Damien mixes: "Strawberry Sour"

© Damien Guichard

Strawberries are a favorite of just about everyone. The popular ingredient is also wonderfully suited for our summery community cocktail, created by Damien Guichard.

Strawberry is undoubtedly one of those core childhood memories. You can find it everywhere whether fresh, in industrial products or in sweets. However here we will be looking at how to process strawberries to get the most vibrant flavour with one of my all-time favourite tricks: pectinex. 

What is Pectinex?

First of all let’s have a look at pectin. Pectin is a naturally occurring binding and stabilizing agent that you can find in its natural form in most fruits. In short: it is what gives fruit this wobbly and jammy consistency once you heat it up. It acts as a trap holding in all the juice and liquids. 

Pectinex neutralises that natural pectin and releases the liquid from the solid, therefore making it much easier to clarify juices for your cocktails. It also allows you to clarify juices at a moderately low temperature, which won’t compromise the integrity of your raw ingredient very much. 

© Damien Guichard

What you will need is a little bit of equipment and you are good to go:

• a food processor (or blender + sous vide) 
• a coffee filter 
• Strawberries 
• Pectinex 

Now let’s get our hands dirty!

1. First of all, combine your strawberries in a food processor with pectinex. You will need 2g of pectinex per 1000g of fruit. 
2. Then blend for 10min at 37C. If you don’t have a food processor, simply blend your strawberries and pectinex at room temperature and heat them up sous vide for 20min at 40C. 
3. Once the time is up, simply transfer your pureed strawberry into a coffee filter and let gravity do the work. It is incredibly easy and satisfying.
4. Once we have collected our clarified strawberry we will turn it into a delicious cordial.

Strawberry syrup - it's that simple:

• 1/1 strawberry to sugar ratio 
• 2% Malic and citric acid
• Blend at room temperature until all the sugar is diluted. 
• Optional: add a little neutral alcohol to avoid fermentation.

Now let’s make a tasty little beverage: 

Recipe for a “Strawberry Sour”