Photos: www.destinationjonkoping.se, www.ufoto.se, www.jonkopingsstudentkar.se, www.mollysvarld.se, www.polkapojkarna.se
POLKAGRIS
1 kg of sugar (11.5 cups )
4 cups of water
1 tablespoon white vinegar/ättiksprit (12%)
27.5 drops of peppermint oil
Red food coloring
cooking oil to the workbench and tools
WARNING! This is for children to make, it´s hot, hot, hot!
When you make candy canes it requires a marble slab or plate bench to pour the hot mass on. All steps must be made quickly, so I recommend that you are some friends that help each other, especially when the sweets should be cut. Use strong scissors.
Measure the sugar and water in a spacious pot (3- 4L) Stir and allow the syrup to boil. Wath your pot when it start boiling since it can boil over. Pour in the white vinegar/ättiksprit and put in a household thermometer. Boil vigorously uncovered until the temperature is 150 ° C (takes about 20-30 minutes) at 150 ° C is the syrup ready. If you not boil the syrup enough, the sweets becomes tough and sticky, and if you cook it too long, the mass brittle and can not be executed.
Meanwhile, oil the marble slab/plate bench and take out a couple of metal spatulas, peppermintoil and red food coloring.
Pour the ready- cooked syrup on the marble slab/plate bench (which should preferably be cold), but leave about 1 cup of the syrup in the pot. Color your saved syrup pretty heavily with red color. Tilt the pan so that the teams are evenly colored and keep it warm while the white mass is pulled. When the dough is cooked it is important to keep the dough moving at all times , for the heat and the cold must be evenly mixed thoroughly. As soon as the dough stops moving, it drops together, and if you do not work fast enough it will stay solid in the wrong form and you do not have enough time to process it.
Working first with the metal spatulas and fold the syrup into the middle all the time. Add the peppermint by dropping it on the bench where you work with the dough. Then (after it has cooled slightly), you work with heat-resistant rubber gloves or oiled hands and pulls out and folds, pulls out and folds several times until the dough has become white and glossy. Then pull it to a length and shape it rounder by rolling it against the disc a few times. pull out the red dough into 1-2 lengths and put them on the white and pat it a little. Then take hold of each end of the length and twist them in opposite directions so the red color goes round like a whorl. Quickly you roll the length to the desired thickness and cut straight to the desired lengths/pieces with a sharp, oiled scissor and then let them harden.
Here you can see some of the technique http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUPVA2snwzo
from a specialized candy shop here in Sweden.
If you want to try Polkagrisar, but you don't want to make them on your own, you can send an order here.
Candy canes can also be used to flavor other cookies and candies since it provides both crunchy and tasty mint flavor.
VARIATIONS WITH POLKAGRIS
POLKAGRISBRÄCK
(From Krokusmatvin.blogg.se)
Melt 200 g dark chocolate. Pour the chocolate onto a tray with baking paper and let harden. While it solidifies, chop 1 cup candy canes and melted 200g white chocolate. Spread the white chocolate onto the hardened dark chocolate and then sprinkle polkagris directly on it before the chocolate set. Let it harden and break it into pieces.
PEPPERMINTS- AND POLKATOFFEE
(From Recept.se)
1 cup polkagrisar (100 g)
80g butter
2 cups whipping cream
0.5 tsp sea salt
0.5 vanilla pod (or 0.5 tsp real vanilla powder)
170 g liquid glucose
3 cups granulated sugar
0.5 tsp peppermint oil
Crush the polkagrisar in large pieces. Melt the butter, cream, salt, vanilla bean together over low heat in a small saucepan. Meanwhile, boil the glucose and sugar on high heat in a heavy saucepan to 170 ° C. The color of the syrup should be like amber .
Remove the pan with the caramelized sugar from the heat and gently pour the butter and cream mixture in the syrup and return the pan to the plate, lower the heat and let boil again. Stir occasionally so that it does not burn on the bottom and take off when the thermometer reached 124 ° C.
Remove the vanilla pod and stir in peppermint oil and be prepared for the strong fumes!
Pour the toffee into a mold covered with baking paper .
Sprinkle the crushed candy pigs over the toffee. Allow it to cool for 4-5 hours at room temperature. Then cut the toffee into pieces and wrap in waxed paper. Keep dry and cool.
