Summer in California means fruit crisp season. It looks like heaping bags of vibrant apricots, nectarines, and plums crowding the kitchen countertops. It requires tubs of crumbly, nutty crisp topping ready to go in the freezer for whenever someone craves dessert.
One of the greatest privileges of my California childhood was the access to an abundance of sweet fresh fruit. Farmers market berries became a Saturday staple and we purchased oranges in 10-pound bags. My father always kept a big fruit bowl in the kitchen, which was lovingly refilled before dinner.
Naturally, fruit is the epicenter of one of our most beloved family recipes. On summer nights, we fill my great-grandmother’s enormous pie pan with chopped peaches, apples, apricots—whatever is in season—and cloak it in a cookie-like mixture of butter, nuts, and oats. The finished product is a behemoth of steaming fruit with buttery topping. It’s done when the fruit juices ooze around the edges and become sticky and caramelizedon the pan.
In high school, eating was sometimes difficult for me. I went through waves of tracking calories obsessively. As I learned through logging my eating on MyFitnessPal, desserts were often disproportionately caloric, and I would go through periods of purging all sweets from my diet.
Unlike a packaged cookie or scoop of ice cream, a hefty portion of homemade fruit crisp was nearly impossible to log in the calorie counting app.
Despite my worry about the health harms of sugary foods, I would sit at the table with my family as they loaded up bowls with heaping portions of the fruit crisp and allow myself to indulge, recalling nutrition lessons on the relative goodness of natural sugar. On nights when the conversation flowed freely, which was most nights in my family, we’d go back for seconds and pick at the fruit for hours.
My love for the fruit crisp outweighed my fear of sugar, and ultimately, it was mostly just fruit, right?
How Natural Sugar and Refined Sugar Compare
Sugar has gotten a bad rap in the world of nutrition science. Fruit, with its naturally occurring sweetness, sometimes goes down with it.
Refined table sugar, which is often used in candy and a whole host of sweets, is called sucrose. Fructose, or fruit sugar, is naturally present in fruits and vegetables.
But not all fructose is created equal. Drinking a can of soda sweetened with high fructose corn syrup introduces far more sugar than a similar quantity of fruit.Besides, fruit is less sugar-dense: A bite of apple contains less sugar than a bite of taffy. Certain fibers found in whole fruit also mitigate how the sugar is absorbed in the intestines, keeping the blood sugar from spiking dramatically.
Fruit is not only a relatively healthier source of sugar—it typically contains nutrients that are key to overall health. For instance, peaches are heavy in antioxidants like vitamin C. Apples are a good source of potassium and beta carotene. The anthocyanin that gives blackberries their color likely slow or prevent several aging-related diseases.
Juices can also be a healthy way to intake these vitamins and minerals. In theMyPlate recommendationsfor healthy eating, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says women should consume 1.5-2 cups of fruit per day, and men should consume 2-2.5 cups. Half of that could be from 100% fruit juice.
100% Orange Juice May Help Fight Inflammation and Oxidative Stress
Some beverages marketed as “fruit drinks” may contain low amounts of fruit juice and lots of added sugars, which don’t have the same nutritional properties. These added sugars often come in the form of high fructose corn syrup, which is a highly concentrated and caloric form of the sugar that has been linked to health outcomes like obesity and diabetes.
But while 100% fruit juice contains many of the same nutrients as the fruit it comes from, it lacks fiber found in the flesh.
This dietary fiber is an important prebiotic which, along with probiotics, are key to a healthy gut microbiome. Adequate intake of fruit has also been linked to health benefits like minimizing constipation and irritable bowel syndrome, reducing the risk of heart disease, aiding in successful aging, and even promoting long-term weight management.
Only about 12% of U.S. adults meet the fruit intake recommendations.Perhaps satisfying a sweet tooth with a dessert made mostly of fruit isn’t so bad after all.
Dessert Nourishes Body and Soul
These days, making crisp in my small Brooklyn apartment reminds me of the joys of those summer nights with my family. When made with thawed frozen fruit or apples turning mealy, the dessert can bring a spot of summer to a frozen winter.
You may use just about whatever produce is in season. Frozen and canned fruit (especially those without added sugars) can work just as well. Loading up on oats and nuts in the topping adds even more dietary fiber. The leftovers are wonderful with a hefty scoop of Greek yogurt for breakfast or snack rich in protein, fiber, and healthy fats.
The food writer Michael Pollan says thekey to healthy eatingis to “eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” This recipe can satisfy all three goals. Sometimes, on leisurely nights enjoying a home meal with loved ones, the “not too much” rule gets tossed out the window. And that’s just how it should be.
Recipe: Fruit Crisp for All Seasons
Claire Bugos
Time:1 HourYield:8 Servings
IngredientsFilling3 to 4 cups of fruit (peaches, Granny Smith apples, apricots, and berries)Half a lemon1 tbsp of tapioca starch or cornstarchTopping2/3 cup of nuts (such as almonds, walnuts, pecans, and hazelnuts)3/4 cup of dark brown sugar3/4 cup (112g) of all-purpose flour1 tsp groundcinnamon1/2 tsp salt1 cup of rolled oats1 stick of cold, unsalted butter
Ingredients
Filling3 to 4 cups of fruit (peaches, Granny Smith apples, apricots, and berries)Half a lemon1 tbsp of tapioca starch or cornstarchTopping2/3 cup of nuts (such as almonds, walnuts, pecans, and hazelnuts)3/4 cup of dark brown sugar3/4 cup (112g) of all-purpose flour1 tsp groundcinnamon1/2 tsp salt1 cup of rolled oats1 stick of cold, unsalted butter
Filling
Topping
Directions
8 Sources
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Hannou SA, Haslam DE, McKeown NM, Herman MA.Fructose metabolism and metabolic disease.J Clin Invest. 2018;128(2):545-555. doi:10.1172/JCI96702
Ng SW, Slining MM, Popkin BM.Use of caloric and noncaloric sweeteners in US consumer packaged foods, 2005-2009.J Acad Nutr Diet. 2012;112(11):1828-34.e346. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2012.07.009
Dreher ML.Whole fruits and fruit fiber emerging health effects.Nutrients. 2018;10(12):1833. doi:10.3390/nu10121833
Khoo HE, Azlan A, Tang ST, Lim SM.Anthocyanidins and anthocyanins: colored pigments as food, pharmaceutical ingredients, and the potential health benefits.Food Nutr Res. 2017;61(1):1361779. doi:10.1080/16546628.2017.1361779
Malik VS, Hu FB.Fructose and cardiometabolic health.J Am Coll Cardiol. 2015;66(14):1615-1624. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2015.08.025
Dreher ML.Whole Fruits and Fruit Fiber Emerging Health Effects.Nutrients. 2018;10(12):1833. doi:10.3390/nu10121833
Lee-Kwan SH, Moore LV, Blanck HM, Harris DM, Galuska D.Disparities in state-specific adult fruit and vegetable consumption — United States, 2015.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep.2017;66(45):1241–1247. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6645a1
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