Liberian Fruit Fool Recipe

Origin: Liberia      Period: Traidtional

Fools are a classic British invention, either made by mixing fruit purées with whipped cream or by combining a fruit purée with a custard base. The British brought this dessert to West Africa and it's one of the recipes that seems to have stuck (particularly in East Africa). In West Africa fools are very popular in Liberia. Now, there are many recipes for Liberian fools on the internet (this site has several) but they all tend to be slightly 'chefy' versions where the custard is made by hand.

This is the first time that a real Liberian fruit fool recipe, made exactly how any housewife would normally make it, has been published. Indeed, in reality, custard powders are typically used as a base. And because milk is expensive and many West Africans are lactose intolerant the instant custard powder is generally re-constituted with boiling water rather than milk (or coconut milk). Liberians also love ginger and the country grows cassia and powdered cassia bark is sold there as cinnamon (just as it is in America) so this dish includes that as well, just as the real 'home made' version would!

Ingredients:

1 mango, peeled and with the flesh sliced
2 peaches, pitted and sliced
2 tsp grated ginger
3 tsp ground cinnamon (or ground cassia)
2 tbsp honey (or sugar)
80ml water

For the Custard:
2 tbsp instant custard powder
2 tbsp granulated sugar
600ml boiling water

Liberian Fruit Fool Preparation:

Method:

Add the fruit, ginger, cinnamon and water to a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for 25 minutes, or until the fruit is very soft then take off the heat and either mash by hand or purée with a food processor until smooth. Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile bring 600ml of water to a boil. In a bowl mix the custard powder and the sugar then add a few tablespoons of cold water to the mix and whisk until you form a smooth paste. Then stir-in the boiling water. Tip the mixture into a saucepan and heat gently until just thickened (you're not looking for a very thick mixture here). Tip in the fruit purée and stir to combine.

Set aside to cool an when cold enough to handle spoon into glasses and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours before sprinkling a little cinnamon on top and serving (in actuality this would just be chilled in a wide shallow bowl and everyone would be given a spoon to tuck in).

Read: Recipe Articles and Reviews

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