zxcvbob wrote:
E'ed and P'ed, since it's a reply to an old message:
Bob (this one) wrote:
zxcvbob wrote:
Bob (this one) wrote:
A column I wrote a while back.
Pastorio
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Candy is dandy...
Have you ever tried to make candy bars? I mean like you can buy
in the stores with fancy wrappers and all. Real candy bars. Here
we go on a very cool adventu you're about to see how to do it.
And then I want you to make up your own.
[snip]
You use store-bought caramels? Shouldn't you start with making a few
pounds of homemade caramel?
Not necessarily. I have made tubloads of caramel on more than a few
occasions, but it wasn't ever appreciably better than Kraft's. I've
had caramels made by pastry chefs that were good enough,, but still
not appreciably better than the commercial.
My intention in this and most columns is practicality combined with a
certain quality level. Making the caramel would add a lot of time and
effort to the projects. Less time to unwrap some packaged caramels. If
people want to go those extra steps, fine. I'm just not making them
mandatory.
I don't subscribe to the idea that homemade is always better than
commercial. I've had too much bad food prepared by sincere and
hard-working amateurs. And good stuff made in factories. We use
store-bought chocolates in candy making. Why not other well-made
ingredients as well? Marzipan? Nut butters? Lekvar? Dried fruit? Jams?
Pastorio
Good store-bought jams are getting increasingly hard to find. Besides,
I have way too many jars of homemade stuff on the shelves. The point is
well taken for the other items you mentioned. (Making homemade caramels
and/or cooked fudge without using marshmallows, chocolate chips,
powdered sugar, nor sweetened condensed milk might be worthy of its own
article.)
Got any hints for using up pounds of jams, jellies, and marmalade?
--besides eating more toast and biscuits? I like making the stuff, but
only eat it in small quantities and not very often. So it piles up on
the shelves.
Depends on what kinds you have. I make a lot of jams and jellies yet we
eat only a small fraction on toast. Both are good stirred into plain
yogurt or oatmeal. I use apple jelly when baking ham or chicken pieces.
Apricot jam mixed with a few other ingredients is good for baking
chicken pieces in too. Cherry and strawberry jam make good ice cream
toppers. Jam filled muffins are good: just fill muffin tin part way,
add a generous tsp of jam, then fill the rest of the way with muffin
mix, bake and enjoy. I make a wine jelly which is a great compliment to
anything pork. However, it is an acquired taste so I only make 4 - 250
ml jars. This jelly is actually good on bagels and cream cheese,
something I would not have thought to try. I use jams in "jelly rolls"
and occasionally cake fillings. One jelly roll will take amost a full
500 ml jar of jam. Both jams and jellies can be used when making hors
d'oeuvres, either sweet, spicy, or meat types. I try to be creative. I
look at what jam or jelly needs to be used up then incorporate it into
whatever I'm cooking. I've yet to have a jar of jam or jelly go to
waste
I can't give you tips for marmalade as I only make one small
batch for myself.
BTW, the philosophy I use when home preserving is to do up what we can
comfortably use from one growing season to the next. Still, I find
myself with extra of some things and not enough of others. I think in
some ways this is the bane of home preservers. You are estimating how
much you will use until the next growing season but things come up where
you need less or more.
I was thinking of trying to make "Turkish Delights" (applets and
cotlets) by thickening melted jam or jelly with cornstarch and chopped
nuts. Do you think it would work? Any idea on the proportions to use?
I recently looked at a box from Liberty Orchards and their candy is set
with pectin and modified food starch.
Best regards,
Bob