Lemon drops

Serves:

Ingredients

• 450 g caster sugar
• 1/2 lemon, rind and juice
• 150 ml water
• 2 tbsp honey (optional)

Method

Peel 1/2 lemon and set aside.

Juice the half lemon and reserve juice.

In a saucepan, mix water and caster sugar. Heat until sugar dissolves, add lemon rind.

Boil until mixture reaches 125°C.

Remove from the heat, add the lemon juice and honey, then a few drops of whatever colouring you like and put back on the heat until it boils again.

Remove the lemon rind and pour out onto lightly oiled tray. Leave to cool for about 2-3 minutes and then when you can touch it, pull a small piece of the mixture from the tray and roll into balls.

Set aside until completely cool.

Notes:

• If you don’t have a sugar thermometer, you can tell if the sugar and water mixture is ready by taking a teaspoon of mixture and dropping it into a glass of cold water. If it becomes hard immediately, it’s ready.
• If you’ve been feeling under the weather, these lemon drops are the best-ever pick-me-up.
• These lemon drops are a wonderful variation on the classic hard sweet, barley sugar.
• A jar of these drops would make a lovely get-well gift for a loved one who’s sick in bed.
• This recipe was created by Melissa Klemke for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder.

Serving Suggestions

Note