Beyond Peel And Fruit: A Guide To Using Unusual Candied Ingredients In Desserts

Take your desserts to the next level with these out-of-the-box candied ingredients.

Candies are one of the easiest desserts that you can make at home. Despite the ease of the recipe, the taste of candies is always special and palatable. All you have to do is make some sugar syrup and take your favorite candy ingredient to make the candy. You can add some extra condiments to enhance the flavors of your candy and also transform the texture. Making candies at home is also a great way to ensure minimal kitchen waste as you can always use your leftovers to make candies.

Typically people use conventional ingredients like fruits and other sweet ingredients in the kitchen to make candies. This is a safe game and might become boring with time. If you are a candy maniac and like mixing up unconventional ingredients and flavors like sweet and spicy together, then here are some bizarre ingredients that you can use in your candies that taste so well.

1. Horseradish

Ginger is a popular ingredient in the making of a lot of deserts, especially in the winter. Well, if we can use ginger in making so many desserts then there is no point in stereotyping horseradish. Generally, horseradish is used in making savory dishes or gravy that are consumed with rice. But in this unorthodox recipe, we use horseradish to make candies. To make this recipe you need the following ingredients.

• ¼ cup water
• ½ cup sugar
• Fresh horseradish
• Pinch of salt

Now scrub your horseradish until you get a smooth surface and it is completely clean. Cut it into 2-inch strips that have a thickness of at least ¼ inch. Put your job. The radish in boiling water with a pinch of salt. Cook it for at least 15 minutes or until it becomes completely soft. Take out the water from the radish pot. Now in a separate pan, heat some sugar along with water to make your sugar syrup. Add your horseradish to this sugar syrup and heat this on low heat. Stir your horseradish carefully until the syrup becomes thick. Take your horseradish out of the pan and let it dry for some time. You can garnish your horse radish candy with some dry nuts if you want.

2. Pumpkin Seeds

The seeds of pumpkin are known as pepitas. These taste very much like your regular dry nuts but better. So by having an idea of its taste, you can understand that pumpkin seeds can be used in a lot of ways to make interesting and flavourful candies. You can also use these seeds in the making of your regular desserts. Here are the ingredients you need to make your pumpkin seed candy.

• 1 cup of pumpkin seeds
• ¼ cup of maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• Pepper

To make this delectable pumpkin seed candy, toss a cup of pumpkin seeds in maple syrup, salt and pepper on a lightly coated baking sheet. Now roast all of this at 300°C in the oven. Make sure that you keep turning your seeds in between so that all of them turn golden in color. After 20 minutes, you will observe that your seeds have caramelized completely. Now take your seeds out of the oven and sprinkle some brown sugar and any other seasoning of your choice on the top. Let it cool for some time under room temperature before enjoying it with your family and friends.

3. Vanilla Beans

If vanilla beans are an important part of your kitchen then chances are high that you may end up with some surplus of these beans that you can't put to use. Well, we have bought a great idea for you to use your surplus vanilla beans. instead of using vanilla sticks every time for your cakes and pudding, you can directly make vanilla candy. Let's have a look at the ingredients you need to make this easy breezy candy recipe.

• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup water
• Vanilla beans

To make this recipe, you have to take a saucepan and add some water and sugar to make sugar syrup. Now stir your sugar properly until it dissolves completely in the water. Add your scrub vanilla sticks into the pan and remove them from the heat. Allow the mixture of vanilla pods and sugar syrup to sit and cool down for at least 30 minutes. Now remove your vanilla sticks from the liquid and preheat your oven to 200°C. Trim your vanilla sticks into thin and long slices and roll them completely in brown sugar. Take a baking sheet and coat it lightly with some butter. Keep your vanilla sticks on the top of the baking sheet and transfer them to the oven. Big your vanilla sticks on till he gets completely soft and absorbs all the sugar syrup. Transfer it to a cool rack.

These are some unconventional ingredients that you can make to use in your candy recipes. The individual flavor of these ingredients along with sugar, syrup and other condiments will make the taste of your candy very enjoyable.