Making pie or crisp out of thawed fruit that is mostly juice

Making pie or crisp out of thawed fruit that is mostly juice - A  Bowl of Delicious Food Sprinkled with Seeds Beside a Mango Juice

Can I make pie or crisp out of thawed berries that the juice has come out? Should I use more corn starch?

Phil, Thank you for your reply. I don’t have a recipe. Should I drain off some of the liquid, Or leave it all in? I will make a crisp rather than a pie. I usually dredge fresh fruit in a mixture of sugar and flour or sugar and cornstarch. I add spices, then add the crisp. This is the first time I have tried to use frozen fruit that is in a big puddle of juice! My question is, should I drain off some of the juice, or just add more if a thickening agent? Thank you. Edith



Best Answer

You should include the liquid and account for it in measuring your thickener.

Remember: fruit is mostly water. Take a look at a chart listing fruits by water content. Berries, stone fruit, and your other likely pie candidates all hover around 85% water; most of it escapes while the pie cooks. So to get a thick pie filling, you need quite a bit of sugar and starch.

When fruit is frozen, ice crystals break up some of the structure of the constituent cells. When it thaws, the fruit will be quite soft and juices may escape. However, no new water is introduced. Thus you need to retain the juices to get the same overall water content as fresh fruit.

I would caution against thickening without any measurements though. To get consistent results, you should really be thickening by weight. I follow these instructions from Stella Parks: she thickens fruit with 5.5% of its weight in tapioca starch and 25% of its weight in sugar. Cornstarch is a slightly stronger thickener; consistent with this chart from King Arthur Flour, you should reduce the amount of thickener by a third.

Thus my final advise is:

  1. Weigh out the berries and any escaped juices.
  2. Multiply the weight by 0.25 and add that much sugar.
  3. Multiply the weight by 0.037 and add that much cornstarch.

Cornstarch sets at 203°F (95°C) so make sure your pie filling is bubbling before removing it from the oven.




Pictures about "Making pie or crisp out of thawed fruit that is mostly juice"

Making pie or crisp out of thawed fruit that is mostly juice - Sliced Oranges
Making pie or crisp out of thawed fruit that is mostly juice - Two Sliced Citrus Fruits
Making pie or crisp out of thawed fruit that is mostly juice - Iced Sliced Lemon on Clear Drinking Glass



Can you bake with frozen fruit?

Frozen fruit should work fine in anything baked or cooked. Keep in mind that some recipes may require additional thickener to balance the extra juice. Rinse frozen fruit to prevent colors from bleeding. Thaw frozen fruit first if what you're making has a short baking or cooking time.

How do you use frozen fruit?

Top 10 Ways to Enjoy Frozen Fruit
  • Snow Cone. Blend in a blender with crushed ice to make a snow cone.
  • Smoothies. Use with 100% juice or skim milk to create delicious smoothie combinations in a jiffy.
  • Top Your Cereal. Use on top of cereal.
  • Quickie Salad or Dessert. ...
  • Fruit Soup. ...
  • Bake Them. ...
  • Mix with Yogurt. ...
  • Fruit Sauce.




  • How to Make Fruit Crumble | Three Ways | Jamie Oliver




    Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

    Images: Andrea Davis, Engin Akyurt, Jessica Lewis Creative, ANTONI SHKRABA