You do have to have patience in order to make these, but if you do … they will be the best tasting sugared fruits you will ever eat . . . it will take about three days of slow, oven drying, rolling in sugar, putting back in the oven, drying, rolling in sugar etc. The Victorians would often sugar coat fruits to hang on the Christmas tree, and they were a great treat; even today these treats look absolutely wonderful on the Christmas tree, or given as gifts they will be asked for again and again.
As they are so time consuming, it is recommended to make a large batch up at once – and although they take time to make, mostly, when they are in the oven drying, they can be left for you to do other things. The Sugar Plum Fairy from the Nutcracker is named after these delicacies, and so can be given as gifts with this theme in mind.
However, be aware that the original name for ‘sugar plums’ is much older than these delicacies. These were Medieval and Tudor Comfits. As the Food Historian Ivan Day states: “Perhaps the most familiar kind of comfit to survive into modern times are sugared almonds, a type of sweet once commonly known in England as “sugar plums”. This archaic term was a generic name for any large comfit. In modern times, because the true meaning of sugar-plum has been forgotten, there has been a great deal of confusion about the true identity of this confection. It is erroneously assumed that sugar-plums were preserved plums rolled in sugar. When C. T. Onions composed the definition of sugar-plum for the OED some time after 1914, the original meaning of sugar-plum was still extant – ‘Sugar-plum – A small round or oval sweetmeat, made of boiled sugar and variously flavoured and coloured; a comfit’.”
Sugared Plums Recipe
Recipe Ingredients:
- Sugar, approx 1kg
- 1 jar of whole plums preserved in syrup and drained
Recipe Method:
Pour the sugar into a bowl. Drain and shake off any excess syrup from the plums. Roll each plum in the sugar until completely coated. Place each sugar-coated plum onto a baking tray and set aside for 30 minutes, then re-roll the plums in the sugar.
Transfer the sugar-coated plums to the oven, set to its lowest setting. Heat gently for several hours, until the juice has seeped out of the plums. Coat the plums in sugar again, then place the coated plums onto a clean baking tray and repeat the drying process again.
Repeat the re-coating and drying process a further 3-4 times, over a period of several days, until the plums have completely dried out and the sugar coating is crisp.
When they are dried, (candied) make a small hole in the top of each sugared plum and thread with string to hang on the Christmas tree, best eaten within a few days. Or place in a preserve jar, put a ribbon and a gift tag on them and give them as gifts to friends.
Related Recipes: You might also like to make Excellent Small Cakes
