Friday, September 13, 2019

Monkey brain Ginger candy

I've had a bad case of monkey brain the past week. All my great plans of getting all kinds of thing done while hubby was off fishing have washed away with the rain, 6 inches or so in as many days.  There was one gloriously sunny day in between and I sat on the deck and did nothing but soak up some vitamin D. Maybe its from too much sugar and junk food.  I made ginger candy one day you just slice the ginger root at thin as possible then cook it in a cup of sugar and a cup and a half of water then scoop out the ginger onto paper towels and let it dry then dip in more sugar so it doesn't stick together.  Its a fraction of the cost of ginger candy from a health food store.  Then I cooked the syrup and a couple jars of syrup from past candy making and boiled it down for chewy candy. A jigger of the syrup with club soda makes a marvelous ginger ale.  The recipe had been translated and the Celsius to Fahrenheit was wrong.  I used the candy thermometer and cooked it to 225 F like the recipe said but I still like to do the drop of syrup in cold water to see how it tastes.  Well 225 F was syrup so I cooked it to 260 F firm ball like caramels and poured it onto parchment paper.  Let it cool very tasty.  Ginger candy has a burn to it like cinnamon red hots,  I love that burn.  Cutting through it -- what a mess it just melted back together.  The thought of wrapping individually in wax paper........not going to happen.  Let it sit for a day nibble nibble too much sugar for someone who doesn't eat much sugar.  I dusted it with cornstarch then cut it with my heavy duty kitchen scissors and dipped it in more cornstarch.  What a mess, cornstarch on my hands, the counter top, my shirt, my pants, my shoes, the floor, into the container then into the freezer.  I should have put layers of parchment between.  Needless to say the candy is not very pretty or photo worthy.  It will be tasty to melt a couple pieces to put in gingerbread or gingersnaps in addition to the dried spices.  If I ever  make it again I'll cook it to the hard crack stage. Between all this I have flitted from project to project and not completed anything.  That's been my week.  starting my to do list for next week,  oh wait I can use the same list!  --Ann--

2 comments:

  1. Monkey Brain... I love that phrase. Wow, you've had a lot of rain. There are times when we just can't settle and get things done... sugar or not. Your candy sounds delicious! Thank you for your visit to my blog. The blocks are multiplying!

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  2. Wow, that's way more rain that we've had here! You deserve some time off since you're usually amazingly productive! Have a great weekend.

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