Frutta Martorana

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Food processor for grinding almonds
• •Heavy saucepan
• •Candy thermometer
• •Fine grater for orange texture
• •Small paintbrushes in several sizes (new, food-safe)
• •Toothpicks for detail work
• •Small palette or plate for mixing colors

Instructions

1. 1

   Grind the almonds

   The almonds must be ground to the finest possible powder. A food processor willdo this, but you must pulse in short bursts, scraping down the sides. If you grind too long without stopping, the oil releases and you have almond butter. Add two tablespoons of the sugar while grinding to absorb excess oil. The texture should be like fine flour, not sand.

   Sicilian almonds from Avola have superior flavor and higher oil content. If using American almonds, add the almond extract to approximate the intensity. This is not cheating. It is compensating for geography.
2. 2

   Make the sugar syrup

   Combine the remaining sugar and water in a heavy saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves completely. Stop stirring. Let the syrup come to a boil and cook until it reaches 240°F on a candy thermometer, the soft ball stage. Remove from heat immediately. If you do not have a thermometer, drop a small amount into cold water. It should form a soft, pliable ball.

3. 3

   Combine to form pasta reale

   Pour the hot syrup over the ground almonds in a large bowl. Work quickly with a wooden spoon, then with your hands when cool enough to touch. Knead until the mixture forms a smooth, pliable paste. If too dry, add drops of water. If too sticky, add more ground almonds. The dough should feel like soft clay, holding any shape you give it.

   The Sicilians call this pasta reale, royal paste. The name tells you everything about how they regard it.
4. 4

   Rest the paste

   Wrap the paste tightly in plastic and let it rest at room temperature for at least two hours, or overnight. This allows the oils to distribute evenly and the texture to stabilize. Cold paste cracks. Room temperature paste sculpts beautifully.

5. 5

   Shape the fruits

   Pinch off small pieces of paste, about the size of a walnut for most fruits. Roll between your palms to form basic shapes: spheres for oranges and apples, ovals for lemons and pears, longer ovals for bananas. Use your fingers to create the characteristic shapes. Press a whole clove into the bottom of apples and pears for the blossom end. For figs, create a small teardrop and use a toothpick to score the skin texture.

   Study real fruit before you begin. Notice where the stem indents, how the surface curves, where the color shifts. The nuns who invented these had no photographs. They had observation and patience.
6. 6

   Create texture

   Different fruits require different textures. For oranges and lemons, roll the shaped fruit gently over a fine grater to create the characteristic pebbled skin. For peaches, brush lightly with a dry brush to create fuzz marks. For strawberries, press the tip of a chopstick repeatedly to create seed indentations. Work methodically. Each fruit type should look consistent.

7. 7

   Dry before painting

   Arrange the shaped fruits on parchment-lined trays, not touching each other. Let them dry at room temperature for 24 hours. They must form a slight crust on the outside while remaining soft within. Do not rush this. Painting wet paste creates muddy colors.

8. 8

   Paint the fruits

   Dilute food coloring paste with a few drops of water or clear alcohol. The color should be like watercolor, not opaque. Begin with the lightest colors as a base coat. For an orange, paint the entire surface yellow first. Let it dry completely, ten minutes or more. Then add orange, concentrating color where it would naturally appear, leaving highlights where light would hit. Build color in thin layers. The realism comes from subtlety, not intensity.

   Real fruit is never one solid color. Look at a peach: cream at the top fading to gold, blushing to rose, deepening to red. Paint what you see, not what you assume.
9. 9

   Add details and stems

   Use a fine brush and brown coloring for stems, dots, and imperfections. Tiny brown flecks on a banana, the dark calyx on a fig, the gradual browning at a pear's neck. These imperfections create realism. Perfect fruit looks fake. A small dab of gold luster on oranges adds the natural sheen of citrus oil. Leaves can be shaped from green-tinted paste and attached with a dot of corn syrup.

10. 10

    Glaze for shine

    When the paint is completely dry, brush fruits that should appear glossy with clear piping gel thinned with a drop of water, or with light corn syrup. Apples, cherries, and citrus benefit from this. Peaches and figs should remain matte. Let the glaze set for one hour before handling.

Chef Tips

• •Gel food coloring produces more vivid, stable colors than liquid. Liquid coloring can make the paste sticky and the colors muddy. Invest in a proper set.
• •Store finished fruits in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature. They keep for several weeks. Do not refrigerate. The condensation ruins the painted surface.
• •The traditional Sicilian fruits include fichi d'India, prickly pears, which Americans rarely see. Make what grows where you live. A perfect apple is better than a clumsy attempt at something unfamiliar.
• •If your paste cracks while shaping, it has dried too much. Knead in a few drops of water and let it rest again. Patience corrects most problems.

Advance Preparation

• •The marzipan paste improves if made one day ahead. Wrapped tightly, it keeps at room temperature for one week or refrigerated for one month. Bring to room temperature before shaping.
• •Shaped but unpainted fruits can wait up to three days before painting, covered loosely with a towel.
• •Completed frutta martorana stores in an airtight container for three weeks. The flavors develop and the texture softens slightly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 piece (about 30g)