Apple and Orange Compote

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   How do you make apple and orange compote? Start by gathering your ingredients. The number of apples and oranges can vary with their size — use more if the fruit is small, fewer if it's large — and adjust to your own taste. Choose fragrant, flavorful apple varieties; they make the best-tasting compote. You can also dial the sugar up or down.

2. Step 2:

   

   Take a pot suited to making compote — enameled or stainless steel is best. Avoid aluminum, since the citrus juice can react with the metal. Pour in cold, clean water and set it over high heat. While the water comes to a boil, prep the fruit: scrub it very well under running water with baking soda and a stiff sponge to remove the wax coating that's often applied to keep fruit from spoiling.

3. Step 3:

   

   Cut the apples into quarters and remove the cores and stems, then slice the quarters into wedges. Peel the zest from the oranges — just the colored top layer — without taking the bitter white pith underneath. A vegetable peeler makes this easy.

4. Step 4:

   

   Juice the oranges. Use a juicer or whatever you have on hand. If the fruit has seeds, set a small strainer over the glass to keep them out of the juice.

5. Step 5:

   

   Add the apple slices, orange zest, and sugar to the pot of boiling water. Stir, then let the compote simmer gently over low heat for 10 minutes with the lid on.

6. Step 6:

   

   After that, pour the orange juice into the compote, stir, and turn off the heat. Leave it to cool with the lid on.

7. Step 7:

   

   Pour the finished compote into a glass container and refrigerate. Serve chilled. Enjoy!