Veggie + Fruit Purée

My Purée Favorites

I use this cooking technique regularly, although not frequently. For me, as a gal who loves soups, it is a go-to technique in the Fall when squashes are in season. Nothing is greter than having a cup of squash + veggies puréed soup.

• I roast the squash + veggies to be used, add just the flesh (no skins) to a chicken or veggie broth, and purée using an immersion blender.

Another dish I like is Japanese Corn Potage. Really a French dish, this soup has been served in Japan at least since the 1950’s when sweet corn was introduced. It is a great, creamy, yellow soup we would drink out of a cup, generally at lunch time.

• The traditional Japanese way of cooking this soup is to cook sweet corn in chicken or vegetable stock, pureeing the mixture, and then straining it so that the smooth soup has no fiber. It’s then often thickened with a roux and cream.
• If you have any saved de-kerneled cobs, add those to the chicken or veggie stock for additional corn flavor.

Purée Definition

Most home cooks in the USA however, seem to not use the purée technique much, although it is used regularly in other countries. So let’s start with what is puréed food. I thought I would look to the hospital environment first, and quote from an IDDSI patient handout, that states purée food must meet certain conditions.

• Is usually eaten with a spoon, and must hold it‘s shape on the spoon; meaning it cannot be too liquid, but must have some texture.
• Does not require chewing; can be easily swallowed.
• Has a smooth texture with no lumps and is not very sticky so it can fall-off the spoon when tilted.
• The liquid is emulsified, and must not separate from solids.

Please remember I am not a medical doctor, nutritionist, or dietitian so refer to those professionals if you, a friend, or loved one has any of the medical conditions I write about below.

Why Eat Puréed Food

There are several reasons why puréed food is important and a very valuable cooking technique.

• Puréed foods are a necessity for babies just learning to properly chew and swallow food.
• Also important as food when sick dogs are not eating.
• These foods can help with the elderly who are losing some of that ability to chew and swallow.
• It is also an important stage in reintroducing regular food in hospital settings.
  • People recovering from a major illnesses or surgery requiring anesthesia.
  • People who have had mouth surgery.
• Finally, there are puréed dishes many of us love to eat, including soups, some breakfast smoothies, certain porridges, and the like.

Baby Food

Babies have to learn to chew and swallow. It takes time, so they start with mother’s milk (or formula) and move to puréed as the next food. Then when they are ~6-8 months they can be transitioned to more solid, yet softish food (1).

You can make your own baby food by puréeing veggies or fruit. What is great about this is you know exactly what ingredients are in the food. Batches can be made and frozen for later use (just remember to label and date).

You can also make fruit or veggie ice-cubed popsicles for your kids.

Sick Dogs

As a side note, meat-based baby food or your own homemade puréed foods, are sometimes suggested by Vets if your dog is sick and having problems eating or keeping food down. A sick dog that is not eating can make an illness worse. So your vet may suggest an easy to digest baby food.

Also with some dogs, it makes giving them medicine a bit easier. (While Maggie, the Havanese, will eat anything, including pills. Charlie, the Golden-doodle, will find it and spit it out no matter what the pill is hidden in).

Elderly Requirements

With some people, aging may include the loss of smell, ability to chew, and/or the ability to adequately swallow food. So this cooking technique can be part of a solution to supply adequate nutrition. But by itself it is not enough, as some people will require special monitoring and tests.

• If a friend or loved one falls into this category, please speak with their doctor, nutritionist, or dietitian.

As we age, we tend to lose muscle mass and strength, even in areas associated with chewing and swallowing. If we have had insufficient dental care, this can be a worsening situation as we age, which can increase the chance of choking (2).

• Difficulty in swallowing is called dysphagia.
• DailyCaring: It’s estimated that 15% of seniors and up to 68% of nursing home residents are affected by dysphagia.
• AHandToHoldSD:  It has been estimated that as many as 20% of individuals over the age of 50 and most individuals by the age of 80, experience some degree of swallowing difficulty.

Although not necessarily a part of normal aging, certain conditions can lead to the loss of ability to smell food, chew adequately, and swallow. For instance:

• Dementia and Alzheimers (3).
• At certain points or stages, Parkinson’s Disease can lead to the inability to hold utensils, and swallow. So cups are easier to hold, and liquified or puréed foods are easier to consume.
• Dry food (think biscuits) can be harder to swallow, due to not producing enough saliva.
  • AHandToHoldSD writes, A decrease in saliva can affect our ability to swallow. Saliva is needed to correctly and smoothly guide the food from the mouth and throat down the esophagus. Certain medications can also decrease saliva production (known as “dry mouth” in the medication pamphlets and ads).
• Acid reflux, long term, can affect swallowing.
  • AHandToHoldSD: Having a diagnosis of GERD (acid reflux disorder) can put one at risk as the acid in our stomachs can damage the throat and esophagus after years of having heartburn. Having a diagnosis of Celiac Disease can put you at risk for the same reasons.
• Stroke can inhibit chewing and swallowing.

With these conditions, it is entirely feasible that puréed foods would be suggested to help remove the necessity to chew, and could make swallowing a bit easier. But there are a list of other treatments that could be included such as mind-body work, biofeedback, hypnosis, acupuncture, medicine, herbal remedies, surgery, etc. So again, speak with a professional.

Medical Necessity

After many different types of surgeries that require anesthesia, hospitals start with clear liquid diets and move toward solid foods in steps (4).

• Liquid: sugar-free clear liquids, tea, Jell-O, water and broths
• Puréed: puréed or fully blended food and thicker liquids.
• Soft Food: eggs, tofu, low-fat cottage cheese, stewed chicken, well-cooked veggies, baked fish, soft fruits, and sugar-free low-fat yogurt.  
• Solid Food

Puréed foods are very smooth and have a homogenous texture, but critically, without the loss of aroma and taste.

• I had my jaw broken twice and braces were placed to allow just a centimeter of space between my upper and lower teeth. Puréed food were the only things I could consume, and they had to be very liquid, for example, no pureed strawberries because their seeds could be caught in the braces and prevent me from eating. What I fell in love with was pureed potatoes that could be very flavorfully varied.
• After an emergency, during what was to. be an outpatient surgery, I had to stay in the hospital for a week. The first several days I ate a liquid diet (bland, boring, left me hungry and peeing a lot). I remember the joy I felt when I was moved onto a puréed diet; finally taste and texture. It turned out to be one of the happiest days of that whole ordeal.

Damn Good Food

Then there is puréed foods that are just good food that are eaten because we want to, not need to.

Veggie Purée Technique

This cooking technique is defined as a way to create a very smooth and creamy dish from well cooked, mashed, blended or liquidized fruit or vegetables. If done unstrained, it keeps the fiber the food had originally, but strained has limited to no fiber unless you add some.

• Chef Keller (French Laundry) was recorded making a French egg dish that purées eggs to a creamy, almost custardy scrambled texture.
• Although I have seen puréed meats, mainly as baby food, I have never done or tasted one, so will not comment on that.

Boil or Steam Veggis

The veggie prepping and cooking process is very simple.

• Steam or boil veggies
  • Wash, peel, and chop the veggie for steaming or boiling
    • Cook until soft (do not over cook so much that they lose all flavor).
      • Overcooked veggies can get a bit waterlogged or mealy
  • Remove from water or steam, and let it cool a bit, while you prepare a blender
  • Put the cooked food into the blender and add appropriate liquid and seasoning
    • Liquid: broth, butter, sour cream, any kind of milk, etc.
    • Seasoning: salt, pepper or acid
    • Be sure not to turn the blender on until the top is in place
• Blend until it reaches the texture you want, and test by tasting
  • Once done, remove from a blender into a bowl or pot with a rubber spatula.
  • You can then reheat the mixture if desired, or you can freeze the mixture (remember to label and date the bags)

The critical tools used for this is either a food processor or a blender. Sometimes the mixture is run through a ricer to break it into smaller mashes, or through a sieve to remove solids (like pea skins) for a refined liquid, and is part of making a particular dish, or it is served as is.

Roasted Veggies

Other times you might want to roast the veggies, especially squashes and sweet potatoes for they caramelize and add additional flavor to the dish.

• Roast veggies
  • Wash cut and roast, skin side up on a parchment lined baking sheet
    • Cook until you can run a fork though the food and it slips through very easily
    • Then take out the flesh, as you will not be using the skin for this dish, and place in a bowl to continue to cool
• Meanwhile heat up some chicken or veggie broth
• Add the veggie flesh and use an immersion blender to combine
  • Make sure the blender is fully in the liquid before it is turned on
  • I may add some butter, browned butter, or herb-infused butter

Purée Tips

Very starchy food needs to be mixed with caution and lots of liquid, they can otherwise become very doughy or gluey.

• In cases where several items will be combined, Chef Olive (Kitchen on Fire) always blends one food at a time, then combines them together afterwards.
• Always start the blender on low, and slowly ramp up the speed to prevent vortex explosions.
• While blending, if the food is too hot, steam may be released and I have seen explosions of hot food thrown into the air; so occasionally lift the lid and scrape down the sides to let the heat escape.
• It is better to blend things in batches, rather than overfill a blender.
• If blending multiple items, start with the lighter colored foods so you do not have to clean between each food.
• Make sure to check the broth and soup for any bones, chunks, etc.
• If using an emersion blender, be sure to have it in the food before you turn it on.

What Veggies are Puréed

Food that purées extremely well are veggies we roast, steam, or boil such as:

• Potatoes
  • I run through a ricer first, then add my butter, sour cream, or milk
  • Then blend
• Sweet potatoes
• Yams
• Beets
• Squashes of all sorts
  • Remove all seeds, strings, and peels
• Peas
  • Strain to remove the skins
• Carrots
• Parsnips
• Cauliflower
• Celeriac
• Other “mashable” veggies

Puréed Cuisine

I like certain puréed foods, especially soups.

• Summer squash + sweet potato soup mixed with sage browned butter
• Creamy garbanzo-hummus, carefully mashed and run through a sieve to remove solids, with lemon and garlic confit (both the garlic cloves and some oil) is a favorite
• Potatoes carefully riced, then emulsified by hand with a mix of warm cream, and clarified or regular butter
• Parsnips or Celery Root are simmered in cream + water until soft, then all of the mixture is moved from the pot and into the blender with a bit of salt and some additional butter, or topped with small bits of herb

Fruit Purée Technique

Fruits can be steamed, boiled, or used raw. While my veggie purées are soft and smooth, my fruit purées tends to be soft but clumpy. I like a little more texture in my fruit.

If I am going to use raw, I want very ripe soft fruit, and use as little additional liquid as I can, for I want a concentrated mixture. Usually I only do this with bananas, watermelon, and very ripe papaya.

For making fruit purées I only use organic fruit.

• Peaches I purée in a blender with some orange or tangerine zest and a bit of sugar syrup, then strain (skins), and place into a clean jar with a lid
• Strawberries are puréed in a blender with sugar syrup and strained (seeds) – I prefer cooking the strawberries in a bit of water to concentrate flavor and do not add sugar
• Blueberries puréed in a blender with a very small amount of sugar syrup and strained (outer skins)
• Use a Plum purée as part of making a BBQ sauce

I use fruit purées over ice cream, yogurt, cottage cheese, and oatmeal or millet porridge. I have used them in baked brie, and sometimes instead of jams. They are added to smoothies, mixed in or on top of pies or cheese cakes, and are an all around useful jar of fruit flavor. I have even frozen them in ice cubes, like my Mutti did, as little popsicle treats.

Other Puréed Items

I am told you can purée eggs, chicken and other items, but I have never tried so cannot comment.

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News: There is a new nut-free, gluten-free, vegan “milk” showing up in some stores. It is called “Bananamilk” from the Mooala brand, and is made from a combination of water, banana, and sunflower seeds. (If you see a Korean banana milk, it is just a banana-flavored cow’s milk.) The “Bananamilk“ has 60c + 3g fat in 1C bananamilk, it has potassium and is fortified with calcium and other minerals. Just remember to shake before you use it.

DIY: Make your own banana-milk by blending a ripe banana with 1C water. To make it thicker and more nutritious by adding some chia or flax seeds, dates, or nut butter for a boost of nutrients.

Tip: When I came up with my pandemic food list, I completely forgot the very old favorite, canned milk; either sweetened condensed milk or evaporated milk. Many Americans have forgotten how to use these very valuable, and long lasting ingredients. (I have used these cans in desserts for introducing creaminess, and is a key ingredient of Thai Iced Tea which I love, but it is too fattening.) Both are evaporated milk with 60% water removed, evaporated milk is milk and can be used as such in recipes; but the sweetened can is a thick, syrupy, and sweet product. Check the cans carefully, they look very similar.

Pollinators: The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) advises homeowners to let inertia be their guide when it comes to the cleanup of fallen autumn leaves. “Don’t think that you are being lazy because it is helping nature and that benefits us in the long run,” said Doug van Hemessen, Nova Scotia stewardship co-ordinator with NCC, a not-for-profit land conservation organization. The organization says leaving fallen leaves in your yard is a small act of nature conservation that can support backyard biodiversity in many ways.