Pie Fruit Isn't Sweet - Or Is It?

Question

I started another thread in which I related a failed experiment at trying to rescue mushy blueberries with a prepared pie crust (because it was cheap and I didn't want to fuss). I added hardly any extra sugar and still it ended up way too sweet.

Someone surprised me by commenting that pie fruit shouldn't be sweet. I think I agree but I don't have that much experience to go by.

What do the experienced bakers here think?

Answer

I would use ripe fruit of whatever variety, but generally prefer fruit with a good balance of acidity. Most fruits can be eaten out of hand and don't need much additional sugar. Blueberries can be kind of insipid, but if you get good tart ones or add a bit of lemon juice and zest they make a fine pie.

Answer

I think this is more a question for the eaters than the bakers. I like a combination like strawberry rhubarb. But I don't like overly sweet fruit pies so I use granny smith for apples not the sweeter ones, etc.

Answer

Need a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, and some of the zest won't hurt. I find blueberry pie most prone to being too sweet of the common fruit pies.

Answer

I remember reading an interview with a lady who ran a pie shop and she gave as her secret to reduce sugar in all pie recipes. I think she gave her recipe for blackberry pie, too.

I have found a mix of different fruits helps also. I don't like single fruit pies as much as mixed pies and sometimes that means adding in a more sour/tart fruit. Blackberries, for example, improve berry pies, or some cranberries. I find cooked blueberries to be kind of blah tasting, so I don't make them into pies. Definitely need something to round out the flavor esp if they are already tending sweet.

Answer

a little pinch of salt really helps to balance things out

Answer

I prefer a less sweet fruit pie, I've had too many gloppy cloyingly sweet pies that are so sweet they hurt your teeth.

I like to taste the fruit.

Even when I make jams, I use a lot less sugar.

Answer

I want to taste the fruit -- but yes, the fruit should be sweet.

Blueberries are difficult -- they can be candy-sweet or utterly flavorless, (with seemingly no middle ground)and you can't tell until you own them. 

I tend to taste the fruit as I prepare the filling and add sugar depending on what my palate tells me.

Answer

I don't claim to be any great baker. I don't do it very often. But one thing I have learned about cutting the sweetness of blueberry pies is to do the following: make a filling cooked on the stove in a saucepan in the usual way with the usual level of sweetness. Let it cool.

Prebake the pie shell. Let it cool. Smear between 1/8" and 1/4" of cream cheese onto the bottom and sides of the cooled pie shell. 

Then mix in a bowl about equal parts (i.e., to taste) the cooked blueberry and whole, fresh, uncooked blueberries. The whole blueberries will get mashed up a bit in the process of mixing them into the cooked blue berries. Use a large spoon. Don't try to mash the whole, fresh, uncooked blueberries. The mixing process will naturally mash them enough.

Pour the mixture of the cooked and uncooked blueberries into the pie shell. Refrigerate the pie very thoroughly. (Leaving it overnight is ideal, but you don't need to be a fanatic about it. A few hours is okay. A longer time will mean a less runny filling, which I prefer.) Cover the pie with dollops of slightly sweetened whipped cream, leaving plenty of blueberry mixture showing for visual appeal.

Here is why I think that this works so well: uncooked blueberries are not that sweet and are often a bit sour. Cooking with sugar makes blueberries sweet. (Even if you do not cook with sugar, the dehydration of the mixture concentrates the sweetness.) So, by adding the uncooked berries to the cooked mixture, you dial back the sweetness, give the mixture a more substantial "mouthfeel," and increase the sensory impression of tartness. Some crushing of the whole blueberries is essential to release the tartness, but not a lot. Regular mixing of the whole blue berries into the mixture accomplishes this.

As for the cream cheese smeared on the bottom of the pie shell, I don't know why this works so well, but it does. It seems to increase the body and richness of the dessert in a pleasant way.

Last, obviously, if the pie still seems too sweet, increase the quantity of fresh blueberries and cut back on the cooked berries or, obviously, vice-versa, to sweeten it more. I call this "Marian's Blueberry Pie."

Answer

For pastry you should use tart apples---sweet eating apples will be terrible in pastry. And any apples for pastry are improved by adding a little grated orange or lemon rind, orange or lemon juice.

Meanwhile, if you have blueberries that are getting soft and you don't want them for pie because the flavor is blah, bring them to a boil with a teensy bit of water and a little sugar then thicken this with a tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in cold water. This hot blueberry sauce will be great on French toast or Eggo waffles, as an alternative to syrup. Also works with strawberries. Or you can freeze the sauce for next winter.

Answer

If you're making it for yourself, it should taste exactly as sweet as you like it to be. If you like sweet, then go for it. There is no right or wrong when it comes to your preferences.

Answer

If you have sweet blueberries, you have bad blueberries. blueberries should be sour. and they shouldn't be soft to the touch either, and particuarly not squishy.

wildpicked are best.

Answer

It depends on the pie and the fruit. For an uncooked fruit pie like a berry glace pie, the berries should be perfectly ripe and sweet. A baked pie can be more forgiving. Baking will soften the fruit, and you can add sugar to taste. I would often bake pies or crumbles with underripe fruit that I got from the food bank, it never really ripens properly. But apple and cherry pies are usually made from the sour varieties of these fruits.

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Pie Fruit Isn't Sweet - Or Is It?

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