Plum paste without sugar. Plum pastila: a selection of classic and modern recipes for natural treats

07.08.2019 Desserts and cakes

Step 1: prepare the plums.

We take juicy, ripe, plums, rinse them under running water and put them in a colander in order to drain the water. With a knife we ​​make circular cuts in a cross, crosswise around the entire plum, so that the knife reaches point-blank to the bone. Thus, we cut each fruit. With clean hands, we take two halves of the plum and turn them from each other in different directions. Thus, we got 2 halves of plums, one of which was left with a stone. We take a half of a plum with a stone in our hands and in the same way we turn 2 of its incised parts from each other. Now the bone is left on only 1 small piece. We take the knife in hand and cut out the bone. It turned out 4 slices of plum. Put the plum in a deep saucepan, take half a lemon and squeeze the juice from it directly onto the fruit. You should not put a lot of lemon juice, you can acidify the marshmallow. Pour 1 glass of pure distilled water into a saucepan with plums and put it on the stove, turned on at a strong level. Cover it with a lid and bring the entire mass in the saucepan to a boil. Do not forget to periodically remove the lid from the pan and stir the ingredients with a wooden spatula so that the plum does not burn. After the water has boiled, remove the lid from the pan, screw the stove to a small level, boil down the drain until all the water in the pan has evaporated. It will take about from 20 to 40 minutes, the time is counted after the water boils. Evaporation time depends on how your stove is performing. Remove the pot with the prepared drain from the stove using a kitchen towel. We take a blender, open the lid and pour the hot mass from the plums into it. We turn on the blender at the highest speed and beat the mass until the consistency of puree. Then turn off the blender, open the lid, take a measuring spoon, measure out 300 grams of sugar with it, and add granulated sugar to a blender with plum puree. Cover the blender with a lid and whisk all the ingredients within 15 minutes until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Step 2: prepare the baking sheet and dry the plum marshmallow.

We take non-stick baking sheets, put baking paper on its surface, so that its edges go over the sides of the baking sheets. Just in case, grease the surface of the baking paper with 2 - 3 teaspoons of olive oil using a pastry brush. Remove the ladle with the ingredients from the blender and slowly pour the plums and sugar mass into the prepared baking sheet in a thin stream. We take an iron spatula and use it to carefully distribute the plum puree in an even layer over the entire baking sheet. The thickness of the mass should not be more than 1 centimeter. The thicker the mass on the baking sheet, the longer the pastille dries. And now there are 2 options for drying pastilles. You can place the trays with the marshmallow in the sun and dry it for 2-3 days, after it becomes dense, roll it into sticks or cut into squares and put in jars. The second option is much easier and faster, for this we preheat the oven up to 100 degrees as little as possible. Set the baking trays with marshmallow in the oven and dry from 4 to 6 hours... How to know if the marshmallow is ready? Press with your finger on the surface of the pastille, a high-quality, properly prepared pastille should be elastic, but soft, its structure should be uniform without rough hard spots and syrup released during drying.

Step 3: cut the plum marshmallow.

Baking trays with ready-made, dried marshmallow, we take it out of the oven or bring it from the street, put it on the table and use a knife to cut it into squares or strips. Carefully remove a piece of marshmallow from the baking sheet. Put the strip of marshmallow on a cutting board and gently bend one of its edges from ourselves inward with our fingers. With a smooth movement of the hands, we roll the strip into a tube, helping ourselves with our fingers. Put the finished marshmallow tubes in a clean, dry jar and put in the refrigerator. In principle, marshmallow can be stored simply on a shelf in a kitchen cabinet, but the temperature in the room should not be more than 20 - 21 degrees Celsius and an approximate humidity of 70 to 80 percent.

Step 4: serve the plum marshmallow.

Plum paste is served on a platter as a dessert. The taste of plum marshmallow is sweet and sour, the aroma is very pleasant. This blank is perfect for decorating cakes or fruit desserts. My sweet tooth is happy to eat it in almost kilograms, an excellent substitute for sweets. Bon Appetit!

- - Based on this recipe, you can make marshmallow from any fruit. But! Juicy berries do not require the addition of water - these are strawberries, raspberries, cherries and cranberries. Citrus fruits also do not require water. Apples, melons and pears for the preparation of marshmallow should be covered with sugar, add water and boiled, then decant the juice, and chop the pulp and make marshmallow from it.

- - You can complement the flavor of the marshmallow with a spice, it can be cinnamon or vanilla.

- - Cutting the marshmallow is not essential, it can be cut into any figures. For example, it can be cut into very attractive decorations for cakes or pastries.

- - Various chopped nuts, hazelnuts, walnuts and many others can be added to the marshmallow.

- - People suffering from diabetes mellitus can eat candy made without sugar.

- - Sprinkle sesame seeds, sugar or powdered sugar on top of freshly cooked marshmallow and dry.

- - Vegetable oil or corn oil can be used instead of olive oil.

Pastila is one of the most traditional delicacies and at the same time useful. The preparation of this dessert does not require the use of a large amount of sugar, sometimes you can do without it at all or sweeten the product with honey. Most often, sweet and sour berries and fruits containing a fairly large amount of pectin are chosen for making pastilles, plums are among them. Homemade plum marshmallow is a completely natural product, tasty and healthy. It takes a long time to cook, but does not require a lot of culinary skills.

Cooking features

Plum pastila can be prepared in several ways, but there are some important general rules.

  • To prepare marshmallow, you need to get a plum puree. If there are pieces of peel in it, this will negatively affect the taste of the product. Preparing the dessert using traditional technology, the plums are baked and then rubbed through a sieve, while the peel and bones are separated. If the berries are crushed with a blender, you must first remove both the peel and the seeds. For grinding in a meat grinder, it is enough to remove the bones, the peel is crushed so that it is practically invisible in the puree.
  • Plum puree can thicken without added sugar or other ingredients. To speed up the preparation of marshmallows, mashed potatoes are mixed with egg whites or thickeners (agar-agar, gelatin) are added to it. Then the marshmallow turns out to be similar to Turkish delight.
  • You can dry mashed potatoes to a marshmallow consistency without using kitchen equipment, but an oven and an electric fruit dryer will significantly speed up this process.
  • When using an oven, a relatively low temperature is set in it. If the convection function is present, it is activated. If the stove does not have such a function, the oven door is left ajar. The hob taps located above the oven are protected with a special shield, otherwise they may start melting from overheating and emit an unpleasant odor.
  • If you plan to dry the puree in natural conditions, it should be covered with gauze or a loose cloth to protect it from dust, insects, and direct sunlight.
  • To improve the taste of the marshmallow at the last stage of cooking, you can add nuts to it.
  • To prevent the pieces of marshmallow from sticking to your hands, sprinkle it with powdered sugar or starch.

You can store pastille prepared without adding egg whites at room temperature, it will not deteriorate within 4 months. A delicacy made with proteins is stored in the refrigerator for no more than a month. For storage, the dessert is stored in glass jars or containers, less often it is kept in canvas bags.

The classic recipe for plum marshmallow

  • plums - 1 kg;
  • sugar - 0.2 kg.

Cooking method:

  • Wash the plums. Cut the fruit in half and remove the seeds. Weigh the peeled plums - this is the weight you need to focus on when determining the amount of sugar required.
  • Place the peeled plums in a mold, put them in an oven preheated to 150 degrees, heat them for half an hour.
  • Remove the drain pan from the oven. Let them cool slightly. Rub through a sieve.
  • Add sugar to the puree and stir. Place the plum mixture in a saucepan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is like a jam.
  • Lay parchment on a baking sheet, put plum mass on it, smooth with a spatula. The layer of fruit mass should not be thicker than a centimeter.
  • Place the baking sheet in the oven and dry the plum mass for 5-6 hours at a temperature of 80-100 degrees.

Cool the finished marshmallow a little, sprinkle with powdered sugar or starch, cut into strips and roll them into rolls. As such, place the marshmallow in a jar or container, close tightly and store in a kitchen cabinet.

Sugar-free plum marshmallow

  • plums - how much will be.

Cooking method:

  • Fold the washed and dried plums whole in a baking dish and place in an oven preheated to 150 degrees. After about half an hour, turn off the oven, leave the plums to cool in it.
  • Drain the juice from the mold into a bowl. Rub the plums through a sieve, thus separating the pulp from the seeds and peel.
  • Beat the plum puree with a blender, gradually adding the juice that has been released earlier.
  • Return the mashed potatoes to the mold and place in the oven preheated to 120-130 degrees again. To prevent the marshmallow from burning, the mold can be greased with vegetable oil.
  • Bake the pastille until its layer is 3 times thinner. Keep the oven door ajar at this time.

It remains to cool the marshmallow, cut it, sprinkle it with powdered sugar so that it is not sticky, put it in jars or containers, close it tightly and store it in a cool place.

Plum paste with honey

  • plums - 1 kg;
  • lemon - 0.5 pcs.;
  • honey - 0.2 l.

Cooking method:

  • Peel the plums, turn them through a meat grinder. Place the mashed potatoes in a saucepan, put on low heat. Boil down the plum puree until reduced by a third.
  • Squeeze the juice from half a lemon, rub the zest from the fruit (you need a teaspoon).
  • Add lemon juice and zest to plum puree. Continue to boil it for another 10-15 minutes.
  • Add honey, melted to a liquid state, mix.
  • Transfer the plum mass to a greased baking sheet with vegetable oil, smooth with a spatula. The optimum layer thickness is 6–8 mm.
  • Preheat the oven to 100-110 degrees, put a baking sheet with fruit-honey mass in it, cook for 5-6 hours.

Pastila for this turns out to be more sticky than the previous ones, but more tasty and healthy. This includes sandwiching cookies or using it to make other desserts.

Plum marshmallow has a pleasant sweet and sour taste, rich color, pleasant aroma. It is not difficult to make it at home, but you have to be patient, since this process is lengthy.

Pastila is a sweetness that has been known for a long time, but now it is rarely prepared, but in vain. It can be eaten even by young children and nursing mothers, because it is absolutely natural, contains many vitamins and microelements. In addition, marshmallow is a low-calorie delicacy. They prepare marshmallow from fruits and berries, more often they use apples, pears, plums, currants, apricots, peaches. Let's focus on making plum marshmallows.

Choose ripe fruits for cooking, you can overripe. They should be washed thoroughly, the seeds can not be separated if in the future you will grind the puree through a sieve. Putting sugar in the marshmallow or not is a matter of your taste. First, the fruits should be mashed using one of the methods: interrupt with a hand blender, bake in the oven, or boil until soft, then rub through a sieve.

Then the puree should be dried by turning it into a marshmallow. Let's take a look at several ways to prepare this delicious sweetness.

Methods for making marshmallow from plums

Sugarless

Spread the washed and pitted plums in an even layer on a baking sheet covered with parchment. Bake in the oven until soft, grind through a sieve or chop with a blender. Spread the mashed potatoes in a thin layer up to 0.5 cm on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and send to dry in the oven. The temperature should be 100-120 degrees. You need to dry the marshmallow by opening the oven door for about 5-6 hours. The oven door must be kept ajar to allow excess moisture to escape.

Roll the finished pastille in a warm state into a tube, you can directly with paper. Separate the paper before use.

In the video, Irina Kuzmina will talk about the secrets of making sugar-free plum marshmallows

In a multicooker

Required: plums 1 kg, sugar 250 g.

Sprinkle the pitted plums with sugar, leave for 30 minutes to let the juice flow. Transfer to the multicooker bowl, put the stewing mode on for 30 minutes. Rub the mass through a sieve or interrupt with a blender. Put on simmering or multi-cook mode for 4-5 hours. The mass must be stirred periodically. When the puree reaches the required density (it stops dripping from the spoon, but will slowly fall in pieces), cool it until warm. Then transfer the mass to a container covered with cling film for further solidification. To make the mass dense, put it in the refrigerator overnight.

Remove the finished pastille from the container, cut into pieces, roll in sugar.

In the dryer

Puree the cooked or raw fruit. Add sugar or honey to taste, stir until completely dissolved. Spread the plum gruel in a thin layer on trays lined with baking paper oiled with vegetable oil.

The thinner the layer, the faster the marshmallow will dry. Dry at 65-70 degrees for 12-15 hours until tender. Twist the finished product into rolls, cut into pieces with a sharp knife, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

In the oven

For cooking, you will need: plums 1 kg, sugar or honey 250 g, lemon to taste.

Sprinkle the pitted plums with sugar, leave for a while, so that the juice stands out. If desired, add juice and zest of one lemon to them. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the fruits are tender. Mash the plums with a blender or sieve. Simmer the plum puree over low heat for 2.5-3 hours, until the mixture becomes very thick. After that, spread it with a thin layer on a baking sheet covered with oiled parchment. Dry in the oven at 110 degrees, opening the door ajar, until tender. Drying time approx. 4-5 hours.

In the microwave

Cut the plums into halves, the seeds can be left on. Put in the microwave for 10-15 minutes, turning on full power. You should get a plum porridge, which we grind through a sieve. You can add sugar to taste and lemon juice to it. Put the dishes with grated plums in the microwave at full power for 25-30 minutes, then reduce the power by half. It is imperative to cover the dishes with a gauze napkin so that excess moisture leaves, but the mass does not spray in all directions. Remove the plate every 15 minutes, stirring the contents. When the mashed potatoes have evaporated by 2/3 of the volume, the marshmallow is ready. Transfer the warm pastille to a container, wait until it solidifies completely.

Carefully remove the treat from the container, cut into pieces, roll in powdered sugar.

How to determine the readiness of the marshmallow

The readiness of the marshmallow can be determined as follows: when touched, it does not stick to the hand, it freely separates from the parchment.

Storing plum marshmallows

You can store the finished delicacy rolled up in a glass jar closed with a nylon lid. You can put the jar in the refrigerator for longer storage. The product can not be immediately separated from the paper, but it can be done immediately before use.

Following these simple tips, try making homemade marshmallows. In terms of its taste and useful properties, it significantly surpasses store-bought sweets. In addition, it does not harm the figure at all.

Well, what else can you make plum blanks for the winter besides jam, preserves, jam and compote? Yes, even a plum marshmallow! This is a very tasty, natural and healthy dessert that your kids will love. Plum pastille turns out to be thin, very interesting in texture and rolls perfectly. Its sweet and sour taste is completely devoid of sugaryness, since we will not use so much sugar.

For the preparation of plum marshmallow, fruits of absolutely any condition are suitable - not quite yet ripe or, on the contrary, overripe. You can adjust the amount of sugar as you like - just try the ready-made jam. And if you want, do it without sugar at all, but then the marshmallow will be quite sour. Aromatic additives (cinnamon, mint, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, star anise, etc.) are also optional.

In total, from the specified amount of plums and sugar, 250 grams of ready-made homemade marshmallow is obtained. Just one standard baking sheet (60x60 centimeters). One roll (if you also make 8 pieces) will contain about 30 grams of dessert with a calorie content of 103 kcal per serving.

Ingredients:

Cooking a dish step by step with a photo:


We will cook homemade plum marshmallows from plums and granulated sugar. You will not need water, but I wrote about the aromatic additives above.


So, we take 1 kilogram of ripe, juicy plums, wash them and remove the seeds. The most convenient way is to simply cut each fruit in half lengthwise and pull out the bone. If you don't have exactly 1 kg, it's okay - take 0.8-1.2 kg. Then you will adjust the amount of sugar yourself. Then we put all the plums in a dish suitable for the volume (preferably with a thick bottom), close the lid and put on medium heat. Under the lid, the plums will soften faster and let the juice out.


Do not forget to stir so that the contents do not stick. After 15 minutes, the plums will completely soften and acquire a puree-like consistency. Only the skin remains, which needs to be chopped.


By the way, you can add granulated sugar right now. I only have 100 grams, but considering that the output of the finished plum marshmallow is only 250 grams, that's enough. But if you want a sweet pastille, try and add more sugar.



Stir everything (it is not necessary to remove the pan from the stove) and cook on a low-medium heat for about 10-15 minutes more. Cooking time for plums depends on the juiciness of the fruit, but it is important to evaporate as much moisture as possible. In addition, stir the contents of the pot from time to time to prevent the jam from burning.


Now we take a baking sheet and cover it with baking paper. If you are unsure about your paper (sometimes it is not very good quality), lubricate it with a thin layer of refined vegetable oil. When I prepare marshmallows, most often I grease the paper with odorless sunflower oil - it's safer this way. But it is in the case of plums that you can not do this, since there is a lot of pectin in them and the mass is well gelled, and then it leaves the paper in a moment. Pour still hot plum jam on the parchment (if you want, cool it - it doesn't matter) and smooth with a spatula. The thickness of the layer should be no more than 7-8 mm, otherwise the pastila will dry for a very long time. Try to make sure that the fruit mass is distributed in the same layer in thickness, otherwise the pastille in the oven may burn from the edges.


You can dry plum marshmallows in different ways. First of all, in the oven at the lowest temperature (no more than 100 degrees) with the door ajar. Depending on the thickness of the layer, time may be needed in different ways. In addition, you can use a special dryer for vegetables and fruits. Or in the fresh air in the sun. If you prefer the latter, remember that the best weather is a hot, sunny day. Then a day will be enough for the plum marshmallow to dry. Meanwhile, in normal (sometimes cloudy or changeable) weather, it can take 3-4 days. Personally, I dried the marshmallow for about 4-4.5 hours in the oven. The readiness of the plum marshmallow is easily determined in a tactile way, that is, not only externally, but also by touch. Touch it - if you press on the layer with your finger, it remains dry, but slightly sticky (this is normal), and the candy is elastic.


If not all, then most people know about marshmallow. This product was rather scarce in Soviet times and was immediately sold out when it appeared in stores.

The traditional marshmallow we know is made from apples, where dried fruits, nuts and other fillers can be added to the mixture. The finished product itself is a confectionery product, which in its taste and appearance resembles both jam and marmalade at the same time. To give the product an increased density and turn it into the very same briquettes in the package, the pastille is dried in ovens or ovens.

It turns out that such a confection is easy to prepare on your own. Let's take, for example, a plum and make the described product out of it. It turns out that made plum marshmallow, possesses a number of useful properties:

  • the finished product, unlike jam, retains vitamins and microelements;
  • prepared without thickeners such as gelatin, pectin and others;
  • absolutely harmless to children and pregnant and lactating mothers;
  • low-calorie product, allows you to include it in the diet of baby food;
  • specific rich taste allows this confection to be used in the preparation of various cereals, meat dishes, soups.

And most importantly: when preparing plum marshmallows, no special conditions and devices are required, but only the presence of plums and a recipe.

Method for preparing plum marshmallow

Since this type of sweetness is practically safe and healthy, and besides, it can still be prepared at home, why not try it.

Making marshmallows will require I have one kilogram of ripe plums and 200 grams of sugar... Depending on the acidity of the fruit, the proportion of sugar can be increased. There are a great many recipes on the Internet, so everyone chooses the one that suits him.

So, let's get down to business and consider at the same time two or three recipes for making plum marshmallows. The difference between these methods is in minor details, but it is they that allow you to choose the appropriate option based on your home conditions.

Option # 1

Option # 2

  • Wash and dry the plum;
  • Grind the pitted halves with a blender or scroll in a meat grinder;
  • The resulting mixture of plums cooked in a saucepan over low heat... You will have to stir all the time for an hour;
  • When the mass becomes homogeneous, it is continued to cook for another two hours, stirring with a spoon. This is done until the liquid completely evaporates from the jam;
  • The resulting plum jam is laid out on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. The paper is slightly greased with vegetable oil, and the laid out jam is leveled over the entire surface. So that the process does not drag on for a long time, the layer of jam should be no more than one centimeter;
  • The pastille dries from the plums in the oven at a temperature of 100 degrees, from 15 to 20 hours. If the oven is without convection, then it is better to keep the door ajar for air access;
  • The candy is ready when it does not stick to your hands and does not leave traces of juice on them. The thickness of the finished confectionery layer will be 3-5 millimeters;
  • After all, the resulting sweet sheet is detached from the paper and cut into pieces. Then it all depends on the cook: either leave various geometric figures, or the strips of cut pastille are rolled into rolls.

Option # 3

Using the example of these recipes, there are noticeable differences in making plum marshmallows at home. For example, some people do not add sugar at all if the fruit is sweet; someone covers the halves with sugar and leaves them for a while; others add sugar after boiling. Someone adds water, and someone lemon. In general, for lovers of marshmallow a large field for creativity and invention.

The marshmallow will make a wonderful dessert if you add nuts and a pinch of vanilla to it. Vanilla will give a wonderful smell to the product, and nuts will give a special piquancy. And sprinkle with poppy seeds and sugar, and what they just do to please themselves and loved ones. In this case, experiments are only beneficial. The main thing is not to forget about proper storage: either in a tightly closed jar, or in a roll made of edible paper and only in the refrigerator.