Okay, so I decided to try making rosemary candy the other day. Seemed like a fun little project, you know? I had a bunch of rosemary growing in the garden, and it was either use it or watch it take over the entire backyard.
Getting Started
First things first, I went out and snipped a good handful of rosemary sprigs. I made sure to pick the nicer looking ones, the ones that weren't too woody. Then I brought them inside and gave them a good wash under cool water. You gotta get all the garden bits off, nobody wants crunchy dirt in their candy, right? After that, I patted them dry with a paper towel. Really dry, because water and hot sugar don't always play nice.
Making the Sugary Goodness
Next up, the sugar syrup. I grabbed a small saucepan and dumped in about a cup of regular white sugar. Then I added just enough water to make it look like wet sand, maybe a quarter of a cup, something like that. I didn't measure it too precisely, just eyeballed it. I turned the heat on to medium and started stirring it gently, just until the sugar dissolved. Once it was all liquid, I stopped stirring. That's important, otherwise, it can get all grainy later, or so I've heard. I just let it bubble away.
I kept a close eye on it. You're waiting for it to get to that stage where it's thick but not turning into caramel yet. For candy like this, you want it to crystallize. While the sugar was doing its thing, I quickly lined a baking sheet with some parchment paper. Always good to be prepared.
The Rosemary Dip
Once the syrup looked right – it was bubbling steadily and seemed a bit thicker – I took the pot off the heat. This is where the magic, or at least the rosemary part, happens. I took my dried rosemary sprigs, one by one, and carefully dipped them into the hot sugar syrup. I used tongs for this, 'cause that stuff is hot, seriously hot. I tried to coat each sprig evenly, twirling it around a bit. You don't want big blobs of sugar, just a nice coating.
After each sprig was coated, I laid it carefully on the parchment paper I had ready. I tried to make sure they weren't touching each other too much, so they wouldn't all stick together into one giant rosemary-sugar monster.
The Waiting Game and Results
And then, well, then you wait. The sugar needs to cool and crystallize on the rosemary. This part takes a bit of patience. I just left them on the counter for a few hours. As they cooled, you could see the sugar turning opaque and sparkly. It actually looked pretty neat.
- Washed and dried the rosemary.
- Made a simple sugar syrup.
- Dipped the rosemary sprigs in the hot syrup.
- Let them cool and crystallize on parchment paper.
The outcome? Pretty cool! They were these delicate, sugary rosemary sprigs. The taste was interesting – sweet, obviously, but with that unmistakable piney, herby flavor of rosemary. It's definitely a unique kind of candy. Not something you'd eat a whole bag of, but a few sprigs are a nice little treat. They looked quite fancy too, I thought. I used a few to decorate a cake later, and it got some compliments. So yeah, a successful little kitchen experiment, I'd say. Took a bit of time, but nothing too complicated. Give it a shot if you’ve got rosemary coming out of your ears like I did!
