Tips for Adding Some Sweetness to your Candied Fruit Dish

Most of our bakers are constantly trying to improve the recipes that we make wtih candied fruit. Here are a few ideas and tips for adding various forms of chocolate and caramel to your creations.

Many of the recipes our customers like to concoct for our candied fruit products require the melting of chocolate. As we all know this can be a challenging, sticky, and messy. Keep these tips in mind the next time you need melted chocolate for your recipe:

• If you can, choose a dry, cool day for melting chocolate. "Seizing" occurs when the chocolate starts to stiffen or become grainy and is caused in large part by humidity in the air.
• Make sure all the spoon or stirrers you use are completely dry before using them. The smallest amount of water can initiate "seizing".
• Break chocolate chunks into smaller pieces to increase the surface area and allow it to melt quicker and more evenly.
• Stir repeatedly to maintain its consistency.
• If the chocolate becomes too lumpy or thick, try adding a bit of solid vegetable shortening, one tablespoon for each 6 oz.

If you are trying to create small shavings of chocolate for a topping or to evenly spread chocolate into a thick batter, use a potato peeler. It works a lot better if you put the chocolate bar into a refrigerator for a while so it is harder.

Almost anything you bake with Paradise Candied fruit will look and taste a little better with melted chocolate drizzled over the top.

Caramel is another addition that can make almost any dish taste a little better. Put it on bread pudding or French toast by first caramelizing it in a pan with butter and then pouring in some milk and letting it simmer.