Chocolate Fondue with Fruit

Preparation

1. Peel the bananas, slice them and sprinkle with lemon juice. Wash and hull the strawberries, peel and segment the mandarins, and drain the pineapple chunks.
2. Arrange the fruit (and sponge fingers or marshmallows, if you like) on a platter.
3. Put the cream and chocolate pieces in a pan and melt over a low heat, stirring, without letting the mixture boil.
4. Stir in the orange juice or Cointreau and transfer the fondue to the fondue pot.
5. Dip the fruit into the warm chocolate with fondue forks.

Drink with it

• Fortified wine · excellent match

  Ruby port or Banyuls, lightly chilled

  Dark berry fruit and sweetness pick up the chocolate and strawberries without seeming thin next to the sweet cream chocolate.

  Port wine: understanding Ruby, Tawny, and Vintage ↗

• Fruit liqueur · excellent match

  Orange liqueur, over ice

  Orange peel links the chocolate, mandarins and the splash of orange in the fondue; the ice tempers the sweetness.

• Cream liqueur · excellent match

  Chocolate or cream liqueur, chilled

  The liqueur extends the cream and chocolate, while the fruit acidity of strawberry and pineapple pushes back against it.

• Sparkling wine · good match

  Brachetto d'Acqui, sweet and well chilled

  Its strawberry scent meets the fruit, and carbonation and coolness clear the palate between bites of chocolate.

  Sparkling wine, Champagne, and Prosecco: what's the difference? ↗