Did you go to the farmers’ market and come back with more fresh fruit than your family can possibly eat in a week? Fresh fruit is one of the best parts of a Midwest summer, but it can be hard to keep up once the market is bursting with fruits that we typically only see for a short time every year.
My solution? Doing the least to the beautiful, seasonal flavors of the fruits! The best desserts of the summer often come about as a result of letting the summer fruit take center stage. When fruit is picked in season as opposed to transported around the country (or the world!), the sugars develop naturally, giving it stronger flavors and better textures.
Why Summer Fruits Don’t Need Sugar
This technique works best with fruit that’s picked very intentionally. Always talk to your farmer to ask what’s in peak season at the moment. Ask if the fruit is ripe right now or if it needs a few days on the counter to reach its full potential. When I’m picking fruit, I like to follow my nose—the fruit that smells the most fragrant is often the ripest!
How to Make Simple Desserts Using Fresh Fruit
Here are my favorite ways to keep things simple and showcase the fruits as opposed to transforming it into a complicated dessert. The most important thing to remember is not to overpower the natural flavors of the fruit with sugar. Ripe fruit already has high levels of natural sugar, so be sure to taste the fruit before you do anything to it to see how much sugar you really need to add. It’s always easier to add more sugar than to take it away, and with fresh, in-season fruits, I often don’t add any sugar at all. As with all recipes, taste first, then adjust!
Techniques for Summer Fruit
1. Macerated Summer Fruit
This technique is simple and straightforward: just core, pit, and cut up the fruit that you’re using, whether cherries, berries, or stone fruit, and toss it with a few teaspoons of sugar, maple syrup, or honey. The sugars will draw out the fruits natural juices and create a delicious, syrupy texture to spoon over your summer breakfasts or desserts.
2. Grilled Summer Fruit
I love tossing summer fruits on the grill. I find that this technique works best for stone fruits (can you imagine the perils of cherries on grill grates?). Just cut the stone fruits in half and remove the pits. Brush them with a thin layer of melted butter, then grill them briefly with the cut side on the grate. Don’t leave them for too long—you’re really only looking to briefly cook them and don’t want them to get too soft. This brings out a deeper flavor in the fruit, especially when the sugars caramelize.
Though I hate turning on the oven in the summer, I make an exception to roast fresh summer fruits. Simply core, pit, and cut the fruit, then toss it with a small bit of sugar, vanilla bean, or herbs and then roast it until the juices are thicker and syrupy. Depending on how much liquid is released by the fruit, I sometimes even call this lazy jam.
Making Summer Fruit Into Simple Desserts
Once you’ve cooked or prepared your summer fruit, there’s a million ways to enjoy it without overcomplicating things. I love fresh summer fruit on yogurt in the morning or served with whipped cream or mascarpone cheese after dinner. Layering it in a glass with some crushed shortbread cookies turns it into a fancy-looking dessert that requires no effort at all. Top it with a pinch of flaky sea salt or a fresh sprig of mint, and you’ve officially reached peak summer.
The Chopping Block will show you how to grill fruit in Garden to Table: Seasonal Spotlight on Thursday, July 16 at 6pm and The Tuscan Grill: From Fire to Feast on Friday, August 14 at 6pm. And you can learn how to make these summer fruits last even longer with canning techniques in Summer Canning and Pickling on Saturday, July 25 at 10am.
