Today's NYTimes food section had a recipe for lemon gumdrops. Reading
the ingredient list, I said to myself, "Self, this sounds like candy
even you can make." Hah! First, there were no lemons in the house
(how'd that happen?) Well, a lemon will yield about 1/3 cup of juice,
and I just bought 2 crates of clemantines, so that seemed like a good
alternative. Ever try to zest a clemantine? Sharpened the knife 3
times, since the grater acted like it had been used on rocks.

Ok, we have everything at the ready. Instructions say "Boil 15 minutes
after adding gelatin." Ok. Hey, what are these brown streaky things
growing in my sugar syrup that I've stirred til my arm fell off, and
continued stirring with the other one? At the end of 15 minutes, I
have a light caramel, and the recipe says to add the juice and zest and
boil for 5 more minutes!

Needless to say, after adding the color drops (plus 2 drops of red
since I was flavoring them orange), it's a rather ominus shade of
orange, with those brown undertones.

So my question, (if you've read this far) is "What temperature or heat
setting do you use when boiling sugar syrup to keep it from turning
brown? I'd like to try this again using lemon, and maybe grapefruit.

Oh. You want to know what the recipe was without logging into the
NYTimes website?

Lemon Gumdrops

Butter
4 packets plain gelatin
2 ½ cups sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 orange
3 drops yellow food coloring.

1. Butter an 8-by-8-inch baking dish. Dissolve the gelatin in 1/2 cup
water for 5 minutes. Combine 2 cups sugar and 1/2 cup water in a medium
saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir constantly and wash down the sides
of the pan several times with a pastry brush that has been dipped in
cold water to prevent crystallization.

2. Add the gelatin and continue boiling and stirring until it thickens,
15 minutes.

3. Add the lemon juice and orange zest and boil for 5 more minutes.
Stir in the food coloring. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish and
let set up for about 1 hour.

4. Put the remaining sugar in a shallow bowl. Butter a large chef's
knife and your fingers. Cut the lemon gel into 1/2-inch squares and
coat with the sugar. Makes 200 to 250 gumdrops. Adapted from "Making
Great Candy," by Laura Dover Doran.

maxine in ri