Fruit Glaze Recipe
So the holidays are coming up, and you have a fabulous dessert planned, but can you elevate that dessert? How can you make it look even more stunning than it already is!
If you're using any fruit, we are here to help! A fruit glaze is an effortless way to make something look great instead of just good.
It's effortless, quick, and easy to make. We are trying to make the fruit shiny, something that will bring out its natural colors. My favorite fruit to do this on is raspberries. With their deep red color, a fruit glaze helps to make them a highlight of the dish!
If you've looked up fruit glazes in the past, you may have noticed one of two things. One, it was made from a jam or jelly, or two, it had cornstarch. That's great, but I'll tell you why I don't like doing it that way:
Jam or Jelly
Ok, so you have a beautiful raspberry, very vibrant in color. Then you slather it with a thinned-out and warmed-up jam. This has two effects I'm not a massive fan of. For one, it'll change the taste of your fruit- we want the fresh raspberry to shine through. Two, it creates a coating over the fruit that may dull the color slightly. Jelly is not clear, so it will leave its color behind when you put it over something. The whole point of a fruit glaze is to highlight a fruit's natural beautiful color.
Cornstarch "recipe"
So what on earth is going on with these "recipes?" It's in quotations for a reason. It all comes back to what a fruit glaze is supposed to do, highlight the food and make it look better—the recipes I've seen and tried, so just the opposite. Recipes with cornstarch, a thickener, make this so-called glaze very, very thick. A vast vast majority of recipes out there with this ingredient come out with a glue-type consistency. It's put on the fruit, and you have this thick concoction dripping down it, not appetizing at all if I saw that on my plate!
So Chef Olson, what do I do!? Well, it's effortless. We make sugar syrup of sorts. It's two ingredients: sugar and water. That's it, clean, simple, easy. It's clear for one, and it's not a glue you have to put on your fruit, and it'll genuinely highlight the color of your fruit.
I've often seen in baking competition shows where the person has gotten told off for not having a fruit glaze on their dessert. It's done fast and easy to do. Make it and paint it on the fruit. It's going to elevate your desserts appeal.
So without further waiting, check out the recipe below and keep it in the back of your mind for when you whip up your holiday desserts!
Cheers,
Chef Olson
"The Flying Chef"
