Sunday, October 7, 2007

Syrup Candy

After the plum syrup turned out so well I thought I would try apple/pear syrup. I made a huge batch of jelly and after cleaning up, I started the syrup. I didn't have quite enough of the apple/pear juice so I added about a cup of plain pear juice. I followed the plum syrup recipe and boiled everything for 15 minutes. I knew something was up when I only filled 2.5 pints because doubling the recipe should have given me 4 pints. I double-checked the measuring cup I used... yes 4 cups... oh well, time to process. Fifteen minutes later the stock pot I had used was pretty much cooled. Things were hard, I'm talking so hard I thought "I'm going to need a jackhammer to get this clean!" Everything was more like a hard candy than syrup. After processing the jars I let them cool and oh boy! Things were not moving, this stuff was set so much in the jar that I contemplated throwing jars and all out! But I had just used 6 cups of sugar and I did not want that to go to waste! What's one to do? The first thing was to try to get it out of the jars, short of actually using a jackhammer, I thought I could reboil the jars for about 5 minutes, nope that didn't work, the stuff wouldn't budge. Time to turn up the heat! I reboiled for 25 minutes, bent a metal spoon trying to get the stuff out... grabbed a wooden spoon and finally was able to work most of the jars empty. So now this stuff is sitting in a pot, setting up... fast. I heated it up and things started to melt. But what was I going to do with it? Lollipops! All I had were popsicle sticks so I made a few... I didn't really like how they were turning out. I ended up dumping the whole works on a piece of tinfoil sprayed with Pam and hoped for the best. This morning I broke it into pieces and discovered I had made glass candy. And it's pretty good :)



The "lollipops" didn't turn out so great, and probably would have looked better if I had sticks and molds.


So what did I do wrong? Too much/little pectin in the juice? Too hard/long boiling? Your guess is as good as mine but at least the sugar didn't go to waste! :) I probably couldn't do it again, even on purpose, if I tried! Oh, by the way, the jelly set perfectly :)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

mmmm...your kitchen must be a VERY happy place!! You are so inspiring! But I need to find some fun things to do without a pressure cooker or canner! =) So, we're going to make Zombie Cookies with David this coming wednesday while he is visiting his great uncle (thankfully, he is willing to share David with us for a day or two! lol)

PS - i love the picture of the Sunshine Tomatoes! =)

Unknown said...

Great save on the lollipops! :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Kansas...
It looks very tasty! I am sure everyone will quite enjoy them. Sounds like quite an experience.

Love Ya!

Jackie said...

Good save! I hate to see things go to waste too!

NEO said...

So you are shipping out free samples to all those who comment right? Yum!

KansasA said...

Hi NEO...
Show up at my door and you got one! :)

Amy Z said...

Just read your blog on plum syrup. What kind of steamer juicer do you have and did you research before buying it? I've read your yogurt blog as well. Love your blogs and will be reading more once I get my kitchen clean. Canning season... :)

Amy Z
Peshtigo WI

KansasA said...

Amy Z,
I have this steamer: http://www.juicer-steamer.com/ and I did research it before buying it. I wanted one that would last forever and I liked this one best. :)