Visions of sugarplums — and pears and more! How to crystalize fruit for a sweet and stunning effect

'Tis the season for going all out with your food presentation, and what better way to add a little magic than with crystalized fruit? One look at this photo from Camilla Wynne's cookbook, Nature's Candy, is all it takes to get inspired. But if you need ideas for what to do with these beauties, the preserving and pastry expert has used them to decorate everything from cakes to custards. And "they'd be gorgeous on a cheese or charcuterie board, or atop a sundae," she told us.

These techniques aren't about preserving fruit; they're all about making it look special. Try them out on plums, pears, grapes, and even tougher-skinned fruits you normally wouldn't eat. "Some fruits I just sugar the peel — like pomegranates — for display," Wynne said, "then wash them off before peeling and eating."

Crystallization

a.k.a. Sugared Things That Look Candied & Sparkle

By Camilla Wynne

While the result of this method isn't technically candied (unless we're talking delicate flowers and leaves), this easy but impressive method makes fruits sparkle like frosted jewels. Fruits prepared this way make for stunning cake decor or a beautiful dessert garnish. That said, this treatment in no way preserves fruits, so after they dry overnight, they should be used as soon as possible. The exception to this rule is delicate edible flowers and leaves, such as violets, roses, pansies, nasturtiums, mint and lemon balm, which are so thin that they will dry completely overnight and can be stored in an airtight container for at least a month. Use regular granulated sugar for a super-sparkly effect and superfine sugar for a subtler frosted look.

Egg White Method: You'll need a small food-safe paintbrush, a shallow bowl of sugar, a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet and a small bowl of egg white. To be honest, I usually use fresh egg white, but if you want to be very cautious, you can use pasteurized egg white from a carton.

Brush the egg white all over the part of the fruit you want to sparkle, then dip the fruit into the sugar to coat. Transfer to the prepared wire rack and let dry for at least a few hours and up to overnight.

Gum Arabic Method: Gum arabic is certainly less readily available than egg whites, but I do find it gives a better result. You'll also want to use this for vegans or anyone with an egg allergy. Just mix the powder with a little water (or use rosewater or orange flower water for extra flavour) to get an egg white consistency, then proceed as above.

Candied Flowers with Real Longevity: Crystallized candied flowers and leaves last a while, but if you really want their colour and shape to stay vibrant indefinitely, you'll need to do a little more work.

Crystallize the flowers using the egg white or gum arabic methods above and let dry for 24 hours.

After they're dry, place them in a shallow bowl or pan and cover with cold 2:1 sugar syrup (a syrup made with double the weight of sugar to water). Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let sit 12 hours, after which time the petals should be covered in hard sugar crystals (if they aren't, check again in a few more hours). Set a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet.

Carefully drain the flowers and let dry completely on the wire rack before storing in an airtight container indefinitely.

In artisanal production, this process is made easier by using a candissoire, a container with a fitted rack that lets you easily lower the flowers into the syrup in a single layer and then drain the syrup from the bottom. I've made a DIY version by setting the rack from my air fryer inside a baking pan. This makes it easier to protect the delicate petals, as you can simply lift them out of the syrup using the rack.

Excerpted from Nature's Candy by Camilla Wynne. Copyright © 2024 Camilla Wynne. Photographs by Mickaël A. Bandassak. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.