What is Puree? 
Many dishes begin with purees. Whether they are for a sauce, soup, soufflé, or sorbet recipe, or added as a flavor enhancement to an entree, delicious purees are often at the heart of any culinary preparation. Like chicken and beef bases, seasonings or herbs, fruit purees are a staple in commercial kitchen operations.

In culinary terms, to reduire en puree means to render solid foods into a mash; to press, strain or pulp foods by using a mortar, meat grinder, food mill, an electric blender, or through a sieve.

Throughout the history of fine cuisine, gourmet chefs have prepared their own purees by hand. Yet, purees did not become commonplace in professional European kitchens until around the turn of the 20th century, and not in American kitchens until the 1970's. The extensive use of purees came about thanks to the vision of French-born Chef Auguste Escoffier, known as the "king of chefs and the chef of kings." Escoffier roamed the continent bringing his culinary innovations to establishments such as the Ritz in Paris and London's Savoy.

Escoffier advocated creativity and artistry in cooking. He encouraged chefs to use recipes merely as the starting point for their efforts. He viewed cooking as a living art that must adapt as it is adopted by different cultures and new generations.

In his cookbook, Guide to Modern Cookery, Escoffier wrote, "My intention is to offer my colleagues a tool rather than merely a recipe book. (This way, chefs are) free to develop their own methods and follow their own inspiration. The art of cooking, which in many ways is similar to that of fashion design, will evolve as society evolves. Only basic rules remain unalterable."

What is The Perfect Purée of Napa Valley? 
Since 1988, The Perfect Purée of Napa Valley has indulged the culinary passions of chefs and mixologists with season-less, effortless products. Our Culinary Traditions line of fruit purees boasts more than 30 premium flavors, while our Beverage Artistry line of beverage blends is mixology made easy. Both lines are frozen, maintaining ultimate freshness, flavor and color.

What makes The Perfect Purée of Napa Valley unique? 
The Perfect Purée of Napa Valley has won the confidence and compliments of chefs worldwide. Our gourmet purees are made from the finest raw ingredients from field sites around the globe.

Our products provide peace of mind for chefs and beverage professionals – from batch to batch and year to year. Other brands of puree add a fixed amount of sugar to their fruit. Since fruit is picked from different fields and at different times of the year the sugar level in the fruit varies from field to field and harvest to harvest. The Perfect Purée adjusts for natural sugar and acid variations by adding just enough cane sugar and acid to bring the fruit up to a consistent level that is optimum to the palate and within the fruit’s normal range of peak ripeness.

How does a culinary professional use a puree? 
Many dishes start with a puree base. Soups, sauces sorbets, marinades, glazes and drinks often require a fruit or vegetable puree for delicious flavor. Whether a chef is creating a dessert or meat sauce, a hot or cold soup, or looking for a unique flavor for a marinade, vinaigrette, or stuffing, purees are at the heart of many culinary creations. Creating quality purees is not a simple matter. Purees made from scratch can be inconsistent and time consuming. Locating raw ingredients out of season can be difficult, unreliable and therefore price prohibitive. The Perfect Purée of Napa Valley has strict quality control standards that allow chefs the freedom to provide creative cuisine all year long without compromise.

Who uses The Perfect Purée of Napa Valley? 
The Perfect Purée of Napa Valley can be found anywhere artisan cocktails or gourmet menus are created. Chefs, cooks, bartenders, kitchen managers, and other culinary inventors appreciate these innovative cooking bases for their versatility and unlimited applications in food service operations.

The White House Inn & Spa/1801 First Inn, Napa, California - Chef Lynn Arthur
"Guests often ask me what that "secret" ingredient is in my dishes so they can try to make it themselves at home. The purees can be used in a variety of egg dishes, potato dishes, sauces, vinaigrettes and marinades. They are efficient and lovely addition to any gourmet home kitchen."

Crimson Lounge-Hotel Sax, Chicago, Illinois - Todd Appel, President Piranhna Brothers - Bar Planning and Consulting, Mixologist
"I love your products. They are real. Whenever possible I try to use fresh produce, but often that is not possible because of time or seasonal constraints…I can rely on The Perfect Purée products to be what I want them to be for great drinks or other culinary creations."

Bon Appetit at The Getty Center and Villa, Los Angeles, California - Executive Pastry Chef Claudia Cevenini
"The quality is outstanding. We use the purees in our sorbets which we produce in fairly large amounts, it obviously saves us time to use the purees rather than mash and strain berries."

Royal Palms Resort and Spa in Phoenix, Arizona - Executive Pastry Chef, Pierino Jermonti
"We use The Perfect Purée of Napa Valley at the Royal Palms Resort and Spa in a variety of applications. The consistency of the product is excellent. The flavors are well balanced with the perfect amount sugar – which is very important to me as a pastry chef. The quality is exceptional - as the fruits are picked at their peak, and then immediately frozen for convenience. I simply use it when I need it. It is also much more cost effective versus making our own. Growing up in Italy, I remember waiting for the season to pick strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries from our back yard. With The Perfect Purée, I can have year-round access to those wonderful flavors."

The Gourmet Table, Napa, California - Chefs Elsie Tracy and Stacy Mackey
"The Perfect Purée allows us to create frozen treats in an array of colored scoops of ice cream that resemble a painter's palette. Prickly Pear is one of our favorites. The Perfect Purée allows us to use non-seasonal fruit year round for a variety of dishes from sweet to savory. Wonderful flavors such as their mango and passion fruit have become swirls in our cheesecakes."

Where is it sold? 
We sell through specialty, produce and broad line distributors throughout the U.S., Canada and in Mexico. Foodservice professionals may contact us at (800) 556-3707 for a list of local distributors.

Home users may order online.

Product can also be purchased from our corporate headquarters in Napa, CA. Please contact us at (800) 556-3707 for details.

What is the shelf life & handling of The Perfect Purée products? 

Culinary Traditions purees, concentrates & zests
The shelf life of Culinary Traditions purees, concentrates & zests is 2 years from date of manufacture if frozen. This Best By date is ink-jet coded on the side of the jar. Once thawed, the shelf life is up to 10 days when properly stored below 40° F.

To use, thaw jars overnight in a refrigerator or quick thaw by placing jars in a bath of cool water. Once slacked out, stir before use.

Beverage Artistry beverage blends
The shelf life of Beverage Artistry beverage blends & bases is 2 years from date of manufacture if frozen. This Best By date is ink-jet coded on the side of the carton. Once thawed, the shelf life is up 14 - 21 days when properly stored below 40° F.

To use, thaw cartons overnight in a refrigerator or quick thaw by placing cartons in a bath of cool water. Once slacked out, shake well before use.

Where does The Perfect Purée of Napa Valley source their fruit? 
We source our fruit from growers and packers all over the world that specialize in custom, high quality processing of produce. Only premium fruit is used in our purees.

How are the products manufactured? 
We pack at the field sites where our berry fruit and vegetables are grown. We use HAACP-certified co-packers to process our products.

Here are a few examples of our processing techniques:

When our fruit is picked from the fields it is washed, separating out stems and leaves, and then graded. Machines extract seeds and pulp, then strain and puree the fruit. Since fruit sugar solubles naturally vary from year to year, the fresh product is blended with sugar to balance the sweetness. The puree then receives a "quick heat" treatment, or pasteurization to deactivate organic enzymes, preserving flavor, color, and texture offering a 24 month shelf life. The puree is then cooled, packed, and "quick-frozen".

Red Bell Peppers are taken directly from the field to our processing plant. We pass the peppers through a flame roaster, which evenly darkens the outer skins while leaving the sweet meats untouched. The peppers are quick-steamed, then skinned, cored, and seeded by hand. These cleaned "meats" are finely pureed with 1% olive oil before being packed and frozen. From start to finish, the peppers are processed in about 30 minutes -- less time than it would take a professional chef to produce such a labor-intensive produce.

What is the difference between a puree and a concentrate? 
Simply, puree is made from fruit that has been pulped and mashed. Fruit concentrates come from fruit juice that has had the water removed during processing. Concentrates are thinner in consistency than purees also typically higher in sugars. Depending on the flavor, a concentrate can be 200 – 250% stronger in flavor than its puree equivalency.

What are sugar solubles or a Brix reading? 
All fruits and vegetables contain natural sugar levels. These sugars are measured by a device called a refractometer, which measures the sugars in Brix. Today’s industrial processors use Brix readings to measure the sweetness of all fruits and vegetable products. To the processed fruit, we add cane sugar to balance the flavor notes and render the Brix (sugar soluble) level consistent from batch to batch, and jar to jar.

Brix information is important to pastry chefs in particular. Some pastry applications such as ice cream and sorbet will not freeze correctly if the sugar level is too high. An inconsistent sugar level can mean the difference between a silky smooth sorbet and a sorbet that is frozen solid.

Are the products kosher certified? 
With the exception of Yuzu Luxe Sour, our products are kosher certified.

We have OU certification on all flavors except for Kiwi, Roasted Red Pepper, Lemon Zest, Orange Zest and Ginger. These flavors are CK kosher certified. OU certification is granted through the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. CK certification is supervised through a consulting Rabbi.

Kosher certificates are available for download.

Parve (or pareve) kosher foods do not contain meat or dairy. All fruits, grains and vegetables in their natural state have parve status. Our kosher products also have parve status.

Are The Perfect Purée products all-natural? 
We use real fruit and vegetables to make our products. While we cannot claim our products are all-natural based on FDA guidelines, we do not add any artificial additives, preservatives or sweeteners. We process our products using only natural ingredients, such as cane sugar, naturally-derived flavors, acidulants and colors.

Why is The Perfect Purée of Napa Valley packaging so appealing to chefs and bartenders? 
Our products are packaged in convenient 30 oz. wide-mouth plastic Store n' Pour jars. A standard bartender pour spout easily attaches to the mouth of the jar for concocting exotic mixed drinks.

What makes the Blends unique? 

Unlike other beverage lines which focus on single flavors, our Blends offer quality, high-end bases that consist of both premium blends and classics. We incorporate hot flavors from today’s beverage world, including passion fruit, yuzu and kaffir lime. With our Blends you can offer signature cocktails without a mixologist at the helm. The flavor profiles are unparalled and the gabletop packaging is designed to preserve the freshness of each flavor.

Flavor FAQs 

1. How do you obtain the caramel flavor in the Carmelized Pineapple concentrate?
   A natural caramel flavor which enhances the natural sweetness of the pineapple juice concentrate is utilized.

2. What’s the difference between a tangerine and a mandarin?
   Mandarins are the largest and most varied group of edible citrus fruits. Tangerines are varieties of mandarin that have more brightly colored flesh and peel. Varieties that are typically marketed as tangerines are Dancy, Sunburst, and Honey.

3. What is the "yuzu" in Yuzu Luxe Sour?
   A yuzu is an Asian citrus fruit that resembles a bumpy tangerine. Commonly used in Japanese and Korean cuisine, it is acidic and tart, with highly fragrant rind and flesh. The taste of yuzu is similar to a lime/lemon combination.

4. Is there real coconut in Passion Colada?
   
   Yes, there is coconut milk in the passion colada.

5. Are there transfats in Passion Colada?
   
   No, there are no transfats. Although coconuts are rich in saturated fats, they do not contain transfats. The other ingredients in Passion Colada do not contain transfats as well.