I feel so much love and nostalgia for this recipe, it reminds me of my childhood which makes my soul happy. I hope it does yours too! Stewed fruits are healthier than you may think due to their soluble ‘gel like’ fibre which is great for gut and bowel health. They encourage growth of healthy bacteria whilst the prunes (as you probably can guess) enables regular bowel movements. Being gentle and soothing on the whole gut, stewed fruit is great to eat if someone has had a gastro infection, reflux, heartburn or esophagitis.

You will wish you could capture the aroma in a scented candle because whilst it’s cooking on the stove, it smells heavenly!

The sweet and warming cinnamon is also a super beauty enhancer, it keeps blood sugar steady preventing insulin spikes that lead to blemishes and wrinkles.

For a little treat for the last night, you could always serve with a scoop or two of frozen yogurt or a vegan ice cream. It will be our little secret!

Tess’s Recipe Tips

You can double up the recipe (or keep some of the compote aside), as we will be using it chilled for the chia pudding recipe tomorrow. According to the seasons, you can play around with the stone fruits and replace with apricots, peaches or nectarines – or you can use raspberries and blueberries.

I have a recipe below for an epic coconut custard as a suggested accompaniment.

Ingredients (serves 4)

5 plums – stones removed, cut into ¼

2 eating apples – peeled, cored cut into chunks

Punnet blackberries

Handful pitted prunes

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (or a cinnamon stick)

1 star anise (optional)

Zest and juice of 1 small orange

1 tablespoon coconut sugar (or maple syrup, agave to taste)

Method

1. Place the all the fruit in a pan along the sugar, spices, orange zest and juice. Add 2 tablespoons of water and cook on a medium heat with the lid on for 10 minutes.

2. Remove the lid and cook for a further 15 minutes until the fruit has softened and the the liquid is reduced. Leave to cool for a while and then serve warm.

Optional coconut vanilla custard

 400ml tin coconut milk

1 tablespoon coconut sugar or agave syrup

1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract  (or 1 one vanilla pod with seeds scraped out)

2 tablespoons corn flour

Method

Combine the corn flour and little coconut milk in a small bowl. Put the coconut milk, sugar, vanilla extract and prepared corn flour in a saucepan. Turn on the heat to the medium-low flame and keep stirring continuously until sauce thickens and reaches thick, creamy rich sauce. It takes around 8 minutes. Serve warm with the fruit compote.

Bon Provecho!

Love Tess x