Candied Herbs

I was trained in the school of thought that strong flavourful herbs should be tasted and smelled but not chewed. Custards could be infused but they must drape the tongue briefly and evaporate, smooth and silky. Like a well cut skirt: scissors glide through the grain of the fabric, not against it. An aroma is an elusive sensory experience. We embrace those we have known and loved forever and are comforted because they still smell the same as we remember.

A scent which we have worn for years becomes embedded in our clothes, our beds, the walls, our lover's hands.

Infusing live, green herbs can be tricky business in cooking and baking. Michael Recchiuti found he needed to invest in massive dehydrators to control volatile herbs and their varied moisture contents which disturbed and threatened his sensitive, perfectly tempered ganache. And Daniel Peterson, of the newly opened Coi, is working with powerful gastro-aroma oils to play with our co-mingling sense of smell and taste.

Candying herbs can be a way to encapsulate a strong perfume, an attempt to tame and wrangle an impetuous pixie.

Modern alchemy.

We take sugar, a mad scientist's dream molecule unto itself, and liquefy it with water and heat, take it carefully to 236F, toss in our solids, shocking the hot glassy sugar into recrystallizing. We pour out this sharp snowy mass and cool it down gently in dry air. Later we fill the kitchen with loud clunky whirring and turn our tightly formed mass again into sandy dust.

This perfumed sugar can be sprinkled over cream puffs drizzled with honey, sifted into whipped cream, dissolved into ice cream base, turned into meringue for pavlova or daquoise or frosting, substituted for part of the sugar in pound cake or cookies, dusted over fresh berries. The choices are as varied, wondrous and broad as your imagination will allow.

Happy June.

Comments

[julie]

Hi Shuna,

You're posts are always so very well written, beautifully illustrated, and encouraging...

Thanks!!!!!
Julie

[julie]

okay, sorry about the typo in you're...

your!!!

[Kudzu]

Shuna --

You and Barry. You hit this one out of the park! This is some amazing food writing. Thank you for the pleasure and the inspiration.

[Melissa]

You are a bloggin-fool lately! On fire and inspired! I Love It!
(wish I could attend your 'choux' class)
Keep 'em coming, Shuna!

[Bistro]

Love this idea...and will be using it very soon...

This works best with dangerous herbs (tarragon comes to mind)? Do share.

[Raspil]

the coolest cooking technique i've seen used for herbs is deep frying them. we did that at work for a garnish -- we took whole basil leaves (some as big as three fingers across) and fried them for a few seconds at about 350-360 degrees. they came out looking like stained glass. gorgeous! i love "candying" citrus rind; i'd never have thought to do the same with herbs. brills!

[Brian]

Hmm, I just tried this with a Kukicha green tea, and my 236F sugar syrup happily took it and didn't crystallize at all. Now I have a clear sugar syrup full of green tea. Do the solids you seed it with need a certain quantity of moisture, maybe? My tea might be pretty dry, as herbs go.

[shuna fish lydon]

Hello Brian,

I have just now re-read the instructions on this post and I realize that I do not say how much solids to how much syrup. By weight measurement. Also I do not say this but it is important: keep the heat on. It's not merely that dropping the solids in will make it crystallize.

You say that you tried this with tea. My only issue with this is are you sure you want to cook tea? Sometimes it will lose its volatiles/perfumes if you cook it...

I am going to leave this comment/answer on your blog too. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of your issues.

Mostly I'm just excited that you've found this long ago post and attempted the method at all!!

[Lois]

Hi Shuna,
Love your site!
We met at the Farmers Market in Portland, we are Shalimar Farms, we grow gooseberries,plums: Santa Rosa,Shiro,Methley,Satsuma,and, pears,walnuts,persimmions,and some berries. Was wondering if you had any favorite ways with plums, we have alot of Shiro, the tender yellow ones, I am making vinegar, jam,soaking with rum, fruit soup, gingered fruit salad . What's next ??
Thanks.... Lois

[shuna fish lydon]

Lois!!

Wow, I am so very happy & honored that you came back here for a visit and even left a comment!

I love to make sorbet and granita with plums. There's always tarts and cakes and pies and ice cream too.

Tonight I made pork chops with onions and peaches so you could use plums with meaty things too... Look at the Cornmeal & Fresh Fruit Cake recipe here on eggbeater-- this would be a great place to make use of your fresh plums or plum jam...

Please stop by again! great to hear from you!

[Rachael]

I had been wondering about this for ages, Im so glad I found this post! Thanks!