Glace Fruits
2 cups sugar 1 cup water Fruit 2 tablespoons lemon-juice or 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar Make a sirup of the sugar and water. Boil, without stirring, to the hard-crack stage, or 300 degrees F. Remove the saucepan from the fire and set it in an outer pan of boiling water to prevent the sirup from hardening. Add the lemon-juice. Dip the fruits, one at a time, into the hot sirup. Remove and place on an oiled paper to dry.
A plain hard-crack sugar syrup used as a clear shell for whole fruits. The recipe is short because the whole thing turns on two variables: the temperature of the syrup and the dryness of the fruit.
- The hinge: dry fruitSurface moisture is the main cause of failure: it makes the syrup weep, cloud and slide off. Grapes, cherries with stems, mandarin segments and strawberries should be washed well ahead and dried completely; segmented citrus can sit on a rack until the cut faces are tacky rather than wet.
- Hard-crack, and nothing less300F is the bottom of the hard-crack band. A digital or candy thermometer is worth more than any cold-water test here, since ten degrees low gives a sticky coat that never sets. Boiling to 305-310F gives a little more margin without colouring the syrup.
- Why no stirringOnce the sugar has dissolved, stirring drags crystals up the pan wall and seeds the whole batch grainy. Wash the sides down with a wet pastry brush instead, and leave the spoon out.
- Lemon-juice or cream of tartarBoth are acids, added to invert a little of the sugar and discourage crystallisation. The recipe offers them as alternatives, not additions, and it directs that the lemon-juice go in after the pan comes off the fire.
- The outer pan of boiling waterThis is a water bath to hold the syrup workable while you dip; the recipe calls for the outer pan to be boiling. Take care that no water gets into the syrup itself.
- Weather mattersHard-crack sugar draws water out of the air. On a humid day the finished fruits go sticky in under an hour, which is why old confectionery books insist on dry, cool weather for this work.
- Oiled paperLightly oiled parchment, or a silicone mat, both release cleanly. Waxed paper will fuse to 300F sugar.
- Yield and keepingThese are same-day sweets: serve within a few hours and do not refrigerate, as condensation dissolves the shell.
- Handling hot sugarSyrup at 300F causes deep burns and clings. Use a dipping fork or a skewer rather than fingers, and keep a bowl of cold water beside the pan.