Crystal Candy is ourtake onkohakutou, atraditional Japaneseconfection made bysetting a flavoured sugar syrup with agar andallowing it tocrystallise slowly over severaldays. The result issomething genuinelyunlike anything else: a jewel-likeouter crust that crunches to reveal asoft centre.
The chemistry of Crystal Candies (this is niche Tim - why are you putting this in!?)
Cassie in our kitchen has been working on these for a while. These are her hard work. Lots of trial recipes and exciting food chemistry. We started off trying to make these in sour flavours but adding in more citric acid, but oh no, citric acid hydrolyses sugar (sucrose) into invert sugars like glucose which impair crystallisation. Exactly why we add glucose to our marshmallow and pate de fruit recipes to keep those soft and smooth.
Why are we making Crystal Candies
I have a fondness for Japanese sweets and Wagashi. A few years ago I made a TV show in Tokyo and Kanazawa for NHK (Japanese TV Channel). A long and hilarious story for another time - involving bagpipe players and setting Japanese Chef's the challenge of making Eton Mess, based on no information about the recipe, just its name.
Anyway, as part of that I visited lots of Japanese sweet producers - Rakugan, Mochi, Taiyaki, Daigaku Imo etc. Picture of the most beautiful Rakugan below (also me and the bagpipe guy). A bit mind blowing. I tried to import Rakugan to sell in the shop, an awful lot of effort to try and sell something no one has really heard of. When the Rakugan trend blows up - you heard it here first!
But mainly we're making them because they are beautiful, delicious and the texture is quite the thing. Also, I like saying the words 'Crystal Candy' using the voice of a 6 year old from Kansas.
