Sous-Vide Fruit

How do you make fresh fruit tastier?

Cooking is sometimes the answer for things like blueberries, yet with conventional cooking methods, you have to sacrifice the integrity of the fruit. I say, fire up the water bath to 128 degrees and let loose. There were some good results.

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The melon "confit" was cooked with a bit of salt for 30 minutes, while the blueberries were left in the bath for a full hour, packed with some honey. I honestly was not expecting much difference between the cooked items and their raw counterparts, yet after trying the melon and the berries, I was impressed at the mouthfeel of the two fruits. The melon took on a rich, soft texture with less of the somewhat off-putting "melony" aftertaste.

While the melon provided a luxurious experience that reminded me of Iberian ham or toro, the blueberries touched off memories of blueberry pancakes, where bites of fluffy cake are interspersed with plump and juicy berries that are cooked, yet not to the point of structural breakdown like that of a compote. They pop like a ripe grape and are full of delicious flavors without the tang of raw blueberries, which can sometimes overwhelm the mouth.

Moving forwards, cooking things sous-vide allows for the addition of poaching liquids, enabling new flavor combinations and textures. Poach melon in a prosciutto consomme, for example. Go savory or sweet, or try and bridge the link. Go wild with it. That's what it's all about, experimenting and finding new flavors and striving towards the goal of great food.

Thanks to Ideas in Food and Food 102 for the inspiration.

Comments

[cane]

I'm trying to learn how to extract liquid from fruit and vegetables (think strawberries) using my immersion circulator. What temp and for how long? Any other info would be appreciated as well.
thanks!!!

[Tyler]

I haven't tried strawberries. I would assume a very long cooking time would be involved in order to extract liquid, but I don't really now. You wouldn't really be extracting liquid as much as you would just be cooking until there was no structure left in the food.

What I have tried and what is delicious is compressed fruit. If you have a chamber sealer, you can compress liquids into the fruit or vegetable, effectively "cooking" it without doing so.

If you just have a Foodsaver or the like with not a whole lot of vacuum capability, you can seal up the item and throw it in the refrigerator, or better yet, the freezer, overnight and then take it out to thaw. The texture will be dramatically changed and infused with whatever liquid you put in the bag with it.

I hope this helps. Thanks for reading

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