Fruit has been used in sweet delights for centuries. Fruit-based ingredients can either be very complementary or bring contrasting characteristics to confections for both taste and texture. The fruits can be crystallized, covered by chocolate, and used as jellies or as creamy fillings.
The use of fruits in conventional confectionary products requiring prolonged stability at ambient conditions is restricted to dehydrated or candied versions, where the low moisture content and/or high sugar content lowers the water activity sufficiently to prevent microbial growth.
By far the most common fruits used are the vine products (sultanas, raisins and currants) followed by candied peels (orange, lemon) and dehydrated apricot and apple.
Candy made with real fruit may have more appeal due to the wholesome nature of the ingredients used in its making.
Fruits in chocolate confectionary
The word chocolate is derived from the Aztecs names for the tree, and for the drink they prepared from the beans. These words live on in Mexican today as ‘choclatl’ for the drink and ‘cacauatl’ for the tree. Chocolate was first cultivated as a crop, by ancient Mesoamerican peoples. They used cacao beans to create a frothy chocolate drink flavored with spices.
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