Fruit Stuff

A highly concentrate 100% natural fruit puree, to add into buttercreams, sponges, cookies, ganache etc….

Ingredients

Any frozen bag of berries, I do a few bags at a time as it all freezes so well. If you store them in ice cube trays you just need to pop out a cube when you need one.

This “stuff” is a completely natural intense fruit reduction, that brings an intense flavour to your bakes and buttercreams. It will work with any berry as they reduce so well and have a high water content. I use frozen berries as there is no waste and there is no need to add any more liquid.

Method

Empty your fruit into a saucepan and turn the heat up to high until some of the ice melts. Keep stirring periodically through this process as if it burns the whole batch is ruined.

Once the berries have started to release some liquid turn the heat down to medium and allow this to simmer away for around 10 mins. Don't forget to stir every min, scraping the bottom well each time.

As the liquid boils off the fruit will get thicker and thicker, when it starts to look like there is no more water keep stirring as this is the time it can ruin. We are looking for this to become a very thick paste, almost gluey. You will know it is done when it no longer bubbles and the “stuff” sticks together pulling away from the bottom of the pan when you stir it.

Pour this mix into a bowl and cover with cling until it has cooled. If you have used a berry with a lot of seeds whilst it is warm, not hot, push it through a sieve repeatedly and using a clean spoon scrape the paste off the back of the sieve. When all you have left is seeds it is all done.

This is now a massively concentrated fruit paste, the flavour carries such a punch that you don't need much at all. The beauty of this is that there are no additives; it is just a pure, intense flavour.