I love mint and I already had some fun making hard candy. It was delicious, full of taste and it looked great. However, adding mint, menthol or other volatile substance into hard candy is difficult. It evaporates quickly or, worse, degrades to unpleasant smell or taste. You can sometimes use it, but the results might vary. Simply put, the method of making hard candy is not the optimal one and so I set out to explore the alternatives.
MAKING MINT PASTILLES
Usually menthol mints are made by pressing the powder mass into mints. Sadly, this requires equipment far beyond the usual kitchen utensils (e.g. a table press).
Fortunately there is one other way. One can pour pastilles out of a mixture of sugar and water. And since everything is done at room temperature, adding mint oil or other volatile substances poses no problem. There is no danger if uncontrolled evaporation or degradation of these substances. The process is simple. Just mix powdered sugar and water, add the mint oil, form pastilles and leave them to dry. It takes a couple of days to dry the pastiles, however.
The pastilles are not hard as normal candy, but relatively brittle. They do dry and harden with time, but very slowly. They are hard on the surface but have a soft , gentle core. Like After eight mints, but without the chocolate. They really need to be handled with care. If you squeeze them too much, they instantly crack. You cannot carry them in your pocket in a box, or you will end up with a lump of mess instead of delicious pastilles. On the other hand, they do simply melt in your mouth with a fresh, heavenly taste. If you want harder pastilles with less softcore, just let them dry – but we are talking months. In this case your pastilles will be hard enough for normal handling and transportation.
The recipe (for approximately 50 pastilles)
- 50 g powdered sugar
- 3 teaspoons water
- 4 drops of mint oil
Mix sugar and water into a thick paste. The amount of water is variable. Little less and the mass is thick and dries faster, more water and the mass is liquid and can form nice, round pastilles but they dry more slowly. You can see the difference between round and thick pastilles in the picture above. Add mint oil (or any other essential oil of your choice). Pour the mass with a teaspoon in small drops on baking paper or silicone. The surface must be easily bent, to peel off the pastilles without breaking them. It is practically impossible to peel dry pastilles from hard surfaces such as plates or pans. After a week gently peel the pastilles from the paper and turn them around, so they can dry from the other side. After about another week the pastilles are ready. You can leave them to dry some more, but the process will be very slow. We are talking about weeks. Do not worry, if pastilles are left on the open they will not change much or spoil. The only danger is they do tend to magically disappear in your mouth.
