Why did blueberry puree turn to gel?

July 5, 2007 1:16 PM

Cookingfilter: Why did my blueberry sorbet base solidfy?

Last night, in anticipation of wanting blueberry sorbet today, I blended up (no cooking or freezing) a batch of blueberry sorbet. This consisted of only 2 cups of fresh blueberries, 3 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, and 4 tablespoons of simple syrup. Immediately after blending, the liquid base had a considerable amount of viscosity, like very soft whipped cream, which I attributed to the blender whipping air into the mixture.

I put the liquid base in an airtight container and refrigerated overnight. This morning, most of the liquid had solidified into a gel not unlike Jell-o, although about 1/4 of the liquid is now much thinner than it was last night.

Does anyone know why this happened and what, if anything, I can do in the future to prevent it from happening?

posted by dbolll to food & drink (6 comments total)

You made blueberry jam; the pectin in the blueberries made it solidify. Your recipe is also very close to my favorite and very simple blueberry sauce.
posted by TedW at 1:29 PM on July 5, 2007

Blueberries are very high in pectin. You have some yummy blueberry jam on your hands. I'm pretty sure if you heat it up - you'll have liquid again.
posted by Wolfie at 1:30 PM on July 5, 2007

Thanks for the answers.

The pectin was my guess, but in my jam making sessions with other berries, cooking has always been required to get things to set. Do blueberries have an extremely high pectin content?
posted by dbolll at 1:44 PM on July 5, 2007

Ripe ones, not so much, underripe ones, yes. Cold temperatures and acid from the lemons also help the pectin setup.

Indeed, your recipe looks a lot like my favorite blueberry jam.
posted by bonehead at 1:54 PM on July 5, 2007

Pectin needs sugar to gel. Cut your sugar down and and/or add it later. Reducing the acidity will also help. Use the ripest fruit you can.
posted by bonehead at 1:56 PM on July 5, 2007

AskMe is beautiful. This is exactly what the Internet should be like.
posted by eritain at 11:10 PM on July 5, 2007