Try to guess how and in what part of the world candied fruit appeared?
Of course, where it is always warm and even hot, where fruit abundance reigns almost all year round, and canning and freezing fruits in banks is the achievement of the last two centuries.
Yes, only in the East for so long and invariably they love fruits and sweets.
Here, in fact, is the entire brief history of the appearance of one of the oldest types of sweets.
It only remains to add to this that “dry jam” was known to our ancestors in the fourteenth century, and it was the favorite delicacy of Catherine II, who conferred sweetness on a separate royal decree, which was ordered to serve her “dry jam” to the table.
Nowadays, the possibilities and methods of preserving fruits have significantly expanded, but candied fruits remain a constant addition to desserts, and, at the same time, their bright decoration.
Therefore, the issue of making candied pumpkin at home, as well as other candied fruits and berries, remains relevant.
Moreover, housewives who prefer homemade cakes know how difficult it is to find fresh candied fruits with a bright authentic taste. That is, to buy candied fruits is not a problem, and they will be very bright and completely candied, but it often happens that just the smell characteristic of an orange or kiwi, or other fruits indicated on the label in them, is just not enough.
Candied pumpkin at home - the basic technological principles
It is not difficult to guess that if “dry jam” was prepared in the fourteenth century, without modern capabilities, then this technology of canning is quite accessible to modern housewives.
What is needed for this? Prepare fruits or berries, sugar and read the article to the end, in order to get acquainted with the technology of making ancient sweets using the pumpkin candied fruit at home as an example.
In addition to pumpkin, you will need a basic preservative - sugar. As an alternative to sugar, you can use honey or even fructose, which allows you to enjoy a sweet dessert even for people who are strictly forbidden, for medical reasons, to consume sugar.
The process of preservation in candied fruits occurs due to an increase in sugar concentration up to 80% and a decrease in the moisture content in fruits up to 15%.
The whole technology of candied fruit boils down to boiling candied fruit in sugar syrupwith or without flavoring ingredients. Cooking takes place in 2-3 stages, for a short time: up to 5 minutes. After that, candied fruit is removed from the syrup and dried, until sugar crystals form on the surface of the candied fruit.
Pumpkin has a somewhat specific taste that not everyone likes. Given this, you can veil the taste and smell of pumpkins with oranges or any citrus fruits, pineapple, apples. Some spicy herbs and spices will harmoniously complement the taste and aroma of pumpkin. The smell of caramel pumpkin baked with sugar in the oven is very pleasant.
Candied candied fruits can be stored for a long time, in tightly closed containers, eliminating the access of moisture and extraneous odors. At the storage location, the air temperature should not exceed that at which the sugar melts. Candied fruit containers should not be transparent.
Such blanks make it possible to make a dessert or homemade baked goods not only healthy, but also bright, appetizing.
Boiling fruits in concentrated sugar syrup allows you to save the taste and smell of fresh fruits, which compares favorably with candied fruit from industrial blanks.
For each method of cooking candied pumpkin at home, there is a general principle: before sugaring, the pumpkin is washed and peeled and peeled, and then cut into cubes and cubes. Curly cutting methods are also possible, but the slices should not be too thick so that drying is faster and the candied fruits have the same structure inside and out.
Recipe 1. Candied pumpkin at home with orange juice and honey
Ingredients:
Oranges 0.7 kg
Sugar 2.1 kg
Pumpkin (net weight) 1.4 kg
Cooking:
Remove the zest from the washed oranges, chop them randomly and place in a non-stick dish with pieces of pumpkin. Sprinkle the fruit with sugar and leave it to stand out juice: you can mix, but carefully so as not to mash.
On low heat, dissolve the sugar in the juice and bring the syrup to a boil, remove the dishes from the heat. When it cools down to 50ºϹ, boil again for about 5 minutes, while trying to heat the tank only on that side, removing the resulting foam.
Repeat the operation until you get the syrup, which will stretch with a thick, transparent thread.
Transfer candied fruits into a metal sieve or colander, leaving a canopy over the pan to allow the syrup to drain. The drying time of candied pumpkin at home will depend on the humidity of the room and air temperature.
You can speed up the drying using the oven. Cover the baking sheet with foil, put candied fruits on it and dry them at 40ºϹ until sugar crystals form on the surface.
Recipe 2. Candied pumpkin at home in apple juice
Ingredients:
Apple juice, natural (with pulp) 0.5 l
Cinnamon 1 stick
Brown sugar 500 g
Pumpkin pulp 1 kg
Cooking:
Dissolve sugar in apple juice and put the prepared pieces of pumpkin in a hot mass for 24 hours, along with a stick of cinnamon. Boil the mass for five minutes and set aside until the next day. Repeat until syrup thickens. Dry the candied fruit as described in the previous method.
Recipe 3. Candied pumpkin at home with pineapple and kiwi
Ingredients:
Cubes of pineapple, pumpkin and kiwi
Sugar
Cooking:
Take the peeled fruits in equal amounts (1: 1: 1) The amount of sugar should be the total weight of all fruits together: 3 parts.
Fold the prepared fruit and pumpkin in a non-stick dish, pouring each layer with sugar. Wait until the fruit releases the juice and cook, removing the foam, until the syrup is ready, in several doses. Bring the mass to a boil, cool it to 50ºϹ, and then heat it again. Readiness is checked by a breakdown of syrup "on a thick thread". Remove the cubes from the syrup, place on a wire rack and dry. You can speed up the drying process using an oven heated to 40-50ºϹ.
Recipe 4. Candied pumpkin at home with lemon juice and mint
Ingredients:
Peppermint infusion 250 ml
Sugar 300 g
Lemon juice, fresh 200 ml
Pumpkin cubes 1.0 kg
Honey 450 g
Cooking:
From sugar, peppermint infusion, honey and juice, boil the syrup. Put the pumpkin in the prepared syrup, bring to a boil and remove the heat. Boil the pumpkin in this way until it becomes transparent. Remove the cubes of their syrup and dry.
Recipe 5. Candied pumpkin at home with cranberry juice
Ingredients:
Cranberry Juice 250 ml
Sugar 750 ml
Pumpkin pulp 1 kg
Cooking:
Cut the pulp of the pumpkin, boil it lightly and let the water drain. Make syrup from sugar and cranberry juice. In the finished syrup, boil the slices of pumpkin in several stages. When the pumpkin becomes clear, strain. The best way to remove the syrup is a grate with small holes and an installed tray for draining the syrup.
Recipe 6. Candied pumpkin at home in cherry liqueur and chocolate glaze
Candied fruits are an excellent product for making homemade sweets. Try a delicious dessert.
Ingredients:
Liqueur, cherry 0.5 l
Pumpkin pulp 700-800 g
Chocolate glaze 350 g
Sugar 1.5 kg
Cooking:
Boil the pulp of the pumpkin until soft in sweetened water with vanilla. Throw in a colander and dry.
Use water to make syrup with liquor and sugar. Boil the syrup to a viscous consistency.
To prepare a dessert, use the tools and devices for figured cutting vegetables to make candied chocolate not only tasty, but also attractive in appearance.
Dip the prepared slices in syrup and boil them, bringing to a boil several times, and then let the syrup drain and dry, as candied fruits usually do. G
Put the cooled, candied pumpkin figurines in a row on a dish lined with foil and pour them with melted, but not too hot chocolate glaze.
Cool so that the chocolate hardens. Transfer the candies to another dish, collect the remaining chocolate from the foil and melt them again. Dip the lower part of candied fruits, not covered with icing, in warm melted chocolate and put on a dish, turning the sweets over.
Hold them again in the cold until they solidify and transfer to a serving dish.
Candied pumpkin at home - useful tips and tricks
Properly prepared and dried candied fruits do not stick to the hands and should not be viscous in the mouth in consistency.
Pour the syrup remaining after making candied fruit into a sterile dish and use as necessary for sweet sauces, desserts.
So that candied pumpkin is well soaked in syrup, pre-steam them and dry.
You can use jam to make candied fruits. To do this, just extract the fruits from it and dry them.
Syrup after cooking candied fruit can be used to prepare the next portion of candied fruit.
You can speed up the process of drying candied fruits using the oven. An oven with an integrated ventilation system is ideal for this purpose. If you use an ordinary oven for this purpose, then warming it up, leave the door open. Dry candied fruits in an oven without a fan in several stages: after heating the oven to 50ºϹ, turn it off, and then after cooling, warm it again to the indicated temperature.
Frozen fruits can also be used to make candied fruits.
To prepare delicious candied pumpkin, you need to seriously approach the issue of choosing the right variety, on which the taste of the delicacy will depend. Varietal variety of pumpkins is a separate issue, and not all of its varieties are used in cooking. This should be remembered. To choose the best pumpkin, go to the market: for good and talkative old ladies you can choose the best vegetable-berry, and at the same time having tasted it first. This type of service for old women is always at their best: they often sell pumpkin not only peeled, but also cut into pieces, which significantly reduces the time spent on making candied pumpkin at home. But at the same time, do not forget that the size of the slices must correspond to the technological requirements for making candied fruits: too large and thick pieces will dry for a long time, and it is not advisable to fix the work of grandmothers - it is better to choose a whole vegetable and chop it yourself.
It can be very difficult to remove the peel from a pumpkin, especially when it has become numb. You can alleviate the problem by resorting to heating. Divide the vegetable into portions of the desired size / weight and place it for a minute in the microwave, or preheat in the oven. After such a procedure, any stubborn peel will be removed by a regular peeler.
