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Lemon and Peppermint Drops
Take the desired quantity of granulated sugar; add a very little water, just enough to make with the sugar a stiff paste. 2 ounces of water to a pound of sugar is about the right proportion. Set it over the fire and allow to nearly boil, stirring it constantly. It must be removed from the fire just as soon as the bubbles, denoting that the boiling-point is reached, begin to rise. Let the syrup cool a little, stirring all the time; add strong essence of peppermint or lemon to suit the taste, and drop on sheets of smooth white paper. They should be kept in a warm place for a few hours to dry. Delicious drops may be made by substituting the juice of fresh fruits.
This is a grained sugar drop rather than a hard candy: the constant stirring is deliberate, and it is what makes the finished drops opaque, short and quick to set. Treat the stirring instruction as the hinge of the whole recipe.
- The proportion in modern measureTwo ounces of water to a pound of sugar is a quarter cup of water to about 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar. The mixture will look far too dry at the start; it loosens as the sugar dissolves.
- Why you stirIn clear candy work stirring is forbidden because it seeds crystals. Here crystals are the point. Agitating the hot syrup breaks the sugar down into fine grains, which is what gives these drops their pale, chalky fondant body.
- How hot is "nearly boil"The recipe gives no thermometer reading, and with this little water the syrup is close to saturation, so the first bubbles come somewhat above the boiling point of water. Cooked any further the mass sets too hard to drop cleanly.
- Cool "a little," not muchThe syrup needs to be thick enough to hold a domed shape but still fluid enough to fall from a spoon. That window is short. Work with a small saucepan and have the paper laid out before you start.
- Essence strengthNineteenth-century "strong essence of peppermint" was considerably more concentrated than supermarket peppermint extract. Start with about 1/4 teaspoon extract per pound of sugar and taste, or use two or three drops of food-grade peppermint oil, which is closer to the original in potency.
- Dropping surfaceSubstitute parchment or a silicone mat for the smooth white paper. Modern printed or coated papers are not meant for food contact, and the drops release from parchment without tearing.
- DryingA few hours in a warm dry spot, an oven with only the light on, or the top of a refrigerator will firm the outsides. Humid weather will leave them tacky no matter how long you wait.
- The fruit-juice variationFresh juice adds both water and acid. Acid inverts some of the sugar and discourages graining, so juice drops stay softer and stickier and want longer drying; a tablespoon or so of juice in place of part of the water is the practical limit.
- YieldA pound of sugar makes roughly 60 to 80 drops the size of a thumbnail, depending on how generous the spoon is.