So, you remember that leftover pineapple juice from the pineapple curd filling for my Piña Colada macarons? These taste very much like dried pineapple 🙂

This recipe is adapted from this one for lemon drops. I can’t get white granulated cane sugar in these parts – European granulated white sugar is beet sugar and I have never had much success with that at the temperatures required for candy making, unless there was a whole lot of liquid glucose added to the mix – so I used normal raw sugar. I opted not to add food colouring, so they aren’t flashy. As for the quantities, I had 3/4 cup of juice from the canned pineapple, so I adjusted the sugar to suit.

The cream of tartar is there to prevent crystalisation of the sugar. I suspect that it could be left out if you’re an experienced candy maker or are willing to dice with the results.

Makes about 100 pieces

Ingredients

300g (1 1/2 cups) granulated cane sugar
180ml (3/4 cup) pineapple juice
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
powdered sugar, to coat

Directions

Prepare a silicone mat, silicon bowl scraper or spatula, lightly oiled kitchen shears and a large shallow dish of powdered sugar.

Stir together granulated sugar, pineapple juice and cream of tartar in a heavy based stainless steel saucepan to combine, then place over medium-low heat. Do not stir again.

Heat to 150°C (300°F), measuring temperature with a candy thermometer. It will take at least 20 minutes to get up to temperature. Watch for boiling over and turn down heat as needed.

As soon as mixture reaches required temperature, remove saucepan from heat and pour contents onto silicone mat.

Using a silicon bowl scraper or spatula, work the mass as it cools. If desired, you can work in some gel food colouring at this stage. It will be sticky and messy and you’ll think “Oh, no!” but eventually you’ll be able to peel it off the silicon mat and bring it together and you’ll think “Oh, wow!”.

When cool enough to handle, cut segments and form into ropes by rolling it on the mat with your hands. Using oiled kitchen shears, cut rope into pieces about 1.5cm (1/2″) long and drop them into dish of powdered sugar.

Toss well to coat, shake off excess sugar and allow candy to cool completely. You need to work quite fast so the remaining candy doesn’t harden too much to roll, so an extra pair of hands for sugar-coating is helpful.

Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.