Darienne

All the best wishes in the world to you. Our fiftieth wedding anniversary was yesterday. Should have noted that our anniversary luncheon was dessert: homemade scones, raspberries, freshly whipped cream and my special raspberry sauce. That's after 50 years of cooking and eating together.

TimS...you are an angel in human dress.

Over the years, Ed and I have devised menus to suit our needs for eating and the fact that we live at least 1/2 hour from any store. Also our 'city' does not carry unusual or exotic foods. I've seen kumquats once in several years. I have made a computer generated columnized list of foods and stores which carry only certain foods (like the health food store or the liquor store...in Ontario we have separate liquor stores, asian store) and I generate copies of this list which are then fastened with an earth magnet to the fridge wall with a hanging red pen to circle items which we need, are out of, want to buy, need to write in, etc. When we lived in Moab last year, where different foods were available/not available and different stores were there, I simply used the home list to edit into the 'Moab' list and generated that list. If anyone would like a copy of the list to use, they can PM me for it. Once a week after breakfast, we discuss the week's menus and try to make sure we can make the dishes. Then there are the whim meals, like grilled cheese sandwiches or popcorn and orange juleps. There are always on hand cheese, bread, popcorn, oranges, milk, oj, etc. And canned items like chickpeas and tomatoes. We eat much more simply than most folks on this list and tend to eat the same things in a month probably. And a LOT of Chinese food which means mostly egetables and bottled stuff, like Oyster sauce, Hoisin, etc with bits of meat. I make a number of basic things like yogurt, granola, etc. We have just joined Costco and this week we'll see exactly where it can fit into our shopping list.

OK. You are on. I'll get it with I.L.L. and then get back. Safe driving.

Reading this fascinating book: The Fruit Hunter: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Passion, Adam Leith Gollner, 2008. Lots of information about wondrous exotic fruits and Gollner's adventures finding them around the world...but also information about the incredible and sickening corruption in the commercial fruit industry.

Cannot believe where my mind has been...or not been. It's all there in PGreweling, Big Book. Page 200. Striped hard candy to make candy canes and striped hard candy lollipops. The lollipops are exactly what I wanted to make in the first place. Has anyone made them? Any tips I should know before setting out? Thanks.

Candy canes and striped hard candy lollipops on p.200 in PG. Has anyone made them and if so, what extra tips would you extend to a novice in making striped hard candy? Thanks.

It looks so good I immediately went online and got the recipe.

What can I say? I went to the Lord of the Peeps, of course. I shall be on the lookout for this candy. Thanks, Andie.

Hi Andie, Thanks for all the ideas. Have never heard of Peeps before, but will see if we have them in the frozen North Country. My confectionery partner, Barbara, was a grade school teacher and she'll know if they are in Canada. I like the green bits for St. Patrick's Day. I look into my cache of bitsies and see if I have any green stuff...or go to Michael's next trip to town. Thanks again.

No wherewithal to spray chocolate. And my normal end product is usually a chocolately mess, both on the confection and me. My adroit hands belong to my confectionery partner, Barb. I am the brains behind the enterprise. Right.

Thank you, Spring. And thanks for the photo. It occurred to me in the middle of the night...as things do...that making marshmallow lollipops, and from homemade marshmallows too...would work much better if the pops were not square, but rather more longish. Then the stick would have more to hold onto and then they could be dipped...as suggested by Chris Hennes...in thinner chocolate and then 'rolled' in what you call hundreds and thousands, and we call non-pareils (pronounced by some as 'non-pruls'. Interesting thought. The kids would love the orange marshmallows. Very tasty. We just may have a winner. Oh, and also, we'll temper by hand and put into a deeper thinner container. Or just temper by machine and pour into said container for dipping. Thanks.

Thanks, Andie. I didn't make that exact recipe for dunkers but another similar one at Christmas. Great fun!

What...no photos???? As noted before however, cost, ease, wrapping, storage, etc ... these are all factors for this batch for the library. They'll just sit on the front desk to be sold so I have to keep all that in mind. But thanks for all the replies.

Hi Chris, Good idea to thin the chocolate. However, the marshmallows aren't 'fastened' to the lollie stick as a hard candy would be and the whole process of dipping them is a bit tricky, especially in a small Revolation. I just dipped two for fun and non too carefully either. dhardy123 sent me this amazing online source of lollipops and I am sure to find one to make there that is simpler than dipping marshmallows.

Made some orange marshmallows to dip in chocolate for a friend. Stuck two on lollipop sticks and dipped them into chocolate. They do take a LOT of chocolate to cover. And are not suitable for easy wrapping...or long storage life.

Thank you, kind sir.

Thank you dhardy123. Could you please explain a bit more what I am looking at in the photo? Thanks.

Thanks for the replies. I forgot...AGAIN...to click on the 'watch this topic' thingy. Have yet to talk to the librarian. I also thought of homemade 'tootsie pops'. And I have found a recipe for those wonderful swirly colored pops but haven't looked at it yet. And no nuts. Public institutions are very careful these days.

Some input is required, please. I have been making lollipops for our local regional library for a couple of years now. They are molded and colored according to holiday season and have been a big hit with the kids (and parents) and a small source of extra income to the cash-strapped library. The lollipops must fit into certain parameters, both for the library purposes and mine: no nuts, not too expensive to make or sell, not too big, easy storage, not a pain to wrap...brain won't come up with what might be other considerations at this point. So I've made every color and flavor of hard tack, in detailed plastic molds and flat outline-type molds. And I've made butterscotch too. I could make caramel-wrapped, chocolate-dipped pretzel rods...but they are expensive and time-consuming to make, need special sleeves for presentation. I think popcorn might well be out for allergy reasons, plus not easy for wrapping?? Seem to recall popcorn lollies... What other kinds of lollipops...or other confections that would fit into this category...can I make? St. Patrick's is coming up.

The temperature was 250 degrees. I did not shock the pan. I'll have to look that one up. The instructions said: remove from heat. Turn out onto the prepared surface and cool to room temperature. I did turn it out onto oiled marble. The candy was already butterscotch color. OK. Got 'shock the pan'. But the color was already set. Don't understand how it fits here. Thanks for the help.

I was using a thermometer and took the pot off the stove at exactly the correct temperature.

Hi Ruth, Lisa says perhaps it was too hot and you suggest that perhaps it was too slow, aka heat too low I would guess??? OK. The heat was medium-high and the pot was not at all too small. 4 cups of sugar, syrup & milk in a 3-quart pot. I did not time the cooking, but it did not seem overly quick or slow, but somehow I did get the caramelization. Wondering what to try a second time. Thanks. ps. Went to PastryGirl's website and found that I could email her and so I did. I'll report back.

My DH, Ed, helped me to pull it...I don't have the hands any more...and all went quite well...except for the color.

Anita Chu (Pastrygirl) has a recipe for Chinese Milk Candy in her new book Field Guide to Candy: How to Identify and Make Virtually Every Candy Imaginable. The tiny photo of the candy shows that the candy is definitely pale in color, if not quite white. It's not as white as the commercial White Rabbit candy, but still pale. I made some of Chu's recipe yesterday. Yummy...but definitely not white. Why isn't my candy white? It just looks like any other butterscotchy candy. ps. Sorry, should have posted the ingredients: 2 cups sugar; 1 cup light corn syrup; 1 cup milk; 2 T unsalted butter & 1/2 t vanilla. All used accordingly.