All you need to know about Fruit Compotes

Fruit Compotes, new look, same recipe!

What is a compote?

A compote is simply preserved or cooked fruit. Your mum probably called it stewed fruit, so compote is just a new name for an old favourite. Compote is French for ‘mixture’ and back in medieval Europe, it was a dessert of whole fruits cooked in water with sugar and spices.

How is compote made?

Compote can be made with fresh or dried fruit (whole or cut into pieces), slowly cooked in a sugar syrup (sometimes containing spices). Slow cooking is important for the fruit to maintain its structure and shape. Compote usually has a chunky texture.

How does it stay shelf-stable without preservatives?

Barker’s has opted to use pasteurisation, a process of heating food to kill microbes. The compote ingredients are pasteurised during the cooking process, then hot-filled into the jar packaging, and held for a specified time to ensure the packaging material also reaches pasteurisation temperatures.

How does compote differ to a jam?

Jam is a thick mixture of fruit and sugar (and sometimes pectin), boiled quickly but gently until the fruit is soft. Jam should be thick enough to spread easily and form a blob. In addition to being used as a spread, jams are also good for fillings.

To be legally called a jam in New Zealand and Australia, it must contain 65% sugar. At Barker’s, we call our ‘jam’ with less sugar a fruit preserve. It’s really jam but with a different name as it contains more fruit and less sugar than a traditional jam recipe.

How do you use compote?

We have four delicious fruit compotes: Boysenberry & Blackberry with Chia, Peach, Mango & Passionfruit, Black Cherry & Vanilla with Apple, and Rhubarb, Strawberry & Raspberry which can be served warm or cold.

Here are some tasty serving suggestions:

• Pour over or swirl through ice-cream or frozen yoghurt
• A filling for fruit pies, muffins, and cakes
• Use as a topping for pavlova and cheesecakes
• Dollop on your morning porridge, cereal, or bircher muesli
• Drizzle over a slice of warm cake, with a spoonful of Greek yoghurt
• Layer with smashed meringues and whipped cream in a parfait glass
• Pile on a stack of pancakes or use as a delicious filling for crepes
• Serve alongside meats or poultry
• Use as a glaze for ribs
• As a condiment on a cheese platter

Check out just a sample of our recipes online: