Fruit Purées and Sauces

Fruit purées, either raw or cooked, are important as the basis of sorbets, dessert gelatins and refreshing fruit soups as well as fruit paste candies. They flavor soufflés, mousses and ice creams (see Cold Desserts and Ice Creams). Simple purées are made from a single fruit: apple sauce for instance, is nothing more than cooked, flavored and puréed apple, and Melba sauce is simply sweetened raspberry purée. In fact many fresh or thawed frozen fruits may be puréed to create a delicate sauce to spoon underneath or on top of desserts. Other purées are made from a combination of two fruits, as in the popular American rhubarb and strawberry sauce. Some fruit sauces are made especially for serving with savory dishes. Gooseberries make a pleasantly sharp sauce for serving with smoked mackerel, while plum sauce is delicious with ham or gammon, as well as being popular in Chinese cuisine.