Who doesn’t love the beautiful candied confectionery, tutti frutti! But, have you ever wondered what is tutti frutti made of? Or did it ever crossed your mind to make them at home? Well if the answer to any of these is yes, I have a quick tutti frutti recipe for you.
I am sharing a quick and easy tutti frutti recipe. And by the end of this post, you will be confident to make it easily at home. And you will never need to buy them from store!
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
Table of contents
What is tutti frutti?
Generally speaking, Tutti frutti is a candied confectionery made up of chopped fruits like cherries, raisins, pineapples, apricots, prunes, strawberries, raw papaya, or watermelon rinds. Most of the countries have their own versions. For example here in the USA, tutti frutti refers to the fruits soaked and fermented in alcohol like brandy.
But from an Indian standpoint, tutti frutti is the candied bits made up of syrup dunked and dried raw papaya or watermelon rinds. Sometimes it is also spelled as tooty fruity. American candied rinds are very close the Indian tutti frutti .
Uses of tutti frutti
There is no stand-alone recipe that you can make with just tutti frutti.
Though they are great for munching and you won’t need anything else!
We all have our favorite ways of enjoying them! I love tutti frutti on my ice creams.
In various European countries, tutti frutti is treated as a stand-alone dessert. But it is a very different recipe than the Indian tutti frutti. European versions are alcohol-dunked fruits that are fermented and served as a side dessert.
Indian tutti frutti acts as a great additive to various recipes be it, tutti frutti cakes, cupcakes, muffins, soft serves, sundaes, paan, dilskhush, bread, buns, cookies, custard, falooda, sweet rice, and even biryani.
Tutti frutti ingredients
1. Green Papaya
Raw or green papaya is the main ingredient for making this tutti frutti recipe. You can find them in any grocery store.
But if you are having difficulty finding, try looking in Indian grocery stores or Asian grocery stores. Even the kosher stores sell green papayas.
If you are looking to try some more green papaya based recipes, do check out the Vegan green papaya salad recipe.
Pointer for buying the right papaya for making Tutti frutti:
- While choosing papaya make sure that it is fully green.
- Even the slightest hue of yellow makes it unfit for making tutti frutti.
- It should be firm and there should be no soft spots or blotches.
2. Sugar
Sugar is the sweetener that I'll be using to sweeten the tutti frutti. I've never tested this recipe with any other sweetener. You could use other sweeteners if you wish, but I cannot confirm the shelf life of the end product.
3. Vanilla essence
Use a little bit of a Vanilla essence to flavored tooty frutti. Or you can choose whatever flavor you want to add.
Some options that I have tried in the past are:
- Cardamom powder
- Saffron
- Rosewater
- Orange blossoms
If you are using the tutti frutti for some Indian-inspired dessert recipe, cardamom powder and saffron is an excellent flavoring option.
Orange blossoms or rose water flavors work great if you are adding tutti frutti to falooda or paan.
If you want to explore more options, try using some fruit essence. And do not forget to tell me, how it went.
4. Food Color
Color is optional but what is a tutti frutti without color. I cannot imagine a tutti frutti without color. Let us make them bright, beautiful, and vibrant!
I have used red yellow and green food colors. You can make your tutti frutti more towards the pastel shades, or go crazy, make rainbow colors. They are so fun to do with kids.
My kiddo had a blast. More mess for me to clean? though, but it's all worth it.
How to make tutti frutti?: Procedure
1. Preparing the green papaya bits:
To prepare papaya for making tutti frutti start by peeling the papaya and removing the seeds. The ones I usually find here are seedless.
Then I chop the papayas into small pieces.
Do not chop them into very small pieces. Why?
- Because in that case, they will cook very quickly and get mushy. Instead, I like to chop them at the end when they're done. (if reducing them into smaller pieces at all.)
- Also, the papaya will shrink after dehydration, so it's a good idea to keep them a little larger.
2. Cooking the raw papaya bits:
The syrup that we're using in this tutti frutti recipe is 1:2 ratio. Add 2 parts water to 1 part sugar and let the sugar dissolve. As the papaya will cook in the syrup the syrup will reduce and become thicker. So, by the end of the process, the syrup will be of one-string consistency.
Cook the diced raw papaya in a sugar syrup until it becomes slightly soft. The papaya will absorb the sugar and become sweet.
3. Flavoring the tutti frutti
In this tutti frutti recipe, I have used vanilla extract to color the tutti frutti, but you can use whatever your heart desires. Like I mention in the coloring options, saffron can be used.
4. Coloring the cooked papaya bits
Transfer the cooked papaya bits into separate bowls with different food colors.
Let them soak in the food color until they absorb the color completely.
With or without color?
If you do not want to use artificial food colors in the tutti frutti you can use natural food colors or simply use some saffron strands to color and flavor the tutti frutti.
4. Drying and dehydrating the papaya bits
Now drain the syrup and pat dry the papaya bits with the paper towels to remove the excess color/ moisture/ syrup.
I have used an oven to dehydrate them as I don't have a dehydrator. And in my opinion, the oven works just as well. If you have a dehydrator, that's best.
Or if do not have an oven, just let them dry in the open or under the fan. It may take 24 hours or maybe more. Keep turning them in between so that they are dried all the way and from all the sides.
Storage of tutti frutti
I've successfully stored homemade tutti frutti at room temperature for about a month.
I always store the tutti frutti in an airtight container. In case, there is some moisture left, and they are not fully dehydrated, there are chances that they will develop mold or develop some kind of foul smell after some time.
So, if you have extra fridge space, your safest bet is to store them in the refrigerator for extended shelf life.
Some FAQs
Proper dehydration is the key to preserving tutti frutti for a longer time. Also, these are sugar dunked, and we all know that sugar is a natural preservative.
Homemade tutti frutti keeps well for months if it is made and stored properly. We have to understand that there should be no excess moisture left in the prepared tutti frutti.
Also, choose a dry and clean airtight container to store the tutti frutti. The last batch I made, was 3 months ago and I finished it last week only. I noticed no discoloration or false odor issue in the past 3 months.
I stored it in my refrigerator.
In India, commercial manufacturing of tutti frutti is done with raw papayas only. The process is very similar to this tutti frutti recipe. Just that they use standardized equipment and processes. Also, chemical preservatives are used to increase the shelf life of tutti frutti.
Can tutti frutti be made with watermelon rinds?
Is tutti frutti made of watermelon rinds?
Yes, it can be made from watermelon rinds also. Rather than throwing away watermelon rinds, you can use them to make tutti frutti!
These candied watermelons can be used in cakes, muffins, cookies, or for dressing your sundaes.!
Can there be a better way to reduce organic waste and creating value from the waste!
Check out our most loved recipes:
Concluding Notes
This is a small demo recipe. If you are making tutti frutti using this recipe, start by scaling it up to double or triple. Also, to make this tutti frutti recipe Zero waste, I suggest using colored syrup to make colorful sweet rice! Or if there is something else that you did, do not forget to share with me.
Do tag us on Gram with your creations.
Happy cooking!
Tutti frutti recipe card
Tutti Frutti recipe using the raw papaya
Ingredients
- 1 cup diced papaya
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ⅔ cup water
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Food colors optional
Instructions
- Cut and Peel the papaya. Dice it into small pieces.
- Now, heat a saucepan with water and sugar. Let it cook for a minute or two until the sugar dissolves. Add the vanilla essence to the syrup.
- Add the diced green papaya into the sugar syrup and let it cook covered on medium heat for about 15 minutes. Insert a toothpick or fork into the papaya to see if it is done.
- Now, transfer it into 3 separate bowls. Make sure to add the syrup as well.
- Add the food colors of your choice and mix well.
- Let the cooked papaya bits rest in the colored syrup for about an hour.
- Now, drain the syrup and remove the Tutti frutti onto a paper towel. Press between the paper towels to remove the excess syrup.
- Now, transfer it to a parchment-lined baking tray. Spread them well, leaving space in between.
- Preheat the oven to 170 0 F.
- Let the tutti frutti dry in the oven for 30-40 minutes. The exact time will depend on the size of chopped papaya bits. It took me 35 minutes. Give them a turn once in between to ensure even and complete dehydration. Alternately, let them dry at room temperature for a day or two.
- Once the tutti frutti has dried completely, take them out of the oven and let them cool completely.
- Now, transfer these glorious candied raw papaya tutti frutti to an airtight container and enjoy!
Notes
- It is a small demo recipe. I suggest starting by scaling up the recipe to thrice.
- Choose the green papaya. The papaya with a yellowish hue will not work well for the tutti frutti recipe.
- The size of the pieces you want is totally up to you.
- But remember, that smaller the size the faster they will cook. So take care to check the papaya while cooking. The exact time needed may vary depending on the size of the papaya pieces. Check with a fork while cooking if it is done.
- We do not want to cook them through. This will make them mushy. Cooked papaya still needs to be firm and hold its shape.
- Do not choose to sun-dry the tutti frutti as it can cause the color to fade away. You can also let the tutti frutti dry under the fan. It will make the process quicker.
- If you do not like to use artificial color, use some natural organic colors or use a few saffron strands for an orange-colored tutti frutti.
- You can make tutti frutti with watermelon rinds, in an exact manner.
- The discarded sugar syrup can be used for any other dessert recipe. Try making colorful sweet rice.
- The tutti frutti does not absorb a lot of sugar and is a good low calorie and high fiber confectionery goodie!
sudha
Thank you for the clear instructions. Cant wait to try
Jack
I got Green papaya for making paratha and stumbled upon your recipe, ended up making tutti frutti instead...kids munched on it! thanks for the recipe.
Meenakshi
Happy to hear that. Thanks for the feedback.
Sanjana murthy
Hey Meena, I wish I knew that it is so easy to make tutti frutti at home. Going to grab huge green papaya on my next Indian grocery haul. thanks a lot for the simple recipe.
Meenakshi
So glad Darling that you found it helpful.