'Nature's Candy' cookbook will help you rethink fruitcake : NPR

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But a Canadian pastry chef and master food preserver would like us to reconsider our assumptions.</b> </div> <div id="wrapper"> <header class="contentheader contentheader--one"></header> <section id="main-section"><article class="story"><a id="mainContent"></a><div class="slug-wrap"> <h3 class="slug"> <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/food/">Food</a> </h3> </div> <div class="storytitle"> <h1 class="transcript"><a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/12/23/nx-s1-5157794/fruitcake-natures-candy-cookbook"><span class="ltarrow">< </span>Forget what you think you know about fruitcake</a></h1> <input type="hidden" id="titlenx-s1-5157794" value="Forget what you think you know about fruitcake" /> <input type="hidden" id="shortTitlenx-s1-5157794" value="Forget what you think you know about fruitcake" /> <input type="hidden" id="modelFullUrlnx-s1-5157794" value="https://www.npr.org/2024/12/23/nx-s1-5157794/fruitcake-natures-candy-cookbook" /> </div>  <div id="story-meta" class="story-meta"> <div class="story-meta__one"> <div class="dateblock"> <time datetime="2024-12-23T12:00:00-05:00"> <span class="date">December 23, 2024</span><span class="time">12:00 PM ET</span> </time> </div> </div>  </div>  <div id="primaryaudio" class="storylocation linkLocation"> <article id="resnx-s1-5300000-1" class="bucketwrap resaudio" aria-label="audio-module"><div class="audio-module"> <h4 class="audio-module-title">Forget what you think you know about fruitcake</h4> <div class="audio-module-controls-wrap" data-audio='{"uid":"nx-s1-5157794:nx-s1-5300000-1","available":true,"duration":223,"title":"Forget what you think you know about fruitcake","audioUrl":"https:\/\/ondemand.npr.org\/anon.npr-mp3\/npr\/atc\/2024\/12\/20241223_atc_nature_s_candy_by_camilla_wynne.mp3?size=3574431&d=223370&e=nx-s1-5157794&sc=siteplayer","storyUrl":"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2024\/12\/23\/nx-s1-5157794\/fruitcake-natures-candy-cookbook","slug":"Food","program":"All Things 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class="icn-story-transcript"></b> </b> <p><p>ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: <p><p> Here's a question for the holidays - is there any dessert as widely hated as fruitcake? Even pop star Sabrina Carpenter made fun of it in her new Christmas album, called "Fruitcake."<p><p>(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IS IT NEW YEARS YET?")<p><p>SABRINA CARPENTER: (Singing) Fruitcake just makes me sick.<p><p>SHAPIRO: If one opinion unites most Americans these days, it might be that fruitcake is gross. Well, a Canadian is here to try to change your mind. NPR's Neda Ulaby spoke to her.<p><p>NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: Camilla Wynne gets it. She knows why fruitcake is so fractious.<p><p>CAMILLA WYNNE: (Laughter) I think it's because there's a lot of terrible candied fruit out there.<p><p>ULABY: Yuck. Those sticky, gunky globs of...<p><p>WYNNE: Unspecified little colored bits, bright red or bright green glace cherries - they aren't representative of candied fruit generally.<p><p>ULABY: Really good candied fruit is the difference between excellent and awful fruitcake, says Camilla Wynne, who is not just a candied fruit ambassador.<p><p>(SOUNDBITE OF SUNSET RUBDOWN SONG, "CANDLES")<p><p>ULABY: She plays in a rock band. She's a pastry chef trained in Montreal. And she's a master fruit preserver, who's written an acclaimed cookbook about jam. Right now, I'm listening to the latest album by her band, Sunset Rubdown, and leafing through her new cookbook, "Nature's Candy." But here's the thing. To make the recipes, Wynne wants me to candy my own fruit. I told her, I'm sorry, but that's really way too much to ask.<p><p>WYNNE: Oh, I hate that you're intimidated. That's, like, the last thing I want. People are. I understand that.<p><p>ULABY: It's time intensive. It seems very messy.<p><p>WYNNE: Very is definitely not true -slightly messy.<p><p>ULABY: I do not have a candy thermometer.<p><p>WYNNE: Oh, you don't need one.<p><p>ULABY: OK, Camilla Wynne is wearing me down, so I start doing what she says. I am peeling oranges, boiling the peels, then simmering them in equal parts sugar and water. Hopefully this works.<p><p>WYNNE: You just look at the bubbles. No problem. Think about, like, a concert or something. If they're kind of just grooving, that's good. You don't want them to be, like, moshing. You just want, like, a steady groove.<p><p>ULABY: Cue a steady groove from Camilla Wynne's band, Sunset Rubdown.<p><p>(SOUNDBITE OF SUNSET RUBDOWN SONG, "IDIOT HEART")<p><p>ULABY: I have to admit that candying fruit is not as hard as I feared. It's cool to use up orange peels I would normally throw away. It took a few days for the peels to dry, but they turned out so pretty. They glisten. They look far more luxurious than candied fruit even from gourmet grocery stores.<p><p>WYNNE: It's one of the most ancient methods of preservation. It's been around since, like, ancient China, ancient Rome.<p><p>ULABY: The fruitcake recipes in "Nature's Candy," Camilla Wynne's new cookbook, honestly sound delicious. They encourage you to candy kumquats, cactus pears and kiwis. But "Nature's Candy" also includes non-fruitcake treats, like caramel corn with candied ginger, and sugar cookies with candied jalapenos.<p><p>WYNNE: You get all this jalapeno syrup with it too, and it makes a really good base for a margarita, if you're into that kind of thing.<p><p>ULABY: Back in the lockdown days of the pandemic, many home cooks turned to baking bread. Candying your own fruit is similar, says Camilla Wynne. It scales up a sense of satisfaction and contemplation in the kitchen.<p><p>WYNNE: Unwind, destress, connect to beauty, kind of. The world's, like, a bit nuts.<p><p>ULABY: And what goes better with nuts than candied fruit?<p><p>Neda Ulaby, NPR News.<p><p>(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IS IT NEW YEARS YET?")<p><p>CARPENTER: (Singing) I'm sick and tired of this holiday. Not good at being present anyway. The songs are catchy, but they're overplayed.<p></p> <p class="disclaimer">Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179876898/terms-of-use">terms of use</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179881519/rights-and-permissions-information">permissions</a> pages at <a href="https://www.npr.org">www.npr.org</a> for further information.</p> <p class="disclaimer">NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. 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'Nature's Candy' cookbook will help you rethink fruitcake : NPR