Epic Fail: Pâte de Fruit

My first two attempts at pâte de fruit were, as the title suggests, epic failures. In true adventurer fashion, I researched multiple recipes to figure out what the basic forumla was before deciding how to proceed, and this is what I found: 

• 2 c (16 oz) fruit puree or pure fruit juice
• 16 oz sugar, plus more for rolling
• 2 T lemon juice
• 2 1/2 T liquid pectin

The first recipe I tried was with Strawberries and extra lemon juice, sort of a strawberry lemonade if you will. Sadly, the puree didn't strain well at all, but other than some seeds it seemed pretty liquid, so I forged onward (read: I just poured the whole puree in the pot). It went pretty much as expected, other than the scalding of my pot, and it gelled up pretty well. Unfortunately they didn't taste good. At all.

So those got tossed.

Once I got my pan back in working condition (see the end of the post for details) I decided to try again with a fruit juice, in case the consistency was the issue.

I could tell when I poured the liquid into the pan that it wasn't as thick as the strawberry mixture had been, but I went ahead and let it cool, then chill, and then tried to cut it up. I could barely peel it off the parchment paper; the end result was so maleable that it wouldn't keep it's shape at all. At this point I said "I'm done" and decided not to try again. At least not in the immediate future. I'm sure I'll give it another go at some point, but for now I'll stick to picking some up at the store when I need a fruit jelly fix.

Things I learned from this project:

1. Don't use saran wrap. It's just a pain to peel off the pate. Parchment paper is definitely the way to go.
2. When a stainless steel pot gets scalded, you can clean it up by boiling equal parts baking soda and water (just enough to cover the bottom, 2-4 T of each is usually enough) with the lid on, then letting it sit for a few hours and scrubbing it off with a regular kitchen sponge or chipping it off with a non-sharp edge. I used the edge on a dish cleaning brush and a butter knife. When that doesn't get everything off, letting it sit with a thick paste of Bar Keeper's Friend and water will help. If that doesn't work, there's no hope. Just give up and buy a new pot.