Love apples and minced meats too (8)
I believe the answer is:
tomatoes
'love apples' is the definition.
('tomato' can be a synonym of 'love apple')
'minced meats too' is the wordplay.
'minced' indicates an anagram.
'meats'+'too'='meatstoo'
'meatstoo' anagrammed gives 'TOMATOES'.
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for tomatoes that I've seen before include "Pulpy fruit eaten as vegetables" , "Love apples" , "Glossy red fruits eaten as vegetable" , "food items" , "Ta to some, oddly, for the salad ingredients" .)