Taura Natural Ingredients has signed up leading French pastry chef Michel Willaume as ambassador for its new Gourmet Series range of concentrated fruit pieces for artisan confectioners and bakers.

Michel, who is a Master of French Pastry, will work with Taura to create delicious and innovative recipes containing Gourmet Series fruit pieces, which will be available to view in exclusive videos online at a new dedicated website, tauragourmet.com. Michel will also use Gourmet Series in his own products on sale through his recently opened EMOTION patisserie in Turin, Italy.

Hailing from Nantes in France, Michel has had a glittering career as a pastry chef, winning numerous awards. He was named Pastry Chef of the Year in New York in 1999 and triumphed at the prestigious Pastry World Cup in Lyon, France, in 2001. He has held several distinguished positions all over the world, having worked at the Hotel Matignon in Paris, the Hotel Arts Barcelona and the Ritz Carlton San Francisco.

Gourmet Series is being unveiled for the first time at the ISM 2013 exhibition in Cologne (27-30 January), where Taura is exhibiting in Hall 4 on Stand A033. The new range comprises six varieties of fruit pieces made using Taura’s unique Ultra Rapid Concentration® (URC®) technology. All are designed to be easily used ‘off-the-peg’ by smaller-scale craft bakeries, chocolate producers and innovative chefs.

Gourmet Series URC® fruit pieces are suitable for use in a wide range of artisanal products, including chocolates, cakes, biscuits, cookies, muffins, breads and brioches, as well as dishes and desserts served in restaurants. With their high fruit content, these premium quality ingredients offer a delicious, convenient and functional alternative to fresh, candied and dried fruit ingredients.

Included in the Gourmet Series range are strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, orchard fruit, orange and honey. All six varieties offer the benefits that are now synonymous with Taura’s industrial-scale ingredients but in a format and pack-size that has been specially created for artisan producers.

Michel said: “I’m delighted to be working with Taura as ambassador for Gourmet Series. I’ve been extremely impressed with this new line of fruit ingredients and how they perform in a range of recipes. They offer huge advantages over fresh, candied and dried fruit ingredients and I can’t wait to use them to create a host of new and delicious products.”

Marc Cautaerts, general manager EMEA at Taura, added: “It’s great news to have Michel on board as we launch Gourmet Series. We have developed this new range for professionals just like him – artisan confectioners, bakers and innovative chefs. He is the perfect ambassador for Gourmet Series and he will help us communicate effectively how these new URC® ingredients can transform the way fruit is used in a wide range of bakery and confectionery products.”

Gourmet Series has all the taste of fresh fruit, but without the mess and perishability. With a long shelf life at room temperature, the range can help craft bakers, chocolatiers and chefs eliminate the high levels of waste often associated with fresh fruit, thereby controlling costs. Gourmet Series also offers significant taste advantages over dried fruit ingredients and, in contrast to candied fruit pieces, contain no added preservatives, artificial colours or flavours.

URC® (Ultra Rapid Concentration®) is a unique process of concentrating the taste, texture and natural goodness of fruit into pieces, flakes and pastes for use in applications such as chocolate, baked goods, confectionery and snack bars.