Making different compotes and how they frugally add joy to our diet.

We have a very tight food budget and so there is not a lot of spare money for sweet treats.  Compote has therefore become a treat that we make every week for very little cost. We use it for all 3 meals and, except for a bit of sugar or honey, it is totally free.  This is because we make it from foraged and fruit grown in the garden.

Each week I make a batch and store it in the fridge. It doesn’t become boring as I switch it up, use it in different ways, and change the taste.  We grow raspberries, goose berries, currants, strawberries and rhubarb, and forage blackberries, cherries, apples, bilberries and pears.  Unlike stewed fruit, we put the minimum amount of water into it to stop it burning, and so most of the juice comes from the fruit.  We basically put the fruit in the pan with a splash of water and sugar or honey to taste.

We will have it with porridge or yoghurt for breakfast, with custard, cream, ice cream, or yoghurt for lunch or tea, and will make a dessert with it for a main meal.  This might be putting some crumble on top, adding a scone on top, filling a cake, or turning it into a quick pie in the air fryer using a wrap.  Other times we might bake it into a pasty to take when travelling. If you follow the link in the last paragraph you will find lots of different ways that we incorporate the compote into a meal.

Although cooked fruit has less nutrition in it compared to fresh fruit, the compote does also add some nutrition to our meals.  Here are some examples of some of the compotes that we make through out the year.

1. Bramble and apple compote
2. Rhubarb and strawberry compote
3. Rhubarb and ginger compote
4. Apple and ginger compote
5. Apple compote
6. Apple and mincemeat compote
7. Apple and raspberry compote
8. Black currant and apple compote
9. Bilberry compote
10. Mixed berry compote
11. Cherry compote
12. Christmas compote (mixed berries with apple,  orange, cinnamon, ginger and other spices)
13. Apple and Fennel compote
14. Strawberry compote
15. Pear and apple compote
16. Summer fruit compote
17. Apple and Cinnamon compote
18. Pear and raspberry

Some times I even add things like over ripe bananas, a few peaches left from a can, or a bit of a pineapple that needs eating.  Any fruit can go into a compote, including adding some dried fruit (but you will need to add some extra water or soak them first).  By switching the taste they do not become boring. Compote can also be frozen once cooked, or water bathed in a jar to save (water bath 25 minutes from when it starts a rolling boil).  There are still plenty of fruit out there waiting to be foraged.  Why not go and pick some to freeze or process for almost free winter compote? Today we are having blackberry and apple compote in a pancake with a spoon of ice cream.  When the kids come to dinner it will be on cheese cake.  Those desserts would cost a fortune in a restaurant but are actually really frugal desserts.  My pancakes I will freeze or use for other desserts or even savoury meals later in the week.  What is your favourite compote?