Project:Cucumber Taffy
From London Hackspace Wiki
| Cucumber Taffy | |
|---|---|
| Created | 15/08/2012 |
| Members | Akki14 |
| QR code | |
Description
Taffy is the American term for chewy sweets like Starburst/Opal Fruit and Chewits. One day several years ago, I saw someone eating a green Starburst on the tube and for some reason the green associated with cucumber flavour in my head. I noted it down in my crazy ideas file and figured it'd be difficult to get cucumber flavouring etc. Then I found Monin's Cucumber syrup...
Components
- Sugar
- Butter
- Water
- Monin Cucumber Syrup (bought at Gerry's Wine & Booze in Soho)
- Cornflour
- Salt
- Bicarbonate of Soda
- Large pot, larger than you expect - sugar syrup bubbles up very high.
- Wooden Spoon or silicone spatula/spoonula
- Large nonstick tray, buttered
- Sugar Thermometer or appropriate probe thermometer
- IR Thermometer (not essential, somewhat helpful)
Process
Based on the recipe and instructions here [1] I made a half-batch since it was just for experimentation purposes. Added in the suggested tiny bit of bicarbonate of soda after boiling to try to make it more aerated.
Improvements and Lessons Learned
- May have overboiled the syrup slightly. This makes for incredibly chewy taffy that is nearly lethal (tough to chew into small enough bits to swallow!). Take the pot off the heat a few degrees(in F) sooner than 269F-270F
- Let the syrup puddle cool much more. IR Thermometer may not accurately take the temperature of the syrup and there may be pockets of extremely hot syrup. Do not burn your hand like I did. Especially as you may not notice it being a bad burn either (accumulated heating time).
- Taffy is very very sweet. Possibly add more salt to counteract this
- Cucumber flavour is quite subtle. Look into adding in shreds of candied cucumber in the final folding to boost the cucumber flavour.
- Trying to make these with little pockets of syrup is fairly impossible. The taffy collapses down and you end up with laminated taffy.
Further Crazy Ideas
- Leek & Potato Taffy - suggested by parag0n. Possibly using powdered Smash (potato starch doesn't have enough flavour) in place of the cornflour/cornstarch in the recipe... then maybe candied leeks like the candied cucumber slices method?
