Coulis

What You’ll Need:
  • 1 1/2 cups fruit, diced if larger than raspberries
  • 1/2 cup sugar (more or less to taste)
  • pinch of salt
  • citrus juice (lemon or lime) for balance

How to Do It:

Heat fruit, sugar and salt with a little water to get things going. Bring to a boil.

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Turn heat down and simmer sauce until reduced by about 1/3.

Add citrus juice to balance the sweetness–start with 1 tablespoon and go from there, if necessary. Strain and cool.

You can also use frozen fruit puree, (affiliate) if you can get your hands on some. In that case:

Heat about 1/2 the puree with the sugar/salt/water.

Bring to a boil and then, at a simmer, reduce by 1/2. Stir in the rest of the puree off the heat. This will help to keep the color brighter.

Gastrique A dessert gastrique is similar to coulis, but it contains some vinegar for a hit of acidity. They are especially nice when paired with very rich desserts as the vinegar brings some brightness to the plate.

What You’ll Need
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup vinegar (any kind but distilled white vinegar. There are tons of different vinegars out there, so use what will complement your fruit)
  • 1 cup fruit juice or puree

How to do it:

Heat all ingredients together in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook until somewhat reduced and syrupy, about 10 minutes. Strain and cool.

You can also take a naturally sweet vinegar, such as balsamic or pomegranate, and slowly reduce it to a syrup by simmering until you achieve a syrup.

A gastrique can help balance a very sweet dessert. Think of balsamic vinegar on strawberries. Same idea.

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