Macerate Fruit Before Baking to Prevent Pies From Becoming Too Juicy.
Fresh fruit tarts made with sweet aromatic fruits are arguably the most ideal dessert, but dealing with super juicy fruit means your cake can get overwhelmed at times. Luckily, you can control the juiciness with a little maceration.
In fact, Food 52 has some tips on how to make sure your pies are not overloaded with juice, which you can check out at the link below, but the maceration technique is my favorite. Technically, ” maceration ” is simply the softening of food using any liquid, but it has become synonymous with the process of softening fruits using their own juices by pulling them out with added sugar. (Thanks osmosis !)
To use this to better control the liquid level in your cakes, stir in fresh fruit with the amount of sugar indicated in the cake recipe and let them sit for about half an hour, stirring occasionally. When your fruit is soft and beautiful, and there is not enough juice out of them, strain them by gently pressing on the fruit to get a little more. Pour the juice into a skillet and simmer over medium heat until reduced to 1/4 cup. Add a small amount of hot grind to some cornstarch (1/4 cup cornstarch is enough for every 5 cups of fruit) and cook the gruel. Add the gruel and fruit to the saucepan and stir. Let cool, cover with crust and bake as usual.
How to control the juiciness of fruit pies “useful food wiki 52