Recipe for fruit pastes by Jean-Louis

Winemaker for 15 years, Jean-Louis discovered another passion: arboriculture. And when he invites us to discover his orchard, he also explains that for him, respecting his trees and the work of the land is also through the proper use of fruit, even when the crops are abundant.
He had to find different ways to keep his fruit.
At Tom Press, he discovered dehydrator , pasteurizer and slow-moving juice extractor , tools that have become its best allies!   

1 - Picking In addition to the freshness and calmness found in the orchard in the morning, "all fruits are worth harvesting early in the morning before being heated by the sun. they
will keep better, but especially the aromatic quality of the fruit is better at this time of the day ".
Before touching them, he observes them to avoid handling them unnecessarily. To know if they are ripe, he exerts a very slight and unique pressure. It must be touched with delicacy and the least possible if the fruits are attacked and damaged.
To pick them, take the fruit in the palm of your hand and rotate to break the peduncle.   

2 - Fruit preparation Wash the fruit with clear water, remove the stones and cut them into wedges.   

3 - Press Transfer the fruit to the Hurom juice extractor and add the juice of ½ lemon to prevent the pulp from oxidizing.   

4 - Preparation of 2 mixtures for 1 l. of fruit pulp (quantity measured at the outlet of the juice extractor)

1st mixture: - 250 g of sugar
- 150 g of glucose  

2nd mix:
- 250 g of sugar
- 25 to 30 g of pectin depending on the fruit (eg with peaches put 28 g)
- 15 g citric acid or lemon juice   

5 - Cooking time: 30/40 minutes Jean-Louis insists that stirring is essential throughout cooking.
Heat the pulp by incorporating the first mixture.
Once the temperature of 50/60 ° C is reached for the 2nd mixture.
Cook, stirring constantly until reaching 103 ° / 104 ° C.
It does not have to caramelize.
When evaporation is sufficient, the dough should be thick and come off the bottom of the basin.
When the so-called temperature is reached, you can stop cooking.
Caution: never add pectin alone to avoid lumps.   

6 - Drying During this step, you have to be careful because the preparation is very hot, take heat-resistant gloves to avoid burning yourself.
Cover with parchment paper the bottom and sides of the trays of your dehydrator and pour the dough while being careful that it does not overflow.
Jean-Louis gives them a thickness of about 1 cm maximum. He has manufactured drying frames to optimize production while waiting to purchase additional trays.
Choose the program to have a temperature of 55 ° / 60 ° C and let it dry for a dozen hours.
To check if the dough is ready, it should come off easily.
If it is still too soft prolong the drying time while monitoring regularly.   

7 - Demoulding
When the dough is ready, Jean-Louis cuts it into strips and then into squares.
For a children's snack, you can also cut them with small pieces to give them various shapes.   

8 - Conservation
Just place the fruit pastes in an airtight, dry box, taking care to separate each layer with parchment paper to prevent them from sticking together.
The ideal is to keep them under vacuum to have the pleasure of consuming longer!   


Tips, tasting ideas:  

- Transport and storage of fruits: avoid clashing them and piling them up so as not to damage them and line the bottom of the shelves of paper to protect them from shocks.
- Arrange fruit pasta on your cheese board instead of jam it's original and good!
- Served with the end of meal coffee, a way to taste them that will surprise you!  

Other uses of the tunnel dehydrator:  

- make your fruit dry
- produce hides of fruits
- make cereal bars
- make her spices
- make your dehydrated vegetables   


Jean-Louis's recipe for fruit jellies comes from your Tom Press magazine # 15 August / September 2016 < / a>.     




All you need to know about food dehydrators for fruits and vegetables.