Home Ec Science: Glace' Fruit
There aren't too many things that a kid likes better than a science experiment you can eat. Here is a wonderful, multi-day activity that leaves you with two treats! For the younger set, this will need some supervision, but older children should be able to accomplish this on their own. The results also make great homemade gifts.
The four basic ingredients that you will need are:
Sugar
white corn syrup
Fruit
water
To get the desired results, you need to follow the directions as closely as possible.
Wash fruits. Depending on the fruit, you may need to seed, peel and slice. On the other hand, small fruits such as cherries will only need to be pitted.
DAY ONE:
You will need:
2 cups water
1/2 cup white corn syrup
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 lbs. prepared fruit
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a large, preferably non-stick, saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add prepared fruit. Heat syrup-fruit mixture to 180 degrees Fahrenheit . Remove from heat. Cool. Cover and let stand at room temperature 24 hours.
DAY TWO:
You will need:
Your fruit from yesterday
1 1/4 cup sugar
Directions:
Carefully remove fruit from syrup with a slotted spoon. Add 1 1/4 cups sugar to syrup in saucepan. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. With a large metal spoon, skim foam from surface of syrup and discard. Add fruit to syrup and heat to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from heat. Cool. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 24 hours.
DAY THREE:
You will need:
2 more cups of sugar
Fruit from yesterday
Directions:
Repeat process of second day but add 2 cups of sugar to remaining syrup after removing fruit.
DAY FOUR:
You will need:
Fruit from yesterday
One more cup of sugar
Directions:
Repeat process of second day but add 1 cup of sugar to remaining syrup after removing fruit.
DAY FIVE:
After final standing time, remove fruit from syrup. Place in a colander and rinse with cold water. Dry at 130 degrees Fahrenheit until fruit is leathery and has no pockets of moisture. Drying time for glace fruit will be one-fourth of the drying time for fresh fruit because so much moisture has been replaced by sugar. You can dry the fruit in the oven or in a food dehydrator.
Two treats from one:
FRUIT-FLAVORED PANCAKE SYRUP: The syrup that is left over from the sugaring process is delicious on pancakes or waffles. It carries the flavor of whatever fruit you were processing. Bring it to a boil, skim foam from surface and pour into hot, sterilized canning jars. Fill jars to within ” from the top; seal and process.
If you do not have a food dehydrator, the article Homemade Fruit Roll-Ups has easy directions for using your oven to dry your fruit.
