Candy & Confectionery Recipes > Lemon Drops
It is probably worth buying the best lemon essence or even experimenting with lemon zest to obtain the best flavor.
See Cooking with Sugar for information on the tricky process of boiling sugar.
1/2 pint water
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
lemon essence to taste
1 dessertspoon cream of tartar
(see measure conversions for more information)
- Remove from the heat and add lemon essence to taste.
- Turn out onto an oiled marble slab.
- Sprinkle the 1 dessertspoon of cream of tartar onto the candy and knead in thoroughly, when cool enough.
- Form into thin rolls, cut into small pieces with scissors and shape into sweets by hand.
- Sift with icing sugar and allow to dry thoroughly.
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How to make lemon drops:
Sugar was made into candies (sweets) of this sort since sugar was first brought to Europe. Elizabethans in particular would make what they called 'comfits' which were made by building up layers of boiled sugar over something like a caraway seed. They were used to sweeten the breath but in fact lead to severe rotting of the teeth. Sugar was of course extremely expensive at that time and was thus only used by the very wealthy.It is probably worth buying the best lemon essence or even experimenting with lemon zest to obtain the best flavor.
See Cooking with Sugar for information on the tricky process of boiling sugar.
Ingredients
3 cups granulated sugar1/2 pint water
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
lemon essence to taste
1 dessertspoon cream of tartar
(see measure conversions for more information)
Method
- Boil the first three ingredients together until the mixture becomes pale yellow.- Remove from the heat and add lemon essence to taste.
- Turn out onto an oiled marble slab.
- Sprinkle the 1 dessertspoon of cream of tartar onto the candy and knead in thoroughly, when cool enough.
- Form into thin rolls, cut into small pieces with scissors and shape into sweets by hand.
- Sift with icing sugar and allow to dry thoroughly.
If you have a question or comment relevant to this page, then please post it below.
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I used an oiled Pizza stone and turned the mixture onto that and then used a small metal scraper to lift and fold the mixture until it was cold enough to touch with only 3rd degree burns. I cut the mixture in half (having already 1/3'd the recipe above) and put half in the grill whilst I rolled and cut the remainder. Next time I'll put the grill upto 150c rather than the 100 I had it on as by the time I'd finished rolling the first half between blistered palms, the second half was a little too set...but just about worked (it was cooler so no more burns, but razor sharp so cut my palms up to complement the blisters).
I'll put much more lemon in next time also..
Is it the cream of tarter that gives the lemon drops tha strong sweet/sour tast? We make hard candy but do not put it on a marble slab. We line cookie sheets with powdered sugar and use a wooden rod to form rivers in the sugar then pour the hot candy mixture into the rivers, wait for it to set and cool enough to cut into pieces large enough to handle then cut into bite size pieces. We want to make the fruit flavors like lemon and orange to have a stronger sweet/sour taste like the lemon drop candy I had when I was a kid or (Lemon Heads). We tried citric acid but it just made it bitter. We really want the lemon drop flavor but don't know how to achive that intense sweet/sour flavor. Can you help?