Sugar coal

Yuppie

Hi there

i was looking through an old book at home recently and i found a gift that was given to naughty kids in spain at christmas. coal made from sugar. ive been trying find a method for making it but i've cant find it anywhere. it would be a pretty good christmas present i think.

any help or idea on how it could be done would be much appriciated

nothing

It looks like honeycomb that's been dyed.

Magic Monkey

Also called coal candy, there's a step-by-step guide to honeycomb here, no. 5

Yuppie

thats perfect, pretty much exactly what i was looking for, thanks Monkey

Magic Monkey

No probs. If you're looking to source some of those ingredients, you can get them in Dublin. There's Karo corn syrup in Fallon & Byrne on Exchequer St., the black paste in Kitchen Compliments on Chatham St., but anise extract I don't know, maybe Asia Market on Drury St. You could also cook the syrup with some star anise pieces. Either way, from other recipes the flavouring is by choice.

Yuppie

Hi

the corn syrup and black food paste were easy enough to find but the anise extract is very rare it seems all i can find in the dublin wicklow area is anise star and aniseed seed powder. i got a few suggestions to replicate the taste including grinding up anise star and adding a small amount of perno since the alcohol would evaporate off.