pates de fruits

I have a little love affair with pâtes de fruits. Gummy candies are my favorite (a preference I recently realized came from my childhood tendency to choke on hard candy), even better if you can put fresh fruit into the mix. At least you can pretend they are healthy, right? I always buy pâtes de fruits when I find a shop that makes them; my favorite come from a little cafe in Montreal. Sadly there aren't many places where I can find the candies, so I rarely have them. sad. How I love them. So sweet, so soft, so chewy.

To satisfy my cravings, I went on a mission to make pâtes de fruits. Oh, if I had only known what I was getting into. I could have stopped somewhere in my quest, but I am stubborn. And love, it is often foolhardy.

The quest started a couple of summers ago, when I made simple plum pate de fruit, more or less a paste cooked down from plums and sugar. Easy enough and certainly doable with a high pectin fruit like plums. Not so easy with low pectin fruits as I learned in a couple of failed experiments.

I searched around looking for recipes and tips. I found Lenôtre's Ice Creams and Candies highly recommended, so I quickly ordered the book. The recipes seemed pretty simple: fruit puree, sugar, a bit of butter, certo and a fairly quick cooking process. Well, I suspect Certo was a completely different thing when the book was written than it is now. Disaster. Multiple disasters.

I read some more. What I needed was apple pectin. And glucose. I've replaced glucose with corn syrup before, but all advice said that the replacement was not an option. So much effort, but what could I do? I found glucose at Michael's in the Wilton cake decorating section. I ordered the apple pectin from Pastry Chef Central, a seemingly simple move which ended up with a crazy big charge from Canadian customs and a charge from UPS because they couldn't make sense of my correctly written address--long story!

But finally, pâtes de fruits. Whenever I want them. And because my finally figuring them out led to a certain amount of excess, I have more than I can possibly eat. Raspberry, from the last of last summer's frozen berries. Blood orange. A somewhat failed pineapple (what was I thinking, varying from my successful formula?). And rhubarb, of course.

I won't give you advice for making these tasty candies, since I am still a novice at all things confectionery. But if you want to try some, come on over. I've got more than enough to share. The recipe I found most successful came from Canelle et Vanille. Use her recipes and advice and you'll be set (as will your candies). In the end, the process is pretty simple, but exacting. And, of course, delicious.