Pate de Fruit

Still dealing with buckets of ornamental plums.  I decided to make pate de fruit because I love it!  But it's quite expensive to buy it.  I have organic gelatin around the house (because we order it by the pound- as my husband likes to drink it.  He thinks it helps his joints).  So I used granulated gelatin.  You will notice it calls for "leaves of gelatin" in the recipe- that's more European.  1 TBS of granules = 4 leaves of gelatin.  I modified the recipe a little.  First, because I'm lazy, I did not pit the plums.  I cooked them with the lemon and sugar called for in the recipe, and then I simply strained out the pits.  Then I used my immersion blender and blended the mixture.  I cooled about 1/4 cup of the fruit sauce and added 3 (not 2) TBS of gelatin- and they were heaping TBS.  I'm glad I did that, because the resulting candies would not have been firm enough without the extra gelatin.  I might even add more gelatin next time.  I'll see what I think after these are a few days old- as I expect them to dry out a little over time.

Recipe:

http://www.italianfoodforever.com/2009/10/plum-candied-fruit-gelee/


After I cut up the squares I coated them in organic sugar and stored them 3 layers deep (separated by plastic wrap) in tupperware.  I think the un-sugar coated plum product will make an excellent accompaniment for cheese (rather like quince paste- only fruitier).  I'm also considering make a cold dessert out of this, using a layer of sponge cake soaked in marsala, a layer of plum, a layer of custard, and some berries and whip cream.  It will be like a trifle!  I'll put the pictures of the candies up soon.