Mostarda Recipe

A variety of ingredients for a cheese plate including mostarda, olives, pickes, hazelnuts and cheese, on a marble surface.

Course: Appetizer, cheese plate, condiment, Sauces

Cuisine: Italian, italian food

Keyword: Mostarda without a recipe

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Servings:

Calories: 100kcal

This easy mostarda recipe can be adapted to any combination of dried and fresh fruit that you have on hand. Serve on a cheese plate or alongside roasted meats. Note that you must macerate and reduce the fruit and juices over a three-day period. Prep and cook times are noted below, not including resting time.

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Equipment

Ingredients

1 lb fresh fruit peeled and cut into small pieces
⅓ cup sugar
2 cups dried fruit if larger, quartered or halved
2 tbsp dry mustard
4 tbsp cider vinegar or wine vinegar

Instructions

Peel and chop the fresh fruit and place in a large bowl. Top the fruit with the sugar and stir. Allow to macerate at room temperature.
Cut the dried fruit into quarters, if necessary. Place in a small sauce pan and just barely cover with water. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes, set aside to cool.
Pour the dried fruit and liquid over the fresh fruit and stir to combine. Allow to sit for a couple of hours. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 24 hours.
The next day, pour syrup off into a small saucepan. Over low heat, reduce to a thick syrup. Allow to cool, then pour back into the fruit mixture and stir, let sit for a couple of hours. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours. Repeat this same process, pouring the syrup, reducing it, back in the fridge, etc. on the third day.
On the fourth day in a larger sauce pan, reduce the syrup down again, then add all fruit and bring to a simmer.
For each four cups of fruit, mix two tablespoons of dry mustard with 4 tablespoons of cider vinegar. Whisk together and incorporate into the fruit mixture. For milder flavor, start with one tablespoon of dry mustard to two tablespoons of vinegar.
Simmer for about 10 minutes, then taste to see if it is to your liking. If you want more zip, add more dry mustard and vinegar. Just use the ration of twice as much vinegar to mustard. So you could start slowly with one teaspoon dry mustard and two teaspoons vinegar, etc., then simmer for a bit and taste again.
Store in the fridge. Keeps for at least a month.

Notes

Tips and Tools

Note that you must macerate and reduce the fruit and juices over a three-day period. Prep and cook times are noted, not including resting time.
Some fresh fruits are juicier than others, so keep this in mind when you are reducing the syrup. You'll get a lot more juice from grapes than nectarines, etc.
This recipe was adapted from Food 52.

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