Candied Angelica
Confiture d’Angelique or Candied Angelica
Angelica is considered a vegetable rather than a herb in some countries in Europe. But in France, it's considered to be a herb. It's used in a variety of ways. The candied Angelica is probably the most well known and used.
Stems of Angelica are often candied and used as its own ingredient. Different formats of Angelica can be found for culinary purposes from powder, fluid extracts and dyes.
Most people don't know that the root and the seed of Angelica is often used in the production of gin and vermouth. It's used by many distillers as a binding agent for other oils being added to the process. So next time you have a martini, remind yourself that the flavor comes from the angelica root. See if you can pick out some of those flavours.
One of the most popular commercial uses of Angelica and cooking is to confiture Angelica to be used as a confectionery. This process consists of cutting the stems of the Angelica and then peeling them before they are then lacerated in the syrup. Doing this on more than one occasion increasingly super concentrating it, so that the water naturally in the stems is replaced through these baths in an osmosis effect with the syrup.
The candied strips are then dried at a low temperature to obtain a green candied stem. That has a smooth texture and a delicious fragrance. This candied Angelica has a unique, subtle citrus flavour.
If you have any homegrown Angelica stems and you want to make your own candied Angelica sticks, here's a recipe for you.
Ingredients
20 freshly picked angelic stems
half a litre of water
500 grams of sugar.
Method
Cut and remove the leaves from the stems and peel them to remove the fibers just like you would say for rhubarb.
Place the peeled angelic sticks in a saucepan with cold water and bring to the boil and blanche
Repeat this process twice.
In the empty saucepan, pour the sugar and water in the recipe and bring that to a boil to make the sugar syrup.
Add those blanched Angelica strips and turn the heat down to the lowest setting you have a cord for two hours.
Drain the sticks on a wire rack with paper towels under it and place something on top to cover, another tray maybe, as long as it doesn't touch the strips.
Leave this for 48 hours to cool in a dark place and then the sticks can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge.
The leftover syrup can also be used as a drink syrup for say cocktails if you like. Although you know what, it's probably easier just to buy the already candied Angelica
You can listen to my episode on Fabulously Delicious all about the A to Z of French Herbs with a specific episode on Basil via either the link below or wherever you listen to podcasts.