Fruits and their syrup
As I write these lines, we are finally in the summer, the holidays are approaching, and above all, the fruits are pouring onto the market stalls, if they are ripe, it's time to enjoy them to the full!
10 K 4.7/5 (16 reviews)
Keywords for this post:FruitSummerSyrupSugarCompoteJamLast modified on: July 24th 2019
Fruits and their syrup
You may be about to start making compotes, jams, or a bunch of other recipes based on cooked fruits, in which case you will probably find yourself mixing sugar and fruit at some point before cooking.
In this case, for a compote for example, you will probably add a little water to start the cooking. It's indicated in a lot of recipes, and you may be used to doing it that way, no worries, it's very classic. It works of course, but it's not great this addition of water : it will have to go away afterwards (longer cooking time) and it will make your fruits taste a little bit less spicy.
1) Prepare your fruits, cut them into small pieces, here rhubarb, put in the cooking pot.
2) Add the powdered sugar, mix briefly.
3) Wait, at least 2 hours, overnight if you want, let the sugar work and melt.
After this time, the syrup has started to form, you can see it by tilting the pan a little. It is pure fruit syrup, quite thick and tasty, the ideal texture to start your cooking which will be 100% fruit + sugar.
You can proceed like this with all fruits, for small ones and berries (cherries, blackcurrants, blackberries, raspberries, ...) no need to cut them but you will have to wait a little longer to see the syrup form.
To sum up: When cooking fruit, do not add water, just let the fruit syrup have time to form.
In this case, for a compote for example, you will probably add a little water to start the cooking. It's indicated in a lot of recipes, and you may be used to doing it that way, no worries, it's very classic. It works of course, but it's not great this addition of water : it will have to go away afterwards (longer cooking time) and it will make your fruits taste a little bit less spicy.
Can we do better?
Yes, much better, you have to play on the "syrup" effect between sugar and fruits. When you mix sugar and fruit together, the sugar, which is hygroscopic, pumps the water from the fruit with which it mixes to form a natural syrup. This syrup, as tasty as your fruit, is much better for the start of your future compote or jam.How to make it?
Very simple:1) Prepare your fruits, cut them into small pieces, here rhubarb, put in the cooking pot.
2) Add the powdered sugar, mix briefly.
3) Wait, at least 2 hours, overnight if you want, let the sugar work and melt.
After this time, the syrup has started to form, you can see it by tilting the pan a little. It is pure fruit syrup, quite thick and tasty, the ideal texture to start your cooking which will be 100% fruit + sugar.
You can proceed like this with all fruits, for small ones and berries (cherries, blackcurrants, blackberries, raspberries, ...) no need to cut them but you will have to wait a little longer to see the syrup form.
To sum up: When cooking fruit, do not add water, just let the fruit syrup have time to form.
Lasts posts
The importance of sieving
In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?September 3rd 20251,086
The grease spray
As soon as you have something in a recipe that sticks to the mold, the question always arises as to how difficult it is to remove from the mold. There's nothing more frustrating than breaking your cake when unmolding it, because part of it has stuck in the mold. The classic way to avoid this is...August 26th 20254,3965
Cake moulds
When we make a cake, or a cake of the same rectangular shape, we usually take out our usual mould and tell ourselves that the recipe is anyway "for a cake", but is it really that simple?August 25th 20254,7115
Thinning out herbs
If you need to add a long-stemmed herb (tarragon, mint, verbena, thyme, etc.) to a recipe, you'll probably only need the leaves and not the stem, so you'll need to remove the leaves. Leaf removal means keeping only the beautiful leaves, and eliminating the ugly stems and leaves, but how do you do...August 8th 20252,9195
Add a bay leaf
Bay leaf: small in size, but big in flavor. You'll find it in hundreds of recipes, and it's often added to cooking meat, in a sauce or broth, usually accompanied by other herbs or products. It's a staple of Provençal, Mediterranean and Oriental cuisine, but not the only one. Usually, in a...July 31th 20253,0225
Other pages you may also like
The importance of sieving
In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?September 3rd 20251,086
The art of the charlotte
In cooking, a charlotte is a delicious moulded dessert, with biscuits around the outside that have been soaked in a flavoured syrup, filled with a light cream or mousse. The charlotte is left to set in the fridge before being turned out and served in slices. It is very light and a lovely sweet...February 27th 201344 K4.3
For well opened (puffed) cakes
It's always nice to have a well puffed up cake after baking, not only will it taste good but it looks great too. Let's see how to get this beautiful shape almost every time.January 23th 201932 K4.2
85 grams of eggs?
Some time ago, I already spoke to you about the difference between baking and pastry-making, I emphasized, among other things, the precision of pastry-making which requires grams, cm, degrees and minutes. That's why, on the one hand, you have baking and cooking, where a certain tolerance is...November 26th 201854 K4.6
The 3 secrets of Parisian flan
A flan Parisien, or boulanger, is a simple yet delicious cake. A cream, a mixture of milk, eggs and sugar, is poured into a raw pastry base and baked in the oven until the pastry and cream are cooked. This is the simplest version of the recipe, probably the original one, but nowadays the cream...July 21th 202313 K4.7
Post a comment or question
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.