On a cold weekend, a bit warm and boring, even with some errands to be done. What could improve the climate? Go to the kitchen!
The original flavor wasn’t that, when I came across Not Without Salt while searching for inspiration and saw it with hibiscus tea, I immediately swapped it.
The day before I had bought a bag of lemongrass organic tea dry to test. It is, around here, the grass it’s called that. Various names to designate the Cymbopogon citratus.
I even wish I had used the plant in nature, but my bush is still young to collect. Who knows in the next one? But I think that chlorophyll can get in the way when it comes to syrup… that’s a fat. I remember well the several afternoons in the laboratory producing vegetable concentrates, at least. But that is beside the point!
The tea (we know it’s an infusion) turns yellow-green (?) which isn’t enough to color the sweet, so I appealed to os-colleague dyes and give it a little color. But it’s totally optional, yes?
Capim-Santo Marshmallow
Makes: 36 pieces
- 3 g (3 teaspoons) dried lemongrass (lemongrass for tea)
- 200 mL water (almost boiling)
- 20 g (3 soup spoons) gelatin powder (colorless and tasteless)
- 330 g refined sugar
- 110 g liquid glucose (transparent)
- Leaf green gel coloring
- Apricot yellow gel coloring
- impalpable icing sugar (to sprinkle)
1 cup: 250mL | 1 tablespoon: 15mL.
- Prepare a 30x15cm baking tray lined with oiled baking paper. Reserve.
- Add the dried lemongrass with the almost boiling water, just before it boils, and simmer for 5 minutes to infuse. Then, strain and reserve the liquid.
- In the mixing bowl, add the powdered gelatin and 120mL of freshly brewed lemongrass tea. Mix well, let the gelatin hydrate for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a tall pan, mix the refined sugar, liquid glucose and the rest of the tea. Place over medium heat, stir to dissolve if necessary. Once it starts to boil, do not stir anymore, let it cook for 6-7 minutes. Clean the sides of the pan with a wet brush if necessary. This prevents the syrup from becoming sugary. The syrup must reach a temperature of 115ºC (using the candy test: it is between soft candy and hard candy).
- When the syrup reaches the required point, remove the pan from the heat. And with the mixer at high speed, pour the syrup over the gelatin. If desired, add the coloring. The amount will vary according to the desired color intensity. Continue beating for about 8-10 minutes or until thick and has created volume.
- Transfer to the prepared pan and distribute evenly. Let it cool well without covering, at least 3 hours, if you are leaving it overnight, as soon as it cools, cover it with plastic wrap or greased paper without letting it touch the marshmallow. And take it to the fridge.
- Sprinkle the powdered icing sugar on a cutting board (or clean, dry surface), turn the marshamallow onto it. Carefully remove the paper, cut into the desired shape with a greased knife and roll in sugar. Store in an airtight container.
- Mixer: the equipment needs to be powerful, otherwise it may not be able to handle the viscosity of the candy. As it cools, the thicker it becomes. Ordinary mixers can’t handle beating for that long.
