Cut fruit looks dull without glazing

Powdered sugar would become a mess as the fruit sweats. I think it looks and sounds wonderful. Aged balsamic can be sweet-ish.

If you want to be able to cater to all tastes, whip up some whipped cream with a little vanilla and maybe soupcon of sugar. Guests can adjust the tartness to their liking using the whipped cream.

OED:

The word "tart" comes from the Old French word tarte, which was borrowed into English in the 14th century. The origins of tarte are unknown, but some suggest that it may be an alteration of the Old French word torte, which is the ancestor of the modern French word tourte. Tourte means a round, sweet or savory pie or tart. Torte may have come from the Latin word torta, which means "round bread". Torta may have come from the verb torquēre, which means "twist".

That’s so pretty, Lars! My thinking is if you liked the balsamic with the berries it should be okay with the curd. That is, if the curd isn’t too tart. Did you reduce the balsamic first or was it sweet enough? I would think the pomegranate molasses would be similar to reduced balsamic vinegar. I do like the looks of a jelly glaze, and it helps preserve the moisture and color of the fruit(s).

That's interesting. In Mexico, "torta" means a sandwich made with a telera roll (which I buy at Cárdenas for this purpose), but in Spain, I think it means cake.

I did find a couple of recipes that recommended putting sweetened yogurt on the strawberries when serving. As it is, there is no dairy in this recipe, other than butter, and so it really has no milk.

I think I would prefer your suggestion of whipped cream over yogurt, but we do have some plain yogurt, which Kevin eats at breakfast.

Our sister is arriving today to help us sort through things in the house, and she should be here in about half an hour.

Cut strawberries may look dull without glazing, but the kiwi and blackberries do not, although the blackberries I bought are not all that sweet and could benefit from a glaze. I just never use jam, but perhaps I have some hidden away in the cabinets in the laundry room, which is actually part of the kitchen.

The balsamic was already extremely thick, and so I did not reduce it.

One thing I do not like is apricots and apricot jam or glaze, and so I would never use that, but I know there are other jams that would work - especially strawberry jam. Typically, I only ever have fig jam, and I used to make that when I had fig trees.

I can’t help, sorry, but wish I could be the official taste tester. :D

It looks amazing, Lars!

Official taster #2 here!😃

Just thinking I’ve also used red current jam for a glaze.

I think yogurt would be yet another tart element.

I think yogurt would also be tart, unless a massive amount of sweetener is add, and I do not think that is a good idea, but it's what others have recommended online.

I searched way back in the cabinets above my washer and dryer (where I store things that come in jars or cans), and I found a jar of Smucker's Guava Jelly. It's old enough that I don't remember buying it, but it looks fine, and so I'm going to open it and see if I can use it.

Yum. Heat it up a little and strain it first, so you get a clear glaze.

Thanks! I did that, but it is still not all that clear - it may have gotten darker over the years. However, it does have a great flavor that I like.

I think it will fix the tartness of the strawberries, however. At this point I'm anxious to try it.

👍🏻!

Don't use guava jelly! if it's any good it'll overpower the fruit. Do not put yoghurt on the tart. Use it as a side acompaniment, like whipped cream, in quenelles, if you want it, but I personally don't like cream with curd. Too literallly curdling.

I am pretty orthodox on tarts of this kind, becuase I haven't found an improvement. Classic is apricot jam for glaze, for good reason. The balsamic sounds fine, but stop! Don't keep messing with it or you'll have mud.

If your sister is equally anti-sugar to you, leave it alone. It's beautiful and I'm sure it tastes good. If you want to add some sweet, you can serve a side of honey, if you have some that doesn't clash flavors with the curd, pomegranate molasses thinned with simple syrup, or some other suit-yourself-drizzle. Or have the sweetened yoghurt on the side. Or just a sugar shaker, to dust as one will.

I didn't mean clear as in translucent, I meant clear as in not having any pieces of fruit in it that ruin the glaze. Red raspberry jam is commonly used and its certainly not clear.

Have you tasted the guava stuff? Who knew Smuckers' made it?

Late to this, but still adding my 2 cents 😀

I think brushing over with a little warmed honey would make a light glaze effect - or even sprinkling with some crystalized sugar - not powdered - might look pretty as well.

I’ve not had Smucker’s, or any other guava jelly I can remember for that matter. It sounds like it might lean more tropical/exotic in flavor. You mentioned liking the flavor, so I’d try it.

Guava has a strong flavor. I don't think it would mesh well with blackberries, and might be overpowering.

When should I arrive? Don't want to miss dessert!

I would probably just sprinkle powdered sugar on it, but I am not talented like you.

If I had no jam, I might melt a little gelatine in hot water, let it cool and brush that over the fruit.

It looks delicious as is!

Guava jelly tastes like dried guavas, if that helps (unlike some fruit which tastes different dried from jelly). It's delicious, but strong. It's the thing that makes my mother's arroz con pollo special--dotted around the serving dish.

Thinking on it, though I think Lars has already made his decisions, to just bring ut the strawberry flavor, just sitting with a light sprinkling of granulated sugar will do that. For other treatments (not looking for sweet) a few grains of salt will do it too.

I think Lars may have already eaten it. LOL

I'm no helpl....but...it's BEAUTIFUL! You did an amazing job ......the presentation is perfection!

Enjoy your visit with your sister.

I should never have put the balsamic vinegar on the tart, as it tended to puddle and make a mess.

The guava jelly does have a strong flavor - like dried guavas, as PIllog said, but I still like it. However, it was not necessary, as the tart was sweet enough even with the reduced sugar to balance the strawberries.

The overall taste is very good, and I do like the strawberries with the guava jelly glaze (much better flavor for me than apricot), but I will not do this again. Next time I will leave the strawberries unglazed - I do not care if they are not shiny. Anyway, they are pretty much black now after being covered with the guava jelly glaze.

I don't like most jellies, but the guava is an exception, and I like it at lot. It did overpower the blackberries, but for me, that was an improvement.

My sister is not anti-sugar, and she seemed to like it, as she finished rather quickly and did not leave crumbs.

What surprised me the most was how much the guava jelly tasted like the balsamic vinegar, which is a taste I very much like.

In the future, I could see adding a bit of guava jelly or balsamic vinegar on top of the strawberries when serving, but definitely not on the entire tart.

I guess that since the tart is a bit of a mess now that we will have to eat it more quickly. At least I have my sister here to help with that. It is difficult for me to eat much of it, even though I love the way it tastes. I probably won't ever make it with strawberries again - I've used blueberries, raspberries, kiwi, and blackberries in the past, and kiwi and blueberries were my favorites.

Here's one from the past that was better:

but it probably should have had more blueberries.

The whole point of the watered down apricot jam glaze is that it's not too sweet, nor does it have much color or flavor. It's just a bit sweet and a bit fruity.

Using the guava jelly just because you like it is a fine point of view. May I suggest fruit that goes better with it than the blackberries? Like cherries, peaches, green grapes, maybe pears. You could make a stunning tart with choices that go well with guava. Though I'd go with pastry cream rather than lemon with the guava.

It sounds like your sister will be happy to help clear out the tart! I hope y'all have a great visit.

I wouldn't have added any more flavours to that already busy mix. I bet it's all gone now LOL. Did you like it?

I did like it, and I have considered removing some of the strawberries that have guava glaze on them and replacing them with fresh unglazed strawberries. Either way, I like the strawberries.

It's not all gone yet because Kevin has not had any yet.

The visit with our sister has started out better than the last visit when she came came to Cathedral City. We've been having good talks so far.

I had also thought that cherries would be good for this tart. I make another dish that is called Cherry Cream Crunch that has a crunchy granola crust, a filling made with condensed milk (like that used for lime pie, but with lemon) with cherry pie filling on top.

Lars, did you use balsamic vinegar or balsamic glaze?

I brush strawberries on a cake or pie or tart with warmed Smuckers low sugar njam that jas been warmed and strained and to which I have added a a few drops of both balsamic glaze and vanilla. You have to add both very carefully so you get just the right amount — i use an eyedropper. It makes a slightly sweet, slightly tart and slightly cake—flavored glaze that is delicious and unusual and not too sweet.

When strawberries are just past their prime I cut them up and marinate them in a sprinkling of sugar and the aforementioned vanillia and balsamic reduction for DH to put on vanilla ice cream or waffles, pancakes, etc.

I'm pretty sure I don't want to eat anything that's cak-flavoured LOL

Thanks for pointing out that typo Colleen, I’ve corrected it.…cake-flavored.

Glad it tastes good, it’s certainly pretty! As plllog said, apricot is used because it’s clear and low flavor. After the time and expense of making this from scratch, I’d most likely have simply gone out and bought some jam. Or simply omitted it and enjoyed it ”clean.” There are glazes online made of sugar, water, corn starch and corn syrup, I may have tried that but definitely would taste it before using. The corn syrup component makes it iffy for me.

Your tarts are beautiful. As a philistine, I would happily eat those tarts, cak-flavored or not. (I really enjoy reading these fairly incomprehensible gustatory discussions. I mean, I understand the words.)

I used an extremely thick balsamic vinegar, but I did not shake the bottle first, and so it might have separated. It's been a couple of years since I've used it, but normally it is so thick that it needs no reduction. It is thicker than honey.

I would not go out and buy jam just for this because I would never use the rest of the jam. I think the best solution for me is simply to omit the glaze. I could have bought a strawberry jam, and I might be able to find some uses for that, but most likely, it would just sit in my fridge taking up space that would be better for something I do use.

I saw this recipe that CA Kate used for her blueberry/kiwi tart:

CITRUS GLAZE (1 crust)

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Make glaze by combining all ingredients in saucepan; bring to boil. Boil 1 minute; cool. Spread evenly over fruit layer; refrigerate until serving.

This looks like a lot of glaze, but it also looks like it would taste good, plus it does not require buying jam!

That recipe ^ looks like it could be halved rather easily.

^Very easy to halve…or even less, depending on your needs. A quarter cup should be more than enough for a 9” tart.

You can also just boil up some sugar and water until it’s thickened a bit, but not crackle stage, and just brush a very thin coat on the fruit to give it a shiny finish.-

For the next time --- my mother used to make a strawberry tart where the glaze was similar to the citrus glaze above, but with the strawberries passed through a fine mesh sieve (frozen work just fine). This recipe seems pretty similar. (I'd be tempted to use a splash of cognac rather than vanilla, or leave it out entirely). The glaze not only makes the strawberries look better it also helps them not get cold-damaged in a refrigerated pie.

For the short cherry season, my husband loves a cherry clafoutis. https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/fruit-recipes/cherry-clafoutis/ Makes a change from a tart.

I do like almost all kinds of fruit desserts, but lemon curd is one I like to make because we get so many lemons here. I also like cherries, but they grow in more northern climates, and we do not ever get the sour cherries that I like for pies.

I can't imagine having your own lemons. Lovley. Lemon curd makes a lovely filling for macarons too.