Pectinex or Pectinase

I soaked some meyer lemons in this stuff last night and it's pretty amazing stuff! The pith rubbed off like it was the skin of a roasted pepper. I have a hard time telling which side of the peel is the original. I'm going to candy these.

Anyone else playing with this stuff? Ideas for uses? I want to try the pectinase steeped potatoes from the modernist cuisine books but would love to hear about different uses/ideas.

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Chris_Young_80640

Great for clarifying juices. Add a few drops (about 0.1% by weight), then refrigerate your juice overnight. in the morning all of the pulp should have settled to the bottom, leaving you a very transparent juice.

Also good for making tough to puree foods easy.

Walter_Zuromski_39127

Another functional attribute of pectinase is to add it to a fruit dressing to control the gelling of low ph reactions from the fruit pectin causing the dressing to gel. This is particularly true of commercialized cocktail sauce. Generally the dressing is cooked up to establish shelf stable characteristics and in the formula to counteract the natural gelling reaction of the fruit pectinase is added.

michaelnatkin

I had good luck using it as you did, for lemon skins. Less so clarifying apple juice some months later. I started to wonder if it has lost activity in my fridge. @Chris, any idea how long it should be good for?

Chris_Young_80640

@Michael: The enzyme does lose its efficacy over time, but refrigerated it should be fine for months. I've had very good luck using is on apple juice, so I wonder if something else was going on with your experience.

Chris_Young_80640

@Walter Really good point. Blueberry puree has a strong tendency to gel when made into a sorbet, I'll try using some pectinase the next time I make some.

prince_of_porcelain

I've never heard of this before...what concentration did you use to soak the peels?

Brendan_Lee_56950

3g per 1L of water is what I used.

prince_of_porcelain

Thanks @Brendan ! How does it affect the flavor of the peels? Do you lose some of the essential oils in the long soak? Does it change the texture of the peel at all? Looks like it could have some interesting applications. I put it on my list for next time I place an order for exotic ingredients.

Brendan_Lee_56950

They still smelled pretty vibrant after applying the enzyme. I candied these ones and they still give a real nice pop of citrus flavor. I imagine that the original quality of the fruit will make a big difference in that as well. As for texture, they are pretty delicate after this application. I never realized how strong pectin really was, the peels pretty much feel like fruit roll up texture or even more flimsy after that so be delicate!

Chris_Young_80640

The peel oils shouldn't be affected by the enzyme.

Mason_Perry_34060

Any pics?

Brendan_Lee_56950

You mean other than the one in the original post?

Mason_Perry_34060

yessir

Brendan_Lee_56950

I don't think I took any of the supreme'd segments but I can snap a pic of the candied skins when I get home. I scented the syrup with star anise and it may be my new favorite.

Mason_Perry_34060

Nice!