon stick. Add wine, rum or brandy.
Pour mixture into a glass bottle, cover with wine or rum. Once it cools down, seal and store in a cool place or use immediately.

Ingredients

2 cups dried raisins

2 cups currants

1 1/2 cups dried cherries

1 cup prunes

1 cup dates

1/2 cup cranberries

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 cinnamon stick

1 tsp grated nutmeg

1 - 2 tsp ground cloves

2 tbsp Vanilla extract

Zest of one lime

1 cup rum

1 - 2 cups brandy/red wine

Sorrel Concentrate & Puree

In this video, I will be showing you how to make sorrel syrup and sorrel puree.

for sorrel cake. Sorrel puree can be used to make fruit cake or jam. The syrup can also be used as a glaze or diluted to make sorrel drink.

Directions

Pour 4 cups of water to pan, add cinnamon sticks, cloves and lemon peel, cover and bring it to a boil. The lemon peel is rich in pectin which is used as a thickener.
Wash the dried hibiscus flowers to get rid of sand.
Add the petals to the to the pan and cook on a very low heat for 5 - 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, turn off the heat and let it steep and cool down.
Once it cools down, carefully remove petals from the pan. This minimizes the chances of getting any sand. Decant the extract. Blend the petals with a little of the sorrel extract. Enough to help with the blending process
Pour the extract (2 cup) into a clean pan, add a cup of sugar and stir to dissolve. Cook on medium heat for 30 - 40 minutes, stirring frequently. After 40 minutes, remove from heat and allow to cool down. It thickens and it cool down.

Ingredients

4 oz Hibiscus flowers

4 cups water

1 tsp cloves

2 cinnamon sticks

Lemon peel

1 cup sugar