Herbal Medicine Making Skill: How to Candy Herbs

Many herbs can be mixed with sugar, honey, or syrup to capture the medicinal essence of the herbs and preserve it for later in the season, when you may not be able to find the herbs fresh. Sugar also masks some of the bitterness of some herbs making them more palatable.

To candy herbs put them in syrup that is generally made with 1 part sugar, 1 part water, and 1 to 2 tablespoons of honey. The honey acts as a modifier to prevent the sugar crystals from forming prematurely in the syrup, while it is being boiled.

As the herbs are boiled in the syrup, they release some of their herbal actions to the syrup. But another thing happens. The herbs give up the water in their cells. And as the water goes out the sugar syrup comes in. The candy is done when all the water in the cells of the herbs is replaced with sugar. As you make the candied ginger, you’ll notice that the liquid in the pan evaporated as the temperature rose. That’s what all the bubbling and boiling is about — evaporation.

When the sugar syrup is condensed so that only a small amount remains in the pan, but before the sugar caramelizes, the candied ginger is done. If you are using a candy thermometer, the temperature will be 290F to 295F and the water in the fruit will be reduced by 95%. The herbs are then dry and are preserved in sugar.

This is similiar to the way that fruit or peel is candied. Although today other chemicals are added to the fruit to keep it soft, pliable, and “fresh-looking”. Old fashioned candied fruit was harder and your candied ginger should be hard, rather than flexible like the candied ginger from the grocery store. If the candied ginger seems sticky, rolling it in more sugar will allow it to be packaged without the stickiness.

Leafy herbs can also be candied but the process is different. In that case a strong tea or decoction is made to extract the herbal constituents. Then the herbal tea is strained and just the liquid is added to sugar and honey. The herbal syrup is then boiled to the hard crack stage — 295F to reduce the water in the mixture by 95%. The candy is then dropped onto parchment paper and allowed to cool before putting it away for future use.

The best time to make candied herbs is on a day with low humidity. If it’s raining or snowing you might want to wait for a drier day. Ambient humidity can affect the success of your herbal candy making.