How much sugar should I put with the fruit in a pie or crumble?

Question

I just made a plum and apple crumble, which was delicious but I was worried it was going to be too sweet because when I was pouring the sugar in straight from the bag, it slipped and I ended up with about 50% more sugar than the recipe called for :-)

In fact, though, it was only just about sweet enough - if I'd put in the amount of sugar the recipe called for it would have been way too tart.

I seem to find this a lot, and I don't have a particularly sweet tooth - I actually like things tarter than many people seem to.

Does it depend on the fruit (if so, which fruits need more sugar?) and/or on whether the fruit was frozen or fresh?

Answer 1

All the fruit that's currently in-season is bursting with sugars already, which means I usually go a bit easier when adding sugar.

When it's mid-winter though, and you get the out-of-season/glasshouse variety fruit, adding a bit more sugar usually works well.

Answer 2

I've made really wonderful crisps/crumbles/pies with just reducing the natural sugar of the fruit. The last one I made was a end-of-summer stone fruit crisp (plums, peaches, nectarines of all different ripeness) that came out phenomenal without any added sugar. Really depends on the fruit, the ripeness and how you want your final product to be.