Glazed Strawberries

Thanks to ngmpix for the photo.

I made these the other day, a recipe/technique from Jacques Pepin, and walked around the neighborhood giving them away.  The contrast between the thin hard candy shell and the ripe strawberry makes for a nice treat.



Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 6 to 8 drops lemon juice or 1/2 tsp creme of tarter mixed in 1 tsp of cold water
• 1 pound ripe strawberries (conventional are full of pesticides, so try to use organic)

Oil a tray very lightly. If the strawberries are not clean, wash them gently and dry them thoroughly.

To glaze the berries: Put sugar and cool water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until a candy thermometer registers between 310°F and 320°F degrees, the 'hard-crack' stage.  This will be about 15 minutes after the mixture comes to a boil.  To check the temp without a candy thermometer dip a teaspoon in the mixture, lift it and dip in a glass of cold water right away. If the mixture sets hard on the spoon, it's at the hard-crack stage.

An unlined copper pan--and who doesn't have one of those laying around--tends to prevent sugar from crystallizing. If (!) unavailable, add 6 to 8 drops of lemon juice/creme of tartar mixture to the syrup when it is almost cooked to prevent crystallization.

Tip the pan to the side to get the syrup deep enough to dip strawberries, one at a time, into the hot syrup, coating about a third to half of each berry.

Set the coated berries on the oiled tray. The sugar will harden around them in 10-15 minutes. Set aside until serving time.

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Use ripe strawberries, preferably with stems so you can hold them easily as you dip them into the hot, liquid sugar. Be sure the berries are dry so they do not splatter, and proceed carefully.

Use the melted sugar right away to ensure the shell of sugar crusted around the berries will be thin. The hot sugar will partially cook the ripe berries. Within 15 to 20 minutes, the berries will release some juice, which will begin to melt the shell of sugar, so try not to glaze more than 1 hour before serving.