These homemade orange and pomegranate pâtes de fruits are the perfect balance of tart and sweet, with a chewy texture and crunchy sugar coating. This classy candy looks as great as it tastes and makes for an impressive edible gift!
Jump to:
These pomegranate and orange pâtes de fruits sound fancy, but they're really just delicious fruit jellies. Unlike gummy bears or gummy worms, they use pectin instead of gelatin.
Pectin is a natural fiber found in plants, and it acts as a powerful gelling and thickening agent. It comes in a powdered form, and is commonly used to thicken jams and jellies.
Pâte de fruit is a recipe that's been around for hundreds of years, but most recipes you'll see online call for corn syrup.
Our pâtes de fruits simply start with freshly-squeezed (optional, of course) fruit juice for a delicious fruity flavor. The juice is then boiled with granulated sugar and pectin. Right at the end, a splash of lemon juice is added, which helps to activate the pectin's gelling properties.
After letting the mix set up for a while, they're cut into squares and rolled into sugar. Put them in a box and give them as an edible holiday gift!
This recipe is part of our 2025 Recipe Advent Calendar. If you love homemade food gifts, try our Cranberry Pomegranate Caramels or Homemade Ferrero Rocher next!
What You'll Need to Make This Recipe
- Fruit juice or fruit puree: We used freshly-squeezed fruit juices in ours, but you could also use a well-strained homemade fruit purée. We used pomegranate and orange, but nearly any fruit will do, and popular choices include pear, raspberry, apricot, cherry and passion fruit. If you want to see how we juice a pomegranate efficiently, check out our Homemade Grenadine (Pomegranate Syrup) post.
- Pectin: Pectin comes in a few varieties, and the choice of product matters. There's classic (high methoxyl or HM) pectin, which is what we want to use in this recipe, and low or no sugar needed (low methoxyl or LM) pectin, which is what we don't want to use. Specifically, we used the Ball brand Realfruit pectin.
- Sugar and acid: Classic pectin requires sugar and an acid to gel, so we add a healthy amount of sugar and a splash of lemon juice at the end.
How to Make This Recipe
STEP 1: If you're using freshly-squeezed juice, squeeze and strain your fruit juice. To a heavy-bottomed saucepan about 9 inches (4- or 5-qt) in diameter with a candy thermometer attached to the side, add the fruit juice and bring to a simmer.
STEP 2: In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar and pectin, then slowly pour the mixture of sugar and pectin into the simmering fruit juice, whisking as you go to prevent clumping or sticking to the bottom of the pan.
STEP 3: Continue cooking over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture comes to a boil. Keep cooking until it reaches 223˚F. It will take 15-20 minutes or longer to get to the target temperature.
STEP 4: Turn off the heat, then add in the lemon juice, stir, and quickly pour into a roughly 8x8-inch (20x20-cm) parchment paper-lined dish.
STEP 5: Allow the pâte de fruit to sit at room temperature for 24-36 hours. A long period of sitting and drying out will help prevent weeping (moisture coming out) after they are rolled in sugar.
STEP 6: Spray a knife with cooking spray or lightly coat with oil and cut the pâte de fruit block into squares that are roughly 1.5-inches x 1 .5-inches. Add about half cup of sugar to a plate and place each square into the sugar, flipping it over and coating all sides.
Lexi's Best Tips and Tricks
- Temperature is key: Pectin needs to reach about 217˚F-222˚F to gel, and we like to take ours slightly past the upper end of that range to be safe, and hold it there for a few seconds. If you don't get it to this temperature, your pâtes de fruits will not gel correctly. This is all to say that you will need a candy thermometer. We use this thermometer.
- Let them cure: You can enjoy these right away, but if you want to coat them in sugar without having moisture seep out, you'll need to let these cure at room temperature at least overnight, but ideally 24 to 36 hours.
- Coating in sugar: We like the slight granular crunch of the sugar, but it's not completely necessary to coat them. If you are coating them, and you wand an even crunchier bite, use an organic or coarse sugar with even larger grains.
- Pectin: We used powdered original / classic pectin and not low or no sugar added pectin. We haven't tried using liquid pectin, but you can substitute 4 tablespoons of powdered pectin for 6 ounces of liquid pectin. You'll need to add the liquid pectin in after the sugar has reached the right temperature, unlike the powdered pectin, which goes in before.
- Sour: If you want to turn these confections into a sour treat, mix a little food grade citric acid into the sugar you use to coat your pâtes de fruits.
- Storage: You'll want to place these in an airtight container, where they will keep for up to 2 weeks.
Frequently Asked Questions
The original recipe dates all the way back to the 10th century in France, where people preserved fruit in sugar to make it last through the winter. Later on, during the 18th century, when sugar was more readily available, these became a luxury treat enjoyed by the French court.
Pâte de fruit literally translates to fruit paste.
It sounds like "pat duh-fwee".
More homemade candy recipes to try
Print
📖 Recipe
Homemade Pâtes de Fruits (no corn syrup)
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 20-30 pieces 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These homemade orange and pomegranate pâtes de fruits are the perfect balance of tart and sweet, with a chewy texture and crunchy sugar coating. This classy candy looks as great as it tastes and makes for an impressive edible gift!
Ingredients
For each flavor:
- 2 cups fruit juice (we used orange and pomegranate)
- 1 cup granulated sugar, plus more for coating
- 3 tablespoons classic pectin*
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Lightly oil an 8x8 inch or 9x9 inch baking dish and line with parchment paper and set aside.
-
If you're using freshly-squeezed juice, squeeze and strain your fruit juice. To a heavy-bottomed saucepan about 9 inches in diameter with a candy thermometer attached to the side, add the fruit juice and bring to a simmer.
-
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar and pectin, then slowly pour the mixture into the simmering fruit juice, whisking as you go to prevent clumping or sticking to the bottom of the pan.
-
Continue cooking over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture comes to a boil. Keep cooking until it reaches 223˚F. It will take 15-20 minutes or longer to get to the target temperature.
-
Turn off the heat, then add in the lemon juice, stir, and immediately pour into the prepared 8x8 inch baking dish.
-
Allow the pâte de fruit to sit uncovered at room temperature for 24-36 hours. A long period of drying out will help prevent weeping (moisture coming out) after they are rolled in sugar.
-
Spray a knife with cooking spray or lightly coat with oil and cut the pâte de fruit block into squares that are roughly 1.5-inches x 1 .5-inches. Add about half cup of sugar to a plate and place each square into the sugar, flipping it over and coating all sides.
- Storage: Keep these in an airtight container at room temperature, where they will keep for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
*Pectin: We used powdered original / classic pectin and not low or no sugar added pectin. We haven't tried using liquid pectin, but you can substitute 4 tablespoons of powdered pectin for 6 ounces of liquid pectin. You'll need to add the liquid pectin in after the sugar has reached the right temperature, unlike the powdered pectin, which goes in before.
Temperature is key: Pectin needs to reach about 217˚F-222˚F to gel, and we like to take ours slightly past the upper end of that range to be safe, and hold it there for a few seconds. If you don't get it to this temperature, your pâtes de fruits will not gel correctly. It's very important to use a thermometer to reach the correct temperature.
Let them cure: You can enjoy these right away, but if you want to coat them in sugar without having moisture seep out, you'll need to let these cure at room temperature at least overnight, but ideally 24 to 36 hours.
Coating in sugar: We like the slight granular crunch of the sugar, but it's not completely necessary to coat them. If you are coating them, and you wand an even crunchier bite, use an organic or coarse sugar with even larger grains.
Sour: If you want to turn these confections into a sour treat, mix a little food grade citric acid into the sugar you use to coat your pâtes de fruits.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Curing time: 24 hours
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: French
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4 squares
- Calories: 260
- Sugar: 45.1 g
- Sodium: 55.3 mg
- Fat: 0.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 68 g
- Fiber: 2.3 g
- Protein: 0.6 g
C says
Re: my comment below!
I will say that the bottoms were noticeably wetter than the top and sides, even after 48 hours of curing. The temp I reached was 223, so it does seem like I reached the right gel. It’s very wet where I live at the moment, so perhaps I should’ve carried the temp a bit higher?
C says
Similarly to another comment, after 48+ hours, my sugar-coated pâtes did weep a bit in an airtight container. I did have one trial run before making these with self-squeezed pear and raspberry juice (keep a very close eye on the temperature! They burn quickly). The final products turned out so well! Perfectly firm, too. But I’m not sure how to avoid a bit of weeping besides leaving them out in the open, rather than in a sealed Pyrex.
R says
Mine came out delicious using orange & lemon and pomegranate & lime juice. The pomegranate flavor was a bit stickier when I first sliced them, but once I coated them they were fine. I also stored them in the fridge rather than the counter. I made them 3 days before the event so I put a bit more sugar on top before serving and they looked good.
Jess says
How many grams would 3 tablespoons of pectin work out to be?
Lexi says
Should be around 25g
Emily says
I made a big batch of these (clementine and blackcurrant flavours) and followed the recipe and all tips to the letter. They set really well and looked / tasted absolutely delicious when freshly coated. However they started to weep big time after a few hours and the sugar coating has completely dissolved.
I’m sure this was my fault in some way and not blaming the recipe but please beware if you’ve not made them before and are planning to gift them! On further reading it is a very tricky recipe to get right and might need some trial runs before making a big batch. My pates are still super firm and delicious underneath so I will recoat with sugar before serving and eat immediately- just not suitable for gifting.
Lexi says
Hi Emily! I'm curious if you let them cure for 24-36 hours. Please let me know if you did that and this still happened!
Emily says
Yes, 36 hours
Miss NYC says
The process seemed to go well, and I can’t wait to try these! The only thing is I feel like I barely had enough of the mixture to cover the bottom of the glass dish I had prepared. I used the candy thermometer you linked to and follow the temperature rules to a T. Is it possible that it overcooked still? I feel like my candies are going to be tasty but very, very thin. Thanks for your recipes!
Lexi says
Hi! It's possible that the mixture was cooked at too high of heat, and too much boiled off before it reached the correct temperature.
cocotot says
What is the exact ratio of sugar to juice? 1/2 cup sugar for every cup of juice?
Lexi says
Yes, it's a 2:1 ratio of juice to sugar
Christi Ware says
Would this recipe work with fruit purée instead of juice?
Michael says
Could I use silicone candy molds for these? My kids wanna make them but they also want Christmas shapes
Lexi says
The only problem I can imagine is that once it comes of the heat, it starts to set VERY quickly, so it may be tricky to work fast enough. If you keep the mixture hot, it would be easier, but of course you'll just have to be a bit more careful!
Michael says
It was pretty easy, actually. As it hit 223 I just started ladling it into the molds. Only took a minute or two so the temp stayed pretty constant. We’ll see if they unmold 🙂
Geistmadl says
These didn't have much flavor
Michael says
What is this pectin powder? I found one that is dextrose, pectin, and citric acid. Sound right?
Lexi says
Yes, that should be correct.
Madeline says
Ok I made both pomegranate and orange, and these things are phenomenal!! On my 2nd batch (orange)I figured out the parchment issue I had with pomegranate. It turned out much better. My pomegranate ones did end up noticeably softer (and uglier) than the orange, although they tasted amazing.
Could you add more of the pectin to make them set firmer? I have never used pectin before this so not familiar with the nuances.
For pomegranate, I used Pom Wonderful 100% pomegranate juice and for orange I used Natalie's orange juice.
Can't wait to try pear and passion fruit next!!
Lexi says
So glad you enjoyed! Passion fruit sounds AMAZING. With the setting issue, it may have just been that they didn't quite reach the right temperature.
Chris says
I used the Pom Wonderful as well and that batch didnt set (I added a little more sugar and now I guess I have pomegranate syrup for pancakes or ice cream). The strained orange juice I used came out great. The Pom juice seemed really thin by comparison and it felt like it was boiling off before I got to 223. I wonder if I just needed to be more patient with it, or if something about the juice just doesnt make it a good fit for this recipe. Love the orange ones though!
Tivisha jain says
what kind of orange should i use for this recipe?
Lexi says
We used navel oranges, but any kind will be fine
Madeline says
Can you please make a tutorial on how you did the parcment paper? I lined mine like an "x" with short flaps overlaying the side of the square pan, and I know the liquid is between the parchment pieces. It's going to be so weird when I go to get it out. Love the recipe though, I'm sure it will taste good even if mine is ugly lol.
Lexi says
Hi, did you oil the baking dish before adding in the parchment paper (on both layers)? That will keep it in place.
Michael says
Are these similar in texture to Le Preziose jellies?
Kels says
I was so pleased to stumble upon CrowdedKitchen on my Instagram and Tiktok reels to find Pates de fruits! I enjoyed these from a French family friend when I was younger, and seeing how to make them, especially with pomegranate juice, made my heart sing.
I really recommend you listen to these folks about having these desserts cure properly--the ladies know what they're talking about when they say you gotta let these sit and leave them be. IT IS GONNA BE WORTH IT!
Looking forward to trying more recipes! You have a new follower and this site saved, gals!
Lexi says
Thank you so much! Really appreciate that!
Ivonne says
Hi, what brand do you recommend for powdered pectin?
Lexi says
We use Ball real fruit classic pectin!
Traci says
This sounds lovely!! Do you think it would be possible to use gelatin in place of pectin?
Lexi says
The process is different, so I would recommend this recipe instead! https://www.crowdedkitchen.com/homemade-fruit-snacks/