Food Service Canned Fruit?

[mgonbrewlab]

Curious... Has anyone tried using the #10 size canned fruit from Sysco, Carbotrol, or the like to make wine, or food service frozen fruit? It seems like one can would be enough to make 5 lbs of wine with a little extra for topping up, assuming the fruit is of high quality.

 

[theDREWery]

I've used a lot of frozen fruits from GFS (restaurant supply) but never cans. If they're preservative free, and they should be, there shouldn't be any problems. The only thing you may run into would be a cooked fruit flavor, depending on their pasteurization process.

A side note, canned and frozen fruits tend to be picked at peak ripeness, whereas "fresh" fruit on the shelf is picked early and allowed to ripen during shipping. This means that canned and frozen fruits tend to be higher in sugar content and have better flavor.

Happy Experimenting!

 

[mgonbrewlab]

Good deal. I get my bottles from the restaurant my father is a chef at, so I will see if I can get him to up their next order from their food service provider to include some frozen fruits that are normally price prohibitive like blackberries.

It doesn't look like the price difference with the cans is that significant vs. stockinrg up when one happens to be on sale.

 

[modelafish]

Good Timing. I was just thinking about this yesterday. Our local Smith's store (Kroger affiliate) has a case lot sale going on, so today I picked up 24 cans of 15 oz pears for $18. I'm not sure how that compares to food service prices, but that will be my next inquiry. The ingredients list: pears, water, high fructose corn syrup,corn syrup, sugar. Not even ascorbic acid; so should be OK. They also had 4 gal of Landers apple juice for like 11 bucks, so I guess there's a cider in my future.

 

[mgonbrewlab]

I don't know what actual wholesale pricing is but that is better than what I found available buying through a food service direct source.

Aldi has been great for price, but they only have a few fruit in stock at once. 20 oz cans for $0.79 I think.