Candied fruit is a special food product obtained by slow digestion of various fruits (whole or chopped) in sweet syrup (sugar or sugar-treacle) followed by drying. Candied fruits are used mainly for the preparation of various confectionery products both as a filling and as a material for decoration. Also, candied fruits can be served separately as a treat for tea, coffee and other similar beverages. Tasty candied fruits are prepared from crusts of citrus fruits, boiling them in the form of small pieces until a translucent, glass-like flesh is obtained. The cooked crust is spread in a sieve, thus, separating from the sipping syrup, and then dried to a loss of stickiness. Of course, such a product as candied fruit has a rather high sugar content.
Are candied fruits useful and what exactly?
To answer this question, it is worth getting acquainted with the industrial ways of producing candied fruits, depending on the method of surface treatment, distinguish:
- Candied fruit candies (they have on the surface a more thin, dull matt dried crust formed from sugar syrup);
- candied, candied or tyrannized (covered with a thicker shiny vitreous crust, since after sipping them into a sieve and after sipping the syrup they are re-immersed in a more saturated sugar syrup for several minutes).
When tyranny, the cooked candied fruits are re-immersed in hot concentrated sugar syrup for several minutes and then dried at a temperature of 50 degrees C.
When candling, the cooked fruits are immersed in a warm concentrated supersaturated syrup at a temperature of about 35-40 degrees C and kept for 10-12 minutes (after which they are dried). As a result of this treatment in candied candied fruits, the crust is more uniform in structure.
From all of the above, it is clear and obvious that candied flavors prepared for sale and use without secondary immersion in thick syrup are, in theory, more useful than candied or tyrannized, since they have a lower overall sugar content. Of course, the benefits of candied fruits (a specific product) are determined by the degree of provability, which, in turn, depends on the juiciness of the raw material. With prolonged digestion, and even more so, digestion some useful substances (for example, vitamin C decompose). The reverse action occurs only with lycopene (one of the main nutrients contained in tomatoes).
When observing different diets, it is quite possible to use candied fruits in reasonable quantities, of course, it is better to separate them, and not in the composition of cakes and pastries. Although, of course, you can make interesting and useful salads or desserts from candied fruits, fresh fruits, nuts and unsweetened yogurt in fusion style.
Candied fruits and calories
When drawing up the menu of an individual diet, it should be borne in mind that the calorie content of candied fruits from different fruits (or crusts) can vary widely due to the initially different caloric content of the raw materials.
How many calories are in different candied fruits?
Caloric content of candied fruits from orange peels is about 300 kcal per 100 grams.
For comparison:
- candied melon - about 319 kcal;
- candied fruits from pears - about 343 kcal;
- candied papaya - about 327 kcal.
To maintain a diet, still more useful are home-made candied fruits. Of course, homemade candied fruits are prepared without re-immersion in concentrated sugar syrup. Tasty and useful home candied fruits can be prepared not only from citrus fruits and crusts, but, for example, from such super-useful fruits as pumpkins, tomatoes , eggplants, etc.