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

[Kerry Beal]

Is everyone who's making pate de fruit here using the puree's from Boiron or Perfect Puree? I'm planning on pureeing my own fruit, do you use these table simply as a guide? Or will I not get consistent results with my own fruit puree? The recipe I used in my first attempt was from Chocolates and Confections if anyone was curious.

I use Boiron or whatever - and make my own purees as well. I use the table as a rough guide.

[JBailey]

I just ran across this video for Jellies. To get to the Jelly video, click on Techniques along the bottom and then find the Jelly Past catagory - the url does not seem to pick up the specific videos selected.

[Lior]

cute-PDF's for PDF!!!

[gap]

Is everyone who's making pate de fruit here using the puree's from Boiron or Perfect Puree? I'm planning on pureeing my own fruit, do you use these table simply as a guide? Or will I not get consistent results with my own fruit puree? The recipe I used in my first attempt was from Chocolates and Confections if anyone was curious.

Using a packaged fruit puree ensures consistent sugar amounts and fairly consistent pectin amounts in the puree so that you have a better chance of the recipe working. Using your own fruit purees is fine, but you may need to make adjustments to the recipes to suit the level of sugar/pectin naturally in your fruit puree.

[Tony S.]

Thanks JBailey for the link to those videos. I actually have a 1kg bag of the Ponthier passion fruit puree. I'm going to make a passion fruit caramel for a chocolate filling and I needed ideas for other things I could make with it. I was thinking of PdF and now seeing this vid I think I'll try that.

Question though. Caster sugar is finer than common granulated sugar, right? Does using caster sugar make that much of a difference over granulated? If so, can I just whirl some granulated sugar in a food processor to refine it a bit?

[minas6907]

Using your own fruit purees is fine, but you may need to make adjustments to the recipes to suit the level of sugar/pectin naturally in your fruit puree.

Is there any specific way to discern that? After I make a puree, to ensure a recipe to work properly, would most take a hydrometer to a diluted puree? It seems rather comlicated. Also, considering that all fruits have different sugar/pectin levels, how is it that in the recipe for pectin jellies in chocolates and confections, simply any fruit puree is listed as an ingredient?

Anyways, from watching that video I see a few things I could have dont better, and since I have the apple compote made up, I'll give grewelings recipe another go. Thats funny, I actually did see that video on youtube...but having the subtitles helps alot!

And, mabye I'm wrong, but I didnt think caster sugar made any difference, especially since its measured by weight and it all dissolves in the mixture...but I've been wrong before :-)

Edited June 28, 2011 by minas6907 (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Thanks JBailey for the link to those videos. I actually have a 1kg bag of the Ponthier passion fruit puree. I'm going to make a passion fruit caramel for a chocolate filling and I needed ideas for other things I could make with it. I was thinking of PdF and now seeing this vid I think I'll try that.

Question though. Caster sugar is finer than common granulated sugar, right? Does using caster sugar make that much of a difference over granulated? If so, can I just whirl some granulated sugar in a food processor to refine it a bit?

Sugar is all going to dissolve anyway - no need to whirl.

[Tony S.]

The Ponthier puree that I have has 10% added sugar. I'll probably try Greweling's PdF recipe from "Chocolate & Confections at Home" which doesn't require the apple compote and uses liquid pectin instead of powdered. Would I need to adjust the amount of Ponthier puree and sugar I use? The recipe calls for 16oz fruit puree, 24oz sugar. So if I'm thinking through the math correctly, I would need 17.6oz of Ponthier puree and 22.4oz of sugar.

I've never made jellies or used pectin before, so I have no idea how important the ratio of sugar/pectin/acid is in order for it to gel properly. Greweling states that sugar "is a necessary ingredient for the pectin to bind properly. Cutting down on the sugar in the pectin jelly recipe will cause it not to set properly." Does that also mean that increasing the amount of sugar will cause it to set too firmly? Would 10% make that much of a difference in texture of the finished PdF? Or would it just be sweeter?

[TylerK]

Hi all,

This is my first post here, and I hope I'm not being rude by interjecting my own question into this discussion.

For the past 8 years or so I have been sending out bags of cookies/cakes to all my friends and family around Christmas. Originally it included the cakes and cookies that I grew up with around that time of year. Over the past couple years though someone who has a severe gluten intolerance has made it onto the list so I have been experimenting with truffles, filled chocolates and candied fruits. This year I would like to include a selection of pate de fruit.

My first attempt last week with a Strawberry pate de fruit was an unmitigated disaster. From perusing the forums, it seems like the pasty jam-like consistency is a result of the wrong type of pectin. I have already put in an order for some apple pectin and some 'G' pectin for my next experiments.

More worrying though was the taste. I had the opportunity to live in France for a couple years when I was growing up, and by my recollection they tasted almost like the fresh fruit they came from. What I made hardly even resembled strawberry by the time it was done cooking. How do you preserve that fresh fruit flavour?

Thanks,

Tyler

[Kerry Beal]

Hi all,

This is my first post here, and I hope I'm not being rude by interjecting my own question into this discussion.

For the past 8 years or so I have been sending out bags of cookies/cakes to all my friends and family around Christmas. Originally it included the cakes and cookies that I grew up with around that time of year. Over the past couple years though someone who has a severe gluten intolerance has made it onto the list so I have been experimenting with truffles, filled chocolates and candied fruits. This year I would like to include a selection of pate de fruit.

My first attempt last week with a Strawberry pate de fruit was an unmitigated disaster. From perusing the forums, it seems like the pasty jam-like consistency is a result of the wrong type of pectin. I have already put in an order for some apple pectin and some 'G' pectin for my next experiments.

More worrying though was the taste. I had the opportunity to live in France for a couple years when I was growing up, and by my recollection they tasted almost like the fresh fruit they came from. What I made hardly even resembled strawberry by the time it was done cooking. How do you preserve that fresh fruit flavour?

Thanks,

Tyler

I sometimes add a little extra fresh stuff at the end of cooking or an alcohol that has the fresh flavour which helps a lot.

And welcome Tyler - look forward to lots more questions.

Edited July 7, 2011 by Kerry Beal (log)

[TylerK]

Thanks Kerry.

Do you have to alter the cooking time or temperature to accommodate the extra liquid you're adding at the end?

Tyler

[Kerry Beal]

I'm not really adding a whole lot of extra fluid at the end - the Boiron recipes allow for the addition of the alchohol at the end - I just add a little more with this.

[YetiChocolates]

Been making pate de fruits here dozens of times, some successful some not. Looking for some answers still. I make my own fruit purees from fresh fruit. Some of these fruits are not available in the US so I have to just experiment and see what happens, ie. Taxo, Naranjilla (sometimes aka Little Orange-though it doesn't resemble an orange in the least), Passion Fruit. After on and off success with Ecuadorian blackberries (different than the variety you find in North America-these are acidic, dark, and not nearly as sweet initially), I tried something new. Brought the fruit up to 20 Brix just like the Boiron puree before starting the recipe. Then used the Boiron recipe. I am using Chef Rubber's Pate De Fruit pectin. Also, I'm at 10,000 feet nearly, and water boils at 192ish F. What always happens is, the fruit starts to set up once it approaches 70-75 brix on the refractometer, and once it's ready to pour into the slab, it's already turning lumpy which makes it hard to pour and harder to get a nice, smooth, even flat surface. I just can't fathom how you could have time to put the jelly, say, into silicon molds. So what I want is a recipe that will gel after I pour it, not start jelling in the pan before I even have a chance to pour it. What's the problem? Is it my pectin? The altitude? The fruit? I also make a Passion Fruit pate de fruit, and it pours perfectly most of the time, and then gels perfectly in the frame. So I'm thinking, is there too much pectin in the blackberries naturally? I don't know, but any troubleshooting tips would be much appreciated.

When you make your fruit purees from fresh fruit is there any special processing you do? Do you cook them to soften them up and then puree them or do you just puree without cooking? Do you add any additional sugar to them? I have some apricots that I'd like to puree but I wasn't sure if I should remove the skin, cook them down to soften them up, or just put the whole thing fresh (remove the pit of course) into the blender and puree. Any suggestions?

[Kerry Beal]

Been making pate de fruits here dozens of times, some successful some not. Looking for some answers still. I make my own fruit purees from fresh fruit. Some of these fruits are not available in the US so I have to just experiment and see what happens, ie. Taxo, Naranjilla (sometimes aka Little Orange-though it doesn't resemble an orange in the least), Passion Fruit. After on and off success with Ecuadorian blackberries (different than the variety you find in North America-these are acidic, dark, and not nearly as sweet initially), I tried something new. Brought the fruit up to 20 Brix just like the Boiron puree before starting the recipe. Then used the Boiron recipe. I am using Chef Rubber's Pate De Fruit pectin. Also, I'm at 10,000 feet nearly, and water boils at 192ish F. What always happens is, the fruit starts to set up once it approaches 70-75 brix on the refractometer, and once it's ready to pour into the slab, it's already turning lumpy which makes it hard to pour and harder to get a nice, smooth, even flat surface. I just can't fathom how you could have time to put the jelly, say, into silicon molds. So what I want is a recipe that will gel after I pour it, not start jelling in the pan before I even have a chance to pour it. What's the problem? Is it my pectin? The altitude? The fruit? I also make a Passion Fruit pate de fruit, and it pours perfectly most of the time, and then gels perfectly in the frame. So I'm thinking, is there too much pectin in the blackberries naturally? I don't know, but any troubleshooting tips would be much appreciated.

When you make your fruit purees from fresh fruit is there any special processing you do? Do you cook them to soften them up and then puree them or do you just puree without cooking? Do you add any additional sugar to them? I have some apricots that I'd like to puree but I wasn't sure if I should remove the skin, cook them down to soften them up, or just put the whole thing fresh (remove the pit of course) into the blender and puree. Any suggestions?

I usually cook just enough to soften the fruit before putting it in the blender. I'll often run it through a food mill after to remove any seeds and skin.

[YetiChocolates]

Food mill eh? Don't have one, but never really needed one til now. But fresh fruit in the summer is so abundant in this area that it would be silly not to make your own purees, especially with how much it costs to have them shipped frozen!

[Kerry Beal]

Food mill eh? Don't have one, but never really needed one til now. But fresh fruit in the summer is so abundant in this area that it would be silly not to make your own purees, especially with how much it costs to have them shipped frozen!

Make sure you get one with small enough holes to strain out small seeds. The one I have is Rosle.

[mkayahara]

Recently made the beet pâte de fruit from the Next Restaurant Paris 1906 e-book. (Not the recipes from the Fat Duck or Noma... how many beet PDF recipes do I have, anyway!?) I had read in the Fat Duck book that when you add enough acid to beet, it starts to taste like blackcurrant, and it was cool to be able to experience that effect while it was cooking. With the citric acid in the recipe, it really did smell like blackcurrant! It definitely comes out tasting like beet, though, especially after a couple of days. Personally, I like it.

[Tri2Cook]

I was trying to remember if I've ever done anything dessert related with beet and, much to my surprise, I don't think I have. If I have, I wasn't excited enough about whatever it was that I can remember doing it. I may have to remedy that situation, those look tasty.

[curls]

Matthew, those beet pâte de fruit look wonderful! Did you pour them into a silicon mould? Please tell me which mould you used.

[FWED]

Hi Curls. I haven't been reading the forum for some time but I thought that I would chime in on the Pate De Fruits. I have been making them for several years now and especially enjoy making them at Christmas time. I use Demarle flexipan molds, or any other molds that catch my fancy and are a small enough portion to be useful and flexible enough. I use molds 1562, 1071, 2265, and 1984. The squares were cut by hand. These are full sheet pan size but can be ordered in the half sheet pan size I think (its been so long since I bought any or looked at their catalog). I have included a photo of some of the ones that I have made. Cheers Fred

[mkayahara]

Matthew, those beet pâte de fruit look wonderful! Did you pour them into a silicon mould? Please tell me which mould you used.

Thanks! Yes, it was a silicone mold. This one, to be precise. I liked how they came out. The recipe suggests transferring the cooked base to a smaller container to portion into the molds, and it worked great.

[curls]

Fred and Matthew thank you both for the information and photos. May try that out the next time that I make pâte de fruit. Will have to buy some molds first!

[dhardy123]

I made 2 batches of PDFs recently and both times they turned out more like jams than jellies. The Apple Pectin I was using was from Matisse. So I went over to Kerry's house to see what I was doing wrong. We made 2 batches of raspberry PDF, 1 using my Matisse apple pectin and 1 using her pectin. Everything else was the same. We were both surprised at the differences. The Matisse pectin resulted again in a jam consistency while the pectin Kerry had produced a perfect PDF. I have included pictures of the PDFs. We were both surprised that there are different types of apple pectin. Beware when making your own PDF!

[minas6907]

Huh. Neat, thanks for the photo, thats interesting seeing what a contrast the different pectins would produce.

[pastrygirl]

That's interesting. I wonder if there is a way to get the same result with the Matisse, either by using more pectin or cooking it a little longer?