Strawberry Pate De Fruit

Strawberry Pate De Fruit.  Simple ingredients. Simple instructions. Beautiful results.

These are the very popular little gems of jellied fruit that in any French boulangerie or confiserie you will find crusted with fine sugar.  They are the much better version of our "gum drops" (or those gummy orange slices) they have an amazingly smooth texture and pure fruit tang.
I confess that I was drawn to the romantic idea of making these beautiful little candies because, well, they are gorgeous and secondly, just to see if I could. But, after the process of making these, I'm totally hooked because the end result is visually stunning and so darn yummy.  So many people describe these as tasting like concentrated jelly, and that is exactly what they are, but the taste transcends ordinary jelly.
Recipes that I found on-line are difficult or confusing because the ingredient measurements are sometimes in grams or ounces or they just don't match up to what you have.  Next time I will use liquid pectin as it is supposed to work a little better and faster.

This is what I did.
First, prepare a sheet pan or casserole dish by either spraying with PAM or lining with Silpat or parchment paper.  Get your candy thermometer, silicone whisk, heavy bottomed sauce pan, and silicone spatula and ingredients ready.  Also, wear long sleeves while making this, the bubbling molten fruit will spit at you regularly.

2 pounds fresh or frozen fruit
1 cup light corn syrup
5 1/2 cups of sugar (and more for coating finished candy)
1- 2 ounce box Powdered Pectin (I used MCP from Sure Jell)
I bought frozen strawberries (2 pounds) and defrosted them, and processed them into a smooth puree in my food processor, you can also use a blender.  I chose strawberries because I knew I wouldn't have to strain the seeds out, but if you choose blackberries, raspberries or any other fruit that has seeds, you need to strain those out.

I then put all of the puree into a large, heavy bottomed sauce pan (I picked one that I use for boiling large amounts of pasta) and turned the heat on medium.  With a silicone whisk I stirred in 5 cups of sugar to the puree until the sugar was dissolved.  Once the puree was beginning to bubble, I mixed 3 tablespoons of powdered pectin with 1/2 cup of sugar (mixing the pectin with sugar will help stop the pectin from clumping in your puree) and once the puree was good and bubbly I slowly sprinkled in the sugar/pectin and again used my whisk to combine.  At this point stir, stir, stir and get used to it.  Clip on a candy thermometer to your sauce pan.
You will then add the corn syrup.  One cup of light corn syrup.  Stir.  Watch the temperature of your puree, you don't want to burn it, so keep the heat at medium and keep stirring.   You might be tempted to turn the heat up to hurry the process along, but really you want to take your time and be patient, it is worth it.
At this point all you have to do is watch your temperature and stir, for a while.  Mine took about an hour to get to the thickness and temperature required.  The temperature you need to reach is 223', and you'll think hey, "I'm almost there...my temperature is 220"...hold on there skippy!  It may take a half hour to an hour to reach 223' so I suggest getting a bar stool to sit on.  :)
Once 223' has been reached, add 2 Tablespoons of lemon or lime juice and stir. This is an important and critical step.  The citric acid helps to "set up" or "jell" your puree.
Then, let the mixture come to a boil again for another minute or two.
Ok. You are almost done.  Carefully pour your thick puree into your prepared pan.  Let cool for about 5-10 minutes and sprinkle the top with a bit of sugar.  Now leave it on your counter to cool and set completely, which can take a couple of hours to overnight.

Then cut with a sharp knife or small cookie cutters into the shapes desired.  Coat with sugar.  These will last if stored in a cool, dry airtight containers for up to 6 months!!  If the candies "sweat" just coat them with sugar again.  These make great little gifts because they are so unexpected and so pretty, especially if you make several flavors.

I probably won't be making these again.  They were way too sweet for me, they gave me the hee-bee-jee-bees, they are not my favorite.  At least they were pretty.