marron glace and glace fruits

[trueblu]

I'm on the look-out for really good quality (French) marron glace and also superb glace fruits in the Boston area. I know that formaggio kitchen and burdick's do pate de fruits, but do they (or other places) carry these items?

thanks,

tb

[djd]

Are marrons glacés *really* as hard to make at home as the few online discussions I've found say? The procedure sounds so simple... simmer in sugar syrup, let sit, simmer, let sit, etc. Not fast but doable.

[trueblu]

I don't know, but apparently it takes a few days to make them. I prefer to remain ignorant on the matter!

tb

[MichaelB]

Now I'm curious: can you post a link to the online discussions? I made glace apricots this summer when they were in season locally and they took time but weren't terribly difficult. (Actually I made them twice and following my vague instincts about the process the first time gave better results than obsessively following an internet recipe I found later.) It basically is the same idea: gently simmering the fruit/nut in successively more concentrated syrups. The main thing to avoid is hitting a boil, because that breaks down the fruit's cell walls too much and it gets floppy (though it still tastes pretty good).

more on topic: the glace fruits at Formaggio are *fantastic* but wicked pricy.

[djd]

At a different computer now so I'm not sure I'm hitting the same search terms, but there's this: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/306234

[Scruffy The Cat]

Yes. They're easy enough to glacée roughly but to get the correct consistency of the chestnut vs. the sugar and not have the chestnut fall apart or become too hard is very, very tricky. Plus it takes forever.

That being said, for cooking or for not-so-special occasions, it's pretty easy and far cheaper to buy glacéed chestnuts in a jar from Turkey. I make chestnut cheesecake every year with them. I buy mine from Sevan for about $10/ a jar but I saw them at Marty's recently too. Tasty, just not all that pretty.

[barleywino]

Neuhaus chocolates has very good marron glace (not sure where their closest outlet to here is). I've gotten very good (moist plump, half chocolate dipped is also available) glazed Australian apricots from Superior Nut company (mail order).

[trueblu]

Thanks barelywino...unfortunately they don't seem to have them on the online store (it's possible that the actual stores stock them). A lot of yummy stuff however.

tb

[teezeetoo]

fastachi on mt. auburn in watertown (across the street from Severns) - don't know about marron glace but all the glace fruits you would use in good baking seem to be there.

[barleywino]

maybe if the local store doesn't stock them, they can get them (they are listed on the Belgian Neuhaus website http://translate.google.com/translate... and i've bought them from the store in Seattle)

[trueblu]

Thanks for the tip: I called one of the stores in NYC, and they do stock them and happy to ship. However, I also called Formaggio Kitchen on the off chance: they stock Italian marron glace but they also make their own (at $5 each!) -- anyone tried the home grown ones? I might swing by and get just the one or two for a taste, before deciding which way to go. Fortnum and Mason are able to ship from the UK for very similar prices.

tb

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Formaggio Kitchen
244 Huron Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138

[teezeetoo]

bought the glazed orange and lemon peel from fastachi, and the glazed apricots and dried plums for baking. found them excellent.

[trueblu]

thanks for the tip. However, I don't want these for baking, but rather as a luxury gift. Do you think they are suitable for that?

tb

[teezeetoo]

stop in at their mt. auburn store in watertown and see what you think. they don't have a huge selection of glace but the glazed apricots are lovely as is the orange and lemon rind. can't say whether the selection is wide enough to put together a gift basket (they do that for you). their nuts are exceptionally good. I think they have a website you could visit.

[barleywino]

good to know, thanks! maybe you can pick up some Marrone chestnut liqueur to go with ;)