CHICAGO—Today’s pastry chefs are going beyond carrot cake, zucchini bread, and sweet potato pie when it comes to making desserts with vegetables. In the November issue of Food Technology magazine published by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), Associate Editor Karen Nachay writes about the way dessert is evolving from the traditional to the unexpected.
Corn, tomatoes, cucumber, squash, eggplant, celery, beets, carrots, and mushrooms are showing up in desserts such as tomato sorbet, corn crème brulée, and chocolate-beet baked goods. Some vegetables cook in similar ways to fruits. For example, eggplant can be a substitute in many recipes for apple or pear.
“Incorporating vegetables in dessert recipes is more about creating a flavorful dish and realizing that vegetables have various functionalities rather than using a particular one for “shock value alone,” said Michael Laiskonis, creative director at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York, N.Y.
Vegetables can also be substitutes for high fat ingredients; the creamy texture and fat content of avocados make them a great substitute for fat in ice creams, gelato, and mousse (Breyer, 2012). In addition, vegetables can be a colorful natural alternative to artificial colorings due to their pigments.
Read the full Food Technology article to learn more.
About IFT
For more than 70 years, IFT has existed to advance the science of food. Our nonprofit scientific society—more than 18,000 members from more than 100 countries—brings together food scientists, technologists and related professions from academia, government, and industry. For more information, please visit ift.org.
Source: Institute of Food Technologists
