camp meals

Chocolate Fondue with Fruit

A pot of melted chocolate and whatever fruit survived the drive in. Dessert for a group.

calories
420
weight
3.5 oz
cal / oz
120
protein
5 g
serves
4, scales
prep
8 min
cook
8 min
total time
16 min
water
none
cost
$$

Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.

  • Dessert
  • Canister stove
  • Liquid fuel
  • Car camping
  • Basecamp
  • Canoe / raft
  • Vegetarian
  • Gluten free
  • Nut free
  • One pot
  • Grab and go
  • Needs a cooler
  • Basic

Ingredients

Milk chocolate 200 g a bar, not chips; chips resist melting
Cooking cream 100 ml shelf-stable UHT cream travels without a cooler
Grapes 1 cup pull them off the stems at home
Mandarins 2 peel at camp, they hold better whole
Apple 1 firm varieties brown slower
Kiwi 1 peel and cut into thick rounds
Skewers or forks 1 per person

Method

  1. Break the chocolate into small pieces and put it in the pot with the cream. Do not add water.
  2. Set the pot over the lowest flame the stove will hold. Stir constantly.
  3. While it melts, peel the mandarins into segments and cut the apple and kiwi into chunks big enough to stay on a skewer.
  4. Pull the pot off the heat as soon as the last lumps go. Overheated chocolate turns grainy and will not come back.
  5. Set the pot in the middle. Everyone spears their own fruit and dips.

Chocolate seizes when it gets hot fast or when water gets into it, which is what makes this a lowest-flame recipe rather than a boil-something recipe. The cream is doing two jobs: it buffers the heat and it keeps the sauce loose enough to coat fruit after it comes off the stove. Without it you get a stiff block in the bottom of the pot.

This one needs a cooler, so it is a car-camping or basecamp dessert. Shelf-stable UHT cream in a small carton is the one substitution worth making, since it removes the part of the recipe most likely to spoil. Cut the fruit while the chocolate melts so nothing sits around browning, and wipe the pot before the chocolate sets hard.

Packing

Chocolate and the cream carton ride together in a bag; the fruit goes on top of the cooler, not under anything heavy. Skewers in the side pocket.

Variations

  • Strawberries in season are the best thing you can dip in this.
  • Dark chocolate and a pinch of salt if the milk chocolate is too sweet for the adults.
  • No cream on hand: 3 tbsp of powdered whole milk mixed with 100 ml of hot water works, though it sets firmer.

https://www.friluftsmat.no/post/sjokoladefondue-med-frukt-frisk-og-s%C3%B8t-turmat-dessert