CHAPTER 15: FRUIT AND FRUIT PRODUCTS Flashcards
Fruit is nature’s ______.
sweet
Fruit is the centerpiece of what?
Many traditional desserts such as fruits pies and tarts, poached pears, and apple strudel, and it compliments many plated desserts.
Fruit is an important source of what in the bakeshop?
Flavor, color, and texture.
Are fruit and fruit products today different from those found in bakeshops as little as 30 years ago? Explain.
Today, there is widespread use of frozen fruit purees, and flavors once considered exotic, such as many and kiwi, are almost as common as strawberry and apple. New fruit varieties are continually being bred, such as boysenberries and the Marion blackberry, and new ones being popularized, such as sweet meyer lemon and the nashi or Asian pear.
How is fruit purchased?
Fresh, frozen, canned, or dried. They can be whole, sliced, or pureed, packed in water or sugar, sold as jam or as a prepared pie or bakery filling.
What is a cultivar?
An organism and especially one of an agricultural or horticultural variety or strain originating and persistent under cultivation.
Why is more fresh fruit available year round?
As early- and late-ripened cultivars of fruits are developed, and as more fruit from the Southern Hemisphere is exported to North America during the winter.
Ideally, fruit used in the bakeshop should be what?
Fresh and fully ripe.
How are new fruit varieties becoming more improved?
They often have improvements in flavor, texture, appearance, and size, providing a benefit to the consumer. Other times, improvements are in disease resistance, yield per acre, and other benefits to the farmer.
How are new varieties of fruit developed?
One technique used for years is plant breeding. First step is selecting two different plants with desirable traits. By transferring pollen from one plant to another, the breeder hopes to produce seeds with best attributes of both.
What is the only way to determine if cross-pollination worked?
Plants the seeds and grow them. It’s time consuming, expensive, hit-or-miss process but most fruits are bred in this manner.
To get an idea of the size of such an undertaking (cross-pollination), what should you consider?
University of California Strawberry Breeding Program grow around 10,000 seedlings in a nursery by crossbreeding parent plants. Each plant is evaluated for vigor, fruit quality, and yield, and about 200-300 are chosen and allowed to propagate and be planted in outdoor fields. Each outdoor plant is further evaluated before one or more is selected for widespread planting.
Why does the State of California rely on these traditional plant breeding techniques to develop new strawberry cultivars? So much time and money go into it.
Over 80% of the strawberries consumed in North America are grown in CA, making strawberries a multibillion dollar business for the state.
What’s wrong with fresh blueberries purchased in the middle of winter?
They have poor color, flavor, and are prohibitively expensive.
Most common fruits, such as strawberries and apples, are available year round, but certain specialty fruits, such as _____ and _____, are available only certain months of the year.
lychee, pomegranate
Why is purchasing fresh fruit in season no guarantee of quality?
Fruit is highly perishable, and poorly stored fruit will lose their value relatively quickly.
Fruit is a natural agricultural product, and its quality varies throughout the _____ and from one _____ to the next.
season, region
Why does fruit also vary from one year to the next? Explain.
Partly because climate conditions change from year to year. Depending on the amount of sun and rainfall and length of the growing season, fruit can be weak-tasting and poor in color, or it can be sweet, vibrant, and bursting with flavor.
Can different varieties of fruit vary widely in quality?
Yes
What benefits do frozen and canned fruit have over fresh?
Available year round, less perishable, consistency.
When fruit is out of season, ______ fruit often has better quality than fresh, and it can be less expensive.
processed
Why is out-of-season fruit so expensive and lacking in quality?
It often must be shipped long distances, often from South and Central America, Australia, and New Zealand. The cost of shipping is high, and its toll on quality even greater.
Even when fresh fruit is in season, reasonably priced, and high in quality, processed fruits have a place in many bake shops. Explain.
Frozen puree need only be thawed and canned apples opened before use, with little manpower and no waste.
Do the US and Canada have national programs for grading the quality of fruit grown and sold in their countries?
Yes