Candied Buddha's Hand
Jan. 10th, 2018 10:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithI have chopped up the Buddha's hand to candy it, less the two fingers from the previous cookie batch and two reserved for another later. I don't have enough butter left to make more shortbread today, drat it. The ones I froze to test thawed out with no discernible change in taste or texture, so that's a win. Anyhow, I wound up with about 2 2/3 cups of chunks, which are now simmering. They need to blanch until tender. Then I'll drain that water and mix up roughly equal portions of water, sugar, and Buddha's hand, which will need to cook for a while.
So much oil poured off this thing that my fingers stuck together and the whole dining room reeks of it. :D The stuff smells like heaven, I keep looking around to see if there's a crack in reality. Handling it just makes me happy. The scent is so uplifting.
EDIT 1/10/17: After simmering for 20-30 minutes, the chunks are now tender. Some recipes say to use the same water, some say to throw it out and add fresh. I tasted it, and there's a bitter note in the water that wasn't so noticeable in the fruit itself. So I poured out that water, put in 2 2/3 cup fresh, and 2 2/3 cup sugar. Back on the heat to simmer a while.
EDIT: The sugar syrup hasn't cooked down much, even after I added another 2/3 cups sugar. But the chunks are completely soft and translucent, starting to stick together. I've moved the pot off the heat and will later bail out the candy to dry.
EDIT: I have successfully bailed out the chunks from the syrup. They are supposed to dry for 24 hours, before rolling in sugar. If there are any left by then. Right now, I have a tray full of delicious, sunshine-flavored gummies, and I love gummy candy. O.O I also have a tub full of approximately 2 cups of Buddha's hand syrup. The first taste is pure sugar, but then the bittertart notes hit. :D 3q3q3q!!! What can you do with simple syrup? Make soda. Make sorbet. Pour it over fruit salad. Possibly there is some way to mix in gelatin to make jello. There's a kind of very thin crispy miniature waffle that this would probably be good poured over too. Since Trevor is coming down this weekend and he makes handcrafted sodas, I plan to share this and see what he can do with it.
That was $9.99 very well spent.
So much oil poured off this thing that my fingers stuck together and the whole dining room reeks of it. :D The stuff smells like heaven, I keep looking around to see if there's a crack in reality. Handling it just makes me happy. The scent is so uplifting.
EDIT 1/10/17: After simmering for 20-30 minutes, the chunks are now tender. Some recipes say to use the same water, some say to throw it out and add fresh. I tasted it, and there's a bitter note in the water that wasn't so noticeable in the fruit itself. So I poured out that water, put in 2 2/3 cup fresh, and 2 2/3 cup sugar. Back on the heat to simmer a while.
EDIT: The sugar syrup hasn't cooked down much, even after I added another 2/3 cups sugar. But the chunks are completely soft and translucent, starting to stick together. I've moved the pot off the heat and will later bail out the candy to dry.
EDIT: I have successfully bailed out the chunks from the syrup. They are supposed to dry for 24 hours, before rolling in sugar. If there are any left by then. Right now, I have a tray full of delicious, sunshine-flavored gummies, and I love gummy candy. O.O I also have a tub full of approximately 2 cups of Buddha's hand syrup. The first taste is pure sugar, but then the bittertart notes hit. :D 3q3q3q!!! What can you do with simple syrup? Make soda. Make sorbet. Pour it over fruit salad. Possibly there is some way to mix in gelatin to make jello. There's a kind of very thin crispy miniature waffle that this would probably be good poured over too. Since Trevor is coming down this weekend and he makes handcrafted sodas, I plan to share this and see what he can do with it.
That was $9.99 very well spent.
