November 17, 2014
Mignardise
« gum drops » de orange sanguine
(blood-orange gum drops)
In his 1915 obituary for the dwarf actor Marshal Pinckney Wilder, Elbert Hubbard ends a paragraph where he described Wilder as having a sound mind locked inside of an unsound body with the sentence: “He picked up the lemons that Fate had sent him and started a lemonade-stand.” Supposedly, this line is the original version of the common aphorism: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” My sister-in-law gave me blood oranges, so I made blood-orange gum drops.
Note: I used a cake pan with a 96-sq cm (14-7⁄8-sq in) surface area. You will need to adjust the ingredient amounts for your mold or pan in order to produce the proper thickness gum drop.
neutral-tasting vegetable oil
125 ml (1⁄2 c)
strained blood-orange juice, divided
10 g (1 oz)
225-bloom strength gelatin powder
160 g (3⁄4 c + 1 T)
granulated sugar
a few drops
pink grapefruit essential oil [optional]
a few drops
red food coloring [optional]
finely granulated sugar, for dusting
1. Coat the inside of your mold with oil.
2. Bloom the gelatin powder in 50 ml (3-1⁄3 T) of the juice.
3. Place the remaining juice in a saucepan along with the granulated sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Continue boiling the mixture until its temperature reaches 115 °C (238 °F).
4. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the gelatin-juice mixture. If using, add the grapefruit oil and food coloring. Pour the mixture into the prepared mold, and set aside on a level surface. When cooled to room temperature, refrigerate.
5. Place a scoopful of finely granulated sugar onto a quarter-size baking sheet or rimmed plate. Remove the block of candy from the mold, and coat with sugar. Cut the block into bite-sized pieces, coating the exposed surfaces immediately with sugar.
6. Store the gum drops in your refrigerator in an air-tight container with the sugar. Shake the excess sugar from the gum drops before serving them.
Yield: 16 pieces.
© 2014 Peter Hertzmann. All rights reserved.