Sweet Adventures Blog Hop - Lemons

If you were to ask me what my favourite ingredient was, you might have to stare at my blank face while I racked my brain. You see, I have many favourite ingredients - it would be a lie to say that I had just one. 

But if you were to ask me what my top five favourite ingredients were...I still wouldn't be able to give you a definitive list, but I would be confident enough to tell you that lemons would be in the mix. 

After we had had that vague, somewhat confusing conversation about my favourite ingredients (so you know one of them is lemons, right?) you might want to next ask me: "Anna, why lemons?" I would then let out a hearty chuckle and reply: "Why not lemons?!"

They smell wonderful, you can pickle them, can them, roast them, zest them, eat them savoury, eat them sweet - you can even clean your fancy copper pots with them! If you were lucky enough to grow up with (or know someone with) a back-yard, you will probably have a vivid memory of a tree, in the middle of winter, heaving with sunny fruit. They also make brilliant cricket balls - or so I have been told. 

So when I saw that this month's theme for the Sweet Adventures Blog Hop was lemons - I had to change my schedule (I had planned for something savoury here this week), drop everything and get some lemons. I am attempting to grow Meyer Lemons at the moment, and if all goes well in a couple of months I will have my first fruit. In the meantime I am more than happy to pile my fruit bowl high with lemons from the shops (another use: they brighten up a room) while I worked out how to make lemon jubes.

I have attempted jubes before, back in the early days of this blog. These lollies are known by a number of names: pâtes de fruits, gum drops, fruit pastilles - last time I called them jellies (because that is what the recipe that I had adapted them from called them). This time they are going to be called jubes for the same reason (I also prefer the name "jube"; it is familiar to me and I like the sound of it).

My previous attempt also used a completely different method to the one I have used for this post. The last one relied upon the natural pectin in apples and even though they were totally tasty - they took forever to make. This time I relied upon the strength of titanium grade gelatine. 

The sugar that coats these jubes is pretty special. It is infused with lemon balm and lemon zest to give a fresh, herbaceous twist on the norm. I think I may be hooked on flavouring sugar now. Don't get me started on what I plan to do with salt...

There is also sparkling wine in there. I love the combination of sparkling wine and lemons in cocktails - it reminded me a little of the French 75 I made a few weeks ago without the addition of gin.  So I guess you could think of these as small, cubed sparkling wine cocktails - they're not quite as satisfying as a whole glass but I promise you that you will smile when you bite into these.

OK, so based on their versatility, all of the above reasons and especially because of these jubes, lemons just made it into my top two favourite ingredients. Just don't ask me what the other ingredient is...

Thanks to the lovely Jennifer of Delicieux for hosting this month's Sweet Adventures Blog Hop - I know she has created something lemony and amazing so be sure to check it out. And if you still can't get enough lemon in your day, just click on links below to see some of my fellow blog-hoppers' beautiful creations.

Sparkling Lemon Jubes Rolled in Lemon Balm Sugar

Adapted from this recipe from the Gourmet Traveller website.

For the Jubes

200 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice

Zest from 1 lemon

300 ml sparkling wine

530gm white sugar

9 titanium strength gelatine leaves – softened in cold water

1 drop of yellow food colouring – optional

Vegetable oil - for greasing the pan

Add the lemon juice, sugar, zest and sparkling wine to a heavy based saucepan. Stir over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves.

Bring the mixture to the boil and boil for 10 minutes. Turn the heat off and leave to sit for another 10 minutes.

Squeeze the excess water from the gelatine and add to the pan. Stir until the gelatine has dissolved. Add the food colouring and stir in well.

Pour the mix into a lightly oiled 20cm x 20cm square tin and store in the fridge overnight.

For the Lemon Balm Sugar:

Approx 2 tablespoons of finely chopped lemon balm – substitute lemon thyme if not available

2 tablespoons of lemon zest

2 cups white sugar

Add all ingredients to a food processor and blitz until fully incorporated. You should have a damp, pale green mixture that resembles wet sand.

Spread the sugar evenly over a baking paper on a try and bake for 10 minutes on a very low oven (no more than 100C) until it has dried.

Add the sugar (which will be hard) to a mortar and pestle and pound until the grains are smooth. Alternatively, blitz again in the food processor.

To Assemble:

Once the jelly has set, dip the base of the try briefly in warm water and transfer onto a board. Lightly oil a sharp knife and slice the jelly into cubes. Roll each cube in the sugar before serving.

Store in the fridge (if living in a humid climate) in an airtight container.