Tamarillos, also known as the tree tomato, are plentiful on the Sunshine Coast at the present. One of my lovely neighbours who has a tamarillo tree which is abundant with fruit kindly gave me a large bag full, which led me to creating this recipe. Poaching tamarillos  in a sweet syrup is one of the nicest ways to enjoy this often overlooked fruit.

Ingredients (serves 4):

500g tamarillos
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup water
2 tablespoons honey
1 vanilla pod, split in half and seeds scraped
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick

1.    Cut a cross at the pointed end of each tamarillo and immerse them in boiling water for 2 minutes. Refresh in cold water then peel away the skins which should slip away easily. Slice the peeled tamarillos into 1 cm rounds
2.    Place in a medium saucepan the sugar, water, honey, vanilla seeds and pod, star anise and cinnamon stick. Stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.
3.    Increase the heat and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  Add the sliced tamarillos and poach for 5 minutes.  Let the fruit cool in the syrup.
4.    Serve the tamarillos with vanilla ice cream, yoghurt, crème anglais or alongside panna cotta.