Fruit and nuts taken back by child (6)
I believe the answer is:
damson
'fruit' is the definition.
(damson is a kind of fruit)
'nuts taken back by child' is the wordplay.
'nuts' becomes 'mad' (informal term).
'taken back' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'child' becomes 'son' (male child).
'mad' backwards is 'dam'.
'dam'+'son'='DAMSON'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for damson that I've seen before include "Small fruit for nomads" , "jam producer" , "sort of fruit" , "Wild plum" , "Sort of plum" .)