Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Euro conversion help please: Granité


gfron1

Recommended Posts

Recipe reads:

====

syrup 30°B, lemon juice

Mix syrup and lime juice to 18°B and prepare as granité

====

Okay, ignoring the lemon and lime switching, what does the B stand for and are they saying get the syrup to 30° and then lower it to 18°? Is B really C to us Americans?

BTW, this is from the Pastry in Europe book reviewed HERE.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Recipe reads:

====

syrup 30°B, lemon juice

Mix syrup and lime juice to 18°B and prepare as granité

====

Okay, ignoring the lemon and lime switching, what does the B stand for and are they saying get the syrup to 30° and then lower it to 18°?  Is B really C to us Americans?

BTW, this is from the Pastry in Europe book reviewed HERE.

B is Baume - a measure of density. Not around any books so I can't look up the Brix or Specific gravity equivents for you right now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The °B is the percentage of sugar in the syrup, a 50°B syrup would be equal parts sugar and water.

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

those degrees and percentages don't add up very well.

Ron, in the future I would pay more attention to percentages of sugar than degrees of baume or brix. I don't even have a refractometer or densometer, but all my frozen products and syrups seem to be right on every time because I pay attention constantly to my percentages.

Edited by chiantiglace (log)

Dean Anthony Anderson

"If all you have to eat is an egg, you had better know how to cook it properly" ~ Herve This

Pastry Chef: One If By Land Two If By Sea

Link to comment
Share on other sites

those degrees and percentages don't add up very well.

Ron, in the future I would pay more attention to percentages of sugar than degrees of baume or brix.  I don't even have a refractometer or densometer, but all my frozen products and syrups seem to be right on every time because I pay attention constantly to my percentages.

What do you mean the degrees and percentages don't add up?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not an expert on all things syrup but, at least for the purposes of sorbets, granitas and things of that nature, the degrees and percentages work out just fine when converting a formula or recipe. If a recipe calls for a syrup at 30° and you plug in a syrup at 30% there will be no problems.

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To convert between degrees BRIX and Baumé units:

Baumé = 0.55 x Brix

Brix = Baumé / 0.55

John DePaula
formerly of DePaula Confections
Hand-crafted artisanal chocolates & gourmet confections - …Because Pleasure Matters…
--------------------
When asked “What are the secrets of good cooking? Escoffier replied, “There are three: butter, butter and butter.”

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, I admit that I don't do a lot of ice creams, sorbets and granités so please help to educate me.

I would have assumed that the 'B' in gfron1's original recipe was Brix, not Baumé. (I also thought that Baumé was deprecated and now, modern recipes use Brix.)

I know* that for a sorbet, a good range for brix is ~28 - 31º Brix. And for a granité, around 18º Brix.

So for his original question, perhaps take a 30º Brix syrup, add some lemon (or lime) juice to taste, then add water until you reach 18º Brix, chill and spin.

Agree, disagree?

*since I had to look it up when I made Quince Sorbet this weekend (from quinces in my back yard :cool: , but I digress...)

John DePaula
formerly of DePaula Confections
Hand-crafted artisanal chocolates & gourmet confections - …Because Pleasure Matters…
--------------------
When asked “What are the secrets of good cooking? Escoffier replied, “There are three: butter, butter and butter.”

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, I admit that I don't do a lot of ice creams, sorbets and granités so please help to educate me.

I would have assumed that the 'B' in gfron1's original recipe was Brix, not Baumé.  (I also thought that Baumé was deprecated and now, modern recipes use Brix.)

I know* that for a sorbet, a good range for brix is ~28 - 31º Brix.  And for a granité, around 18º Brix.

So for his original question, perhaps take a 30º Brix syrup, add some lemon (or lime) juice to taste, then add water until you reach 18º Brix, chill and spin.

Agree, disagree?

*since I had to look it up when I made Quince Sorbet this weekend (from quinces in my back yard :cool: , but I digress...)

I think you are right B in this recipe is brix although the traditional brix symbol would normally be Bxº. Symbol for Baume is Bº or Beº

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, I admit that I don't do a lot of ice creams, sorbets and granités so please help to educate me.

I would have assumed that the 'B' in gfron1's original recipe was Brix, not Baumé.  (I also thought that Baumé was deprecated and now, modern recipes use Brix.)

I know* that for a sorbet, a good range for brix is ~28 - 31º Brix.  And for a granité, around 18º Brix.

So for his original question, perhaps take a 30º Brix syrup, add some lemon (or lime) juice to taste, then add water until you reach 18º Brix, chill and spin.

Agree, disagree?

*since I had to look it up when I made Quince Sorbet this weekend (from quinces in my back yard :cool: , but I digress...)

I think you are right B in this recipe is brix although the traditional brix symbol would normally be Bxº. Symbol for Baume is Bº or Beº

Thanks, Kerry! :biggrin:

John DePaula
formerly of DePaula Confections
Hand-crafted artisanal chocolates & gourmet confections - …Because Pleasure Matters…
--------------------
When asked “What are the secrets of good cooking? Escoffier replied, “There are three: butter, butter and butter.”

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The B is Baume!

PH uses baume as his syrup measurement, brix for PDF

An easy way to decipher the baume question is look at the Conticini recipes in PIE.

BTW, if you don't already have it, get the softcover of The Ducasse/Roberts 'Grand Livre de Dessert et Patisserie.

It breaks down lot of this with excellent charts, etc.

There is an English version but I don't like translations much

PA: Baume hasn't been relegated to the attic yet.

Edited by tan319 (log)

2317/5000

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
I am bumping up this topic again!

I have a recipe I want to try that calls for Sryup 30° B. Does this mean 30% sugar and 70% water? I still do not have a brix thermometer...

There's two formulas here...

2317/5000

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not a big issue when you're making a lemon sorbet but part of the reason to use baume/brix rather than just by weight is because fruit naturally has sugar and that needs to be taken into account when making sorbets/granites.

PS: I am a guy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...