Mixed Dried Fruit

sarahb5, Nov 5, 10:07pm
Does anyone know which brand doesn't contain bits of coloured jelly!I want to make a cake that soaks the fruit but would rather pay a bit more and have actual cherries (or no cherries at all) than bits of jelly.I could pick them all out but that seems a bit wasteful.Or is it better to buy the raisins, sultanas, etc. separately and make my own mix!

davidt4, Nov 5, 10:29pm
When I made Christmas cakes I always used to make up my own fruit mix as we didn't want those fake cherry things, and wanted good quality candied citrus peel.A basic formula is:

2 parts sultanas or golden raisins
2 parts currants
2 parts whole cherries
1 part good quality sticky candied citrus peel, coarselychopped
1 part whole almonds, skin on
1 part dried figs, coarsely chopped
1 part glace ginger, coarsely chopped
1 part Otago dried apricots, chopped

Prunes are a good addition, so are dried pears.

nauru, Nov 5, 10:32pm
I mix my own these days, my preference as I can choose what I want to put in it. Usually a mixture of raisins, sultanas, currants, apricots, dates, dried cranberries, crystalized ginger red & green cherries and mixed peel. I always have these on hand for use throughout the year so don't have to make any special purchases for Christmas baking. If you have a Binn Inn by you, they do a variety of cherries, red, dark red and green and they are reasonably priced too. as