Pâte de Fruits (Fruit Paste/Fruit Jellies) (Part 1)

[elizabethnathan]

I buy pate de fruits whenever I find them, and particularly like these: http://www.recchiutichocolates.com/home.htm.

Now I'd love to try making them. Any tips?

Edited May 18, 2016 by Smithy
Adjusted title (log)

[bripastryguy]

Elizabeth,

Look for Patrice Demers and ask him for his recipe. I have made these a thousand times and have had the best results with his.

[Patrice]

The recipe I use is from El Bulli 1998-2002

Pâte de Fruits Transparent Al Safrà:

500g water

1g safran

50g sugar

15g pectine NH

150g glucose

150g trimoline

1000g sugar

15g citric acid

In this recipe, they use water wich is infused with safran

I had some very good results by using fruit juice instead of the water. I did some yesterday with clementine juice

-Mix the pectine with the 50g of sugar

-Heat the juice until it reach 40C and then add the mix of pectin and sugar

-Add gradualy glucose, trimoline and the 1000g of sugar

-Cook until it reach 106C and then add the citric acid

-Poured in a container and let set.

[Jason Perlow]

1g safran

safran / azafran = Saffron

[bripastryguy]

Patrice,

It was the recipe you gave me a while back that I was talking about. This one seems interesting.

Question:

Can you use lemon juice instead of the citric acid? is there another replacement for it?

[nightscotsman]

I made the tomato pate de fruit from Michel Bras last Thanksgiving. Everyone who tried it liked it, but nobody guessed it was tomato. They all thought it was some kind of berry (which I guess it was, really). When I told them, some were quite disturbed (cough - mamster - cough) and had a hard time eating them after finding out it was tomato. Here is the recipe:

1 kg tomatoes

90 g pectin

750 g sugar

pinch salt

anise seed to chervil leaves

peel, seed and chop tomatoes - you should have 750 g. In a pot combine pectin and 90 g sugar, then add tomatoes and salt. bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes, stirring. add remaining sugar and boil for another 3 minutes. add anise or chervil to taste (a pinch or two of ground anise should be enough). pour into a roughly 9x9 inch non-reactive container and let set several hours or overnight. cut and dredge pieces in sugar.

[Michael Laiskonis]

The recipe I use is from El Bulli 1998-2002

Pâte de Fruits Transparent Al Safrà...

I have this recipe in my files, but haven't tried it. Formulated for, essentially, water, the possibilities are endless.

Just a note, however...

The pâtes de fruits most of us are familiar with, made in patisseries and restaurants, are typically made with a fruit purée- frozen, but high quality and very consistent. When making a pâte de fruit from fruit, remember that the fruit has its own varying levels of sugar, pectin, and acid. Not only will the recipe need to be adjusted according to the fruit, and in comparison to this El Bulli recipe, the amounts of sugar, pectin, and citric acid will also be much lower. Conventional recipes will also call for a grade of pectin that is more accessible (pectin NH is much stronger, and harder to find), usually referred to as 'apple' pectin, or simply pectin.

If one is using 500g of a commercial fruit purée (10% sugar is often added) a very rough range of proportions might be:

500g fruit purée

50-75g sugar

9-12g conventional pectin

500-560 sugar

110-125 glucose (I have some recipes that also include trimoline, or invert sugar, in tandem with glucose, in this case, approx. 75g each)

7-11g citric acid

The method is the same, described in Patrice's post. I pour mine intto a frame of 'caramel bars' placed on a silpat. Some recipes also call for the addition of a small amount of liqueur (10-20g) added at the end for flavoring; most of this liquid evaporates due to the heat of the pâte. Also, when using fruits low in natural pectin or high in acid, it is common to combine them with fruits that are rich in pectin, and fairly neutral in flavor, i.e. mango with apple, passionfruit with apricot, black currant with pear. This combination can range from a 3:1 to a 1:1 ratio. Adjustments can also be made according to weather. Here in the midwest, during our humid summers, I'll add a couple degrees to the final temperature.

Is this to be made in a professional or home kitchen? Sourcing the right ingredients and precise measurement of ingredients and temperatures is vital.

[elizabethnathan]

Thank you for this information.

Michael-this is for a home kitchen. Are "caramel bar" frames difficult to find? I don't think I've ever come across them.

[wingding]

Elizabeth;No need for fancy equipment-you can line a half or quarter sheet pan with parchment paper,and pour the pate into it.Be careful-you are working with hot liquid sugar.Let it set for at least 8 hours without moving it around,on a level surface.You can cut squares with a ruler and a knife,or punch shapes out with a metal cutter.

[nightscotsman]

You can also make yourself some wooden bars instead of pricey metal ones. Home depot caries a range of pre-sanded lengths of wood in different dimensions. You can either cut them yourself at the store, or have one of their helpers do it for you. To make cleanup easier, just wrap them in foil. Worked great for me.

[Aquitaine]

Nightscotsman,

I also was intrigued by the tomato pate de fruits recipe from "The Notebooks of Michel Bras: Desserts." I think it's a brilliant idea....What kind of tomatoes did you use, and any thoughts about what you'd use next time?

Also, anyone know where you could find a reasonably-priced refractometer, often suggested in recipes for pate de fruits? (Pretty pricey for most home cooks...)

Note: J.B. Prince here in New York (www.jbprince.com) carries caramel rulers, both in sets and individually...

* *

"All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast."--John Gunther

[unfortunately, I'm missing the source for this quote.]

Edited February 26, 2003 by Aquitaine (log)

[nightscotsman]

Nightscotsman,

I also was intrigued by the tomato pate de fruits recipe from "The Notebooks of Michel Bras: Desserts." I think it's a brilliant idea....What kind of tomatoes did you use, and any thoughts about what you'd use next time?

Since it was winter and I didn't have access to good, ripe tomatos (and I didn't want to invest a lot of money into a recipe "test"), I just used canned, whole tomatoes, drained and seeded. They worked well, but I think if I made it again I would either chop them finer or just puree them, since the juice that remained in the chunks tended to soften the jell. And I would go really easy on the anise if you use it. I just put in a pinch or two finely ground and any more would have been too much.

[Aquitaine]

Thanks, Nightscotsman. I was wondering whether canned tomatoes might work (decidedly better than most available winter tomatoes)!

Re the anise: I think chervil is much more subtle (having had it only once in my life, however, I am not positive), so perhaps that would alter the taste....

[tan319]

I just got a bunch of info sheets on boiron fruit purees, amongst them, their table for making pate de fruits.

It talks about using a refractometer to check brix level.

I've been intrigued by refractometers anyways but can't really find much out about how to use them. I've googled, etc. but usually get articles about winemaking, which I'm not ready for quite yet

In that Sam Mason article in Fader, he's checking out something with one by holding it up (to the light?) and I'm wondering how the damn thing works!

Is it like a microscope that has a window that gives you a brix reading?

A readout of some sort?

And how do you get around using one if you don't have one?

It's a pretty expensive item, no?

Thanks as always for your thoughts and info!

[stscam]

You can get around using one, but a refractometer is invaluable for measuring the sugar level in pate de fruit, to let you know when it's time to stop cooking. Before I had one I just did time, temp and eyeball, and my results were pretty inconsistent. With the refractometer I'm able to check the progress of the batch, and know precisely when to turn off the burner.

Using one is pretty simple. I use a wooden chopstick to drop a daub of pate on the prism window. You then close a frosted plastic cover over that, point it at a bright light source and read the level where a dark area (the sugary daub) and a clear area meet.

As I recall, the Boiron pate de fruits table lists readings in the 68-75 Brix range. So you'll want to have a meter that reads a range of 40-82% (standard Brix meters only go from 0-32%). I actually have two now - one in the higher range, and a less expensive one that reads 0-80%, that I use as a back up and also, because we make so much of our own puree, to check the base sugar level before starting.

A top notch 40-82% will cost $150-200, but you can find brand-new Chinese refractometers on Ebay for half that.

[Steve Klc]

There isn't much to add after Steve's helpful post. I have one refractometer--an extended range (0-80) model I've used for years, Ted, for jam, pate de fruit and to adjust some sorbets:

http://www.jbprince.com/product.asp?0=0&1=0&3=2180

It is a helpful addition to the toolkit and will last a career. You can get around not using it--you just have to work a different way, work more on feel and sense and experience instead. Say you're making a batch of strawberry sorbet from some fresh berries--well, w/o a refractometer you add sugar and syrup until you taste the right level of sweetness--you guess, basically, based on how finely honed your experience is. All a refractometer does is quantify things--in this case sugar expressed in degrees brix--for you very precisely. Either way you still have to know what you're doing and why. With other things you rely on other visual clues and tests and experience instead. Like if you didn't have a thermometer you'd still know when you reached soft-ball--right? A refractometer is just a tool which makes it easier for you to achieve success more often and more consistently--especially if your ingredients and supplies change seasonally.

[tan319]

Thanks for the info.

That refractometer you linked to seems pretty reasonable, Steve.

Seems like the last time I looked they were more like 300.

Maybe I looked at the wrong one.

So, by getting your brix level right you should be able to prevent sweating and all that?

Thanks again, the both of ya!

[nightscotsman]

For what it's worth, we never used a refractometer when making pate de fruits in school. Just cooked to the correct temperature. As long as the mix cooked quickly enough there wasn't a problem.

[pattyc]

We used a refractometer in my confections class with Sebastien Canonne when we talked about making jam. Just a tip we learned was that we were told to use a spatula to clean the refractometer, which doesn't like humidity, so rinse under water, and leave it in the open to dry.

[chocomkr]

I am searching earnestly for a recipe for those jelly-type centers you find in chocolate assortment boxes. I recently completed my chocolatier certification and want to make my own jelly centers for enrobbing, but can not find the recipe. If anyone has this recipe or an idea of where to search, or maybe a different name for this product, I would be most appreciative. Thanks, April

[chromedome]

I have one, but (thanks to Mother's Day, etc) won't be able to excavate it until late tomorrow, or Monday.

If nobody else has turned one up for you by then, I'll post it up.

[chocomkr]

Thank you very much. Take your time, no rush really. By the way, do you know what Vitpris is and where I can purchase it? april

[nicolekaplan]

try the boiron web page, they have a whole list of recipes for every flavor puree

[JustKay]

I was just reading this recipe yesterday.

jacques torres on FoodTV

When I was little, I remember my grandma used to make something like this but she used agar-agar to help 'set' better and drying the cut squares out under the sun for days until it is covered with sugar. Drying it like that will make a crust form on the outside but will leave the inside soft. Nobody makes this anymore though.

Edited May 9, 2004 by kew (log)

[stscam]

I added this comment on pate de fruit to another thread yesterday:

The receipe will vary somewhat from fruit to fruit, but the basic ingredients are: fruit puree, sugar, glucose, pectin and tartaric acid (some people use lemon juice).

The Boiron puree people have a great brochure with formulas for 26 different pates de fruit. Here's the one for Raspberry:

1000g puree

860g cane sugar

25g pectin

200g glucose syrup

15g tartaric acid

Start by bringing the puree to a boil, stirring constantly. Thoroughly dry mix 110g of the sugar and the 25g of pectin and pour slowly into the boil. Boil again, add half the remaining sugar. Boil again, add the rest of the sugar. Always keep stirring. After the sugar is dissolved, add the glucose. Cook until the temp reaches 225F. Turn off the heat, then add the tartaric acid. Pour into a half-sheet lined with parchment (or a Silpat). Let rest for 24 hours. Cut into squares (usually 1-1/4") and roll in sugar.

I use a digital thermometer, letting the probe stay in the mixture. I also use a refractometer to check the sugar level at the end - usually aiming for 75 Brix.

Stirring is critical to the process - a whisk works well.

The type of pectin is important. The stuff I get comes from Patisfrance and works reliably. Look for apple pectin, not citrus. I've never had much luck with the brands you find at supermarkets. Vitpris is, apparently, some kind of French gelling agent. Not sure why Martha Stewart has it in one of her receipes - I've never seen it in the States.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Cheers