How much do I reduce the sugar when using a sweeter fruit in a pie filling?
I've got a surplus of Bing cherries at the moment, since they're in season and therefore on sale everywhere.
I have a handful of made-from-scratch cherry pie filling, but most call for tart cherries (and a relatively large amount of sugar, 1/2 to 1 cup, about twice what I put in a typical blueberry filling). How much should I reduce the sugar to allow for using a sweeter variety of cherries?
Best Answer
The difference between sweet and tart cherries is not so much the sweet, but more the tart. If you look at the nutrition information you'll find that tart cherries have about 2/3 as much sugar as sweet, but twice as much Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) which is what gives them their tart flavor.
With this in mind, most sweet cherry pie recipes include lemon juice, while tart cherry pies recipes don't need the lemon juice for balance.
Recipes for both type seem to use between 1/2 to 1 1/2 cups of sugar, so as Stephie says, "It's mostly a matter of taste"
From personal experience - I made 2 cherry pies using a tart cherry pie recipe, except substituting Bing cherries. I got more great reviews for those pies than you would believe. (It might have something to do with the sweet tooth gene on that side of the family)
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How do you reduce sugar in pies?
Combine the cooked filling with the remainder of the uncooked fruit. Add the same amount of sugar you added to the cooked fruit \u2014 the amount you just jotted down.How do you sweeten a pie filling?
Sweeten the Pie Filling For a slightly sweeter taste, opt for a cherry jelly or jam. Try adding a few spoonfuls to your prepared filling, tasting as you go. For a more intense sweet flavor, go right to the good stuff and add sugar. A tablespoon of white or brown sugar will take care of any tartness.How much sugar can you reduce in baking?
Up to 1/3 of the sugar in most recipes can be taken out without a noticeable difference. You should not reduce all the sugar in a recipe, as it is still needed for taste and texture. Note: Do not reduce sugar in yeast breads as the sugar is needed to activate the yeast.How does reducing sugar affect baking?
Baked goods with sugar (and thus more retained water) tend to be softer, moister, and have better shelf life. The more you reduce sugar (without any other adjustments), the drier and more crumbly your baked goods will be \u2014 and the shorter their shelf life.REDUCE YOUR SUGAR INTAKE: 10 tips that helped me cut sugar effectively
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Answer 2
It's mostly a matter of taste. In theory you could leave the sugar out completely, it's not needed to "bulk up" the filling, but that would probably not match our expectation of "pie filling". Your own question mentiones blueberries, which have about the same degree of sweetness as Bing cherries. I would start with the amount from your blueberry pie recipe.
Apart from that, consider adding a tart/acidic flavour aspect because it nicely complements the sweetness and intensifies flavour. (Probably one of the reasons many recipes use tart cherries.) A dash of lemon juice or, if you have it, some fresh red currants (also in season right now).
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