Embracing summer flavours for the cocktail list, yet offering complete consistency and great natural taste, is made so much easier for the busy bar team when top quality fruit purees are used. And when they are ambient purees, they offer real advantages in terms of storage space and convenience of use.
Les vergers Boiron, the world leader in frozen fruit purees for professional kitchens, pastry and bars, says that its ambient range of fruit purees is ideal to deliver the best results for ambitious mixologists with an eye to convenience. The fruits are picked and processed at their peak, so no matter what the season, you get the best possible ripeness, and the purees are always ready to hand, giving 100 per cent yield.
The high quality of the purees is a result of the company’s President, Alain Boiron’s, creation of a processing method which uses heat-treatment specific to each fruit prior to packaging – the proven best technique for keeping flavour, texture, colour and freshness intact.
At the heart of the business, now led by Alain Boiron, of the third generation of Boirons to run the business, is true expertise and knowledge in selecting and processing each fruit variety to meet the demands of top chefs, pastry chefs and mixologists. “Our aim is to create exceptional products which deliver freshness and consistency, full flavour, colour, aroma and texture year-round, and in working with some of the most successful and award-winning chefs and bartenders from around the globe, we have developed a particular understanding of the demands of the hospitality industry,” says Boiron.
Designed for exceptional convenience the ambient fruit puree range offers the best in flavour and quality with the highest fruit content on the market. And at a time when bar teams are looking to reduce the overall level of sugar in cocktails and non-alcoholic mixed drinks, the Boiron purees, most of which have no added sugar, offer a greater level of flexibility. Cocktails should be led by alcohol, so additional ingredients must be pure and simple to provide good balance and contrast.
The ambient purees selection includes 10 top selling flavours; blackberry, raspberry, apricot, peach, pineapple, pear, passion fruit, mango, blood orange and strawberry.
The purees have no preservatives, no added flavourings, and no artificial colours, and are highly stable with a shelf life of 12 months before opening, and eight days in the fridge once opened.
The packaging, with six layers to protect the puree from oxygen and light, is designed for easy product identification, and has a large re-screwable pouring cap which eliminates the need for transferring the puree to a squeeze bottle before use.
The fruit puree range offers guaranteed consistency of serve – particularly important when it comes to high-volume turnover, and the trend towards pre-mixed and age-casked cocktails – as well as the same scope for creativity as from-scratch ingredients, along with obvious time-saving benefits and controlled pricing.
There is none of the waste that can be associated with using fresh fruits and the range provides all-round menu consistency, which is especially crucial when it comes to sourcing the more exotic flavours that consumers have come to demand – even when those fruits are out of season.
As well as adding great flavour and colour to cocktails, the purees add texture to drinks, to make them feel more substantial, and of real premium quality. As many consumers choose to drink less alcohol for health and social reasons, there is a greater focus on the quality of each drink, with premium cocktails and products coming to the fore.
The company developed its ambient purees range specifically for bartenders, working closely with world-leading mixologists including USA’s Freddy Diaz and the late Dick Bradsell to create and share ideas to match UK trends and make innovative and surprising cocktails.
Les vergers Boiron works closely with London chef, restaurateur and bar operator Adam Handling, winner of the National Restaurant Awards 2019 Cocktail List of the Year at Frog by Adam Handling restaurant, set above his Eve Bar in Covent Garden.
Famed for progressive and palate-awakening cocktails, Adam’s bars at Eve, and at Adam Handling Chelsea, use Boiron ambient fruit purees in their alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails on their lists, and for simpler cocktails like White Peach Bellinis which are served with Afternoon Tea on the terrace at Adam Handling Chelsea. His current cocktail list includes several which use Boiron purees including signature drink ‘Debbie Does Dallas’, a rich concoction of Russian Standard Vodka, Thyme, passion fruit butter syrup, vanilla and lemon.
Adam puts much effort into ensuring that those who choose not to drink alcohol can have something exceptional to drink. The non-intoxicating list is highly tempting, and strongly focussed on fruits (some using Boiron purees), vegetables, herbs and spices to create drinks of great complexity.
Adam Handling says of the range: “Les vergers Boiron has such a strong reputation for quality in the professional kitchen and bar.
“Using their ambient purees me and my team can create dishes and cocktails speedily and with maximum flavour, and the biggest advantage for me that the purees are always ready to hand, give 100 per cent yield, and have the convenience of a re-screwable carton, so for me they’re a real ‘no-brainer.”
Adam Handling’s Eve bar has created two cocktails for Les vergers Boiron, perfect for serving through the summer months:
PASSION FRUIT, SENCHA TEA & SHISO TOM COLLINS
Les vergers Boiron Passion fruit Ambient Puree - 20 ml
Sencha Tea infused Gin (2x tea bags per bottle at room temperature for 5 mins - 50 ml
Lemon Juice - 10 ml
Sugar Syrup - 10 ml
Shiso - 2 leaves
Shake & fine strain all ingredients into a tall glass with ice. Top up with soda.
Garnish with another shiso leaf.
STRAWBERRY & ELDERFLOWER APEROL SPRITZ
Les vergers Boiron Strawberry Ambient Puree - 25 ml
Aperol - 40 ml
Elderflower Cordial - 15 ml
Lemon Juice - 10 ml
Prosecco as required
