Pâte de Fruits (Fruit Paste/Fruit Jellies) (Part 2)

[EsaK]

20 hours ago, Jim D. said:

 

Last time I thought I had figured peach out (bought tree-ripe peaches and roasted them, sought out a peach liqueur--which by itself was delicious, purchased a "peach nectar" that had spectacular Amazon reviews, and got some dried peaches), I ended up adding some apricot at the last minute to provide some flavor.  So you will understand that I look forward to your experiments. I am surprised pectin is difficult to find. Aren't jams and jellies made in Finland?  You may have to make your own pectin. That will test your dedication to this endeavor!

 

Jim, you've really taken testing to a whole another level 😄I'll see what I can do but as said, please don't hold your breath. I wouldn't bet on myself being able to solve the peach PdF matter. 

 

Jams and jellies are made here, sure, but I guess people use something else to make them? Grocery stores for example carry pouches, some of which have carrageenan, some xanthan etc as the jellying or jamming agent. There's also one that has pectin, but it also has already sugar, apple acid, natrium benzoate and benzoate-acid in it. I think I'll just order it online sometime so I get pure pectin and don't have to guess the amounts. 

 

A simple agar "PdF" made with peach puree, little dextrose and lime juice already shows that you need something to punch up the peach flavor, as Jim and Kerry suggest. 

[Rajala]

I planned to make a rhubarb "PDF", and this happened? Any ideas? The only think I can think of is that the rhubarb reacts with pectin some how, but like what? Everything just turned foamy. With that said, I just used the juice of the rhubarb and guess that plays part in this. I don't want the texture of all the "threads" in the rhubarb in my PDF. Don't have store bought purée at the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jim D.]

5 hours ago, Rajala said:

I planned to make a rhubarb "PDF", and this happened? Any ideas? The only think I can think of is that the rhubarb reacts with pectin some how, but like what? Everything just turned foamy. With that said, I just used the juice of the rhubarb and guess that plays part in this. I don't want the texture of all the "threads" in the rhubarb in my PDF. Don't have store bought purée at the moment.

 

 

I made a rhubarb PDF recently, using both commercially made rhubarb purée and some fresh rhubarb I purchased locally.  I was using Pomona's pectin.  Mine turned out without any issues such as yours.  Since commercial purées (like Boiron) are used for PDF a lot, I don't understand what happened to yours.  As rhubarb is low in natural pectin, you may have to use more pectin powder (or add another fruit, such as apple or pear, to provide pectin).  In regard to the rhubarb strings, I have not found that to be a problem.  If it is cooked long enough, they more or less dissolve.  You could always use an immersion blender to smooth it out.

[Rajala]

9 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

 

I made a rhubarb PDF recently, using both commercially made rhubarb purée and some fresh rhubarb I purchased locally.  I was using Pomona's pectin.  Mine turned out without any issues such as yours.  Since commercial purées (like Boiron) are used for PDF a lot, I don't understand what happened to yours.  As rhubarb is low in natural pectin, you may have to use more pectin powder (or add another fruit, such as apple or pear, to provide pectin).  In regard to the rhubarb strings, I have not found that to be a problem.  If it is cooked long enough, they more or less dissolve.  You could always use an immersion blender to smooth it out.

 

Yeah, it's super strange. I dunno what happened. I bought some more rhubarb now and will try again with all of it and run it with the immersion blender as you suggest.

[Rajala]

Second attempt went better. I still want to understand what went wrong with the first one though.  

[Rajala]

So, I got a guitar cutter. The standard big size (whatever that means). How much product will one need to fill a full frame that's 1 cm high? The cutting area is 36x36 cm. How do you guys usually do?

 

https://pavonitalia.com/professional/en/catalog/product/view/id/2997/s/chitarra/category/57/

[Rajala]

Just to update here if anyone else have this question; just take the whole kg of puré and use the recipe from Boiron or whatever. It was the right amount.

 

I made a pdf with green apple, 300 grams caramelized sugar (1050 in total), cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla, and some butter essence

[Rajala]

Okay, I will continue my monologue here with a new question; PDF with two different layers? Is it safe to pour hot PDF from a saucepan over a PDF that is already set? I mean, I guess so but it feels like the heat potentially could melt some of the PDF its poured on? Maybe I'm overthinking things here. 😂

[Kerry Beal]

1 hour ago, Rajala said:

Okay, I will continue my monologue here with a new question; PDF with two different layers? Is it safe to pour hot PDF from a saucepan over a PDF that is already set? I mean, I guess so but it feels like the heat potentially could melt some of the PDF its poured on? Maybe I'm overthinking things here. 😂

Yes you can - PDF made with apple pectin and set with acid won't melt with heat. 

[Rajala]

3 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Yes you can - PDF made with apple pectin and set with acid won't melt with heat. 

 

Thanks. I'm going to try when I get my frames delivered.  

 

What about citrus pectin btw? I don't have any apple pectin but I have citrus, slow set (not sure if citrus or not), and NH.

Edited November 4, 2021 by Rajala (log)

[Rajala]

Has anyone managed to get a pdf crystalized? I made a pdf like two weeks ago and covered it in saran wrap. The top of it now had a crust of sugar, really strange? I guess it could be some kind of "freak accident," because I've never seen this before.

[marialma]

Hope I'm not just reviving a dead thread here!

 

What do you guys do with failed PDF batches?

I tried to make a PDF last night with a melon that I wasn't so keen on the texture of. I pureed it, used the Boiron ratios as a guide and scaled the recipe down to the amount of puree I had. However, it came out with a really sticky chewing texture that kind of reminds me of cheap caramel candies. I think my mistake was that I cooked it to 80 brix instead of 75 (partly because I misremembered the numbers) and maybe when I added in the citric acid in water, didn't add enough liquid to drop the brix back down. 

The texture is kind of ... it's not unpleasant but it's not PDF. I don't want to just throw it out but I'm also not sure what to do with it. Can I cook it back down into something else? Would it work if I sliced it up and stuffed it into pastries?