Cooking sous vide isn’t just limited to cooking savoury food; in fact, using this method to cook sweet dishes which contain fruit is a great way to really bring out the full flavour without the risk of burning or overcooking the fruit.
So, if you’re looking to create fruit-based dishes where you want the aroma, the shape and the full taste of the fruit to shine through, here’s our guide to cooking fruit sous vide!
As when cooking anything sous vide, timing and temperature are essential for getting the perfect texture and taste – and fruits are no different.
To ensure that your fruit retains its shape and holds its flavour while being cooked, you’ll have to know what the perfect temperature to cook it is, and how long it will need to be cooked for.
A general rule is that the firmer the fruit is, the longer it should be cooked for – you wouldn’t cook a peach for the same length of time you’d cook a pineapple for.
Ripeness also plays a big part in the cooking times and temperatures, with riper fruit requiring less time and less heat to stop it going too soft. Hardly-ripened fruit can often much tougher, meaning more cooking would be required to get the signature sous vide texture and locked-in flavouring
In order to get the best out of your fruit, here are the approximate times and temperatures to guide you. You may need to check your specific cooker and assess the quality of your fruit, but these guidelines will help you cook your fruit to perfection.
§ Firmer fruits (eg. apples and pears): 85˚C for up to an hour (depending on firmness)
§ Softer fruits (eg. plums, peaches, rhubarb): 75˚C for 30 minutes to an hour (depending on firmness)
§ Hard skinned fruits (eg. pineapples): 80˚C for up to an hour and a half
§ Very soft fruits (eg. banana) 83˚C for 10 to 15 Minutes
§ Cherries: 84˚C for 15 to 25 Minutes
We’ve briefly touched on some of the benefits of sous vide cooking your fruits, but why should you choose to sous vide over poaching or roasting?
Due to the slow cooking and vaccum seal, sous vide cooked fruits have a very unique texture to those that are poached or roasted – much more together and firm, along with a more powerful flavour.
Thanks to the sous vide process, the cells of the fruit are prevented from breaking down, meaning the fruits are much more structurally sound, perfect for if presentation is key – there won’t be any soggy pears or apples with sous vide cooking!
It’s not just all about how the fruit looks either – as it isn’t roasted or poached, the fruits are much higher in nutritional value as the goodness hasn’t been harshly cooked out of them, and the juice remains mostly within the fruit.
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