Elderberry Lollipops (with lemon balm & lavender)
These heavenly elderberry lollipops, made with elderberry syrup, lemon balm, and lavender, are just the thing to help little ones through a nasty cold!
Servings: 10
Ingredients
- ¼ cup fresh lavender (or heaping tablespoon dried)
- ¼ cup fresh lemon balm (or heaping tablespoon dried)
- ½ cup elderberry syrup
- 1 cup organic honey
- candy thermometer, or glass with cold water (to test for hard-crack stage)
Instructions
- Start by brewing a very strong tea with the lavender and lemon balm. Add herbs to a small pan or kettle with 8 ounces of water, and simmer for ten minutes, or until you feel you have a good, very strong tea. Strain.
- While your tea brews, it's a good chance to set out your lollipop molds on an even, flat surface. Place the lollipop sticks in each mold.
- Now, add ½ cup of the strained tea, along with the elderberry syrup, and honey, to a small saucepan.
- Simmer on low, stirring frequently, until mixture starts trying to foam up. At this point, start stirring constantly (with a spoon, rather than a whisk), and closely monitor the temperature. You want to reach 300 degrees and the "hard-crack" stage - but not go past it!
If you don't have a candy thermometer, follow the guidelines here to start testing using the cold water method, and test every couple of minutes. You're looking to reach the "hard-crack" stage.
Even if you have a candy thermometer, it's a GREAT idea to have a glass of cold water on hand anyway, to double-check that your mixture is in fact at the hard-crack stage when your thermometer reads 300 degrees. - When the mixture reached hard-crack, at 300 degrees, remove pan from heat. Working quickly, pour into lollipop molds. I find a soup spoon also works really well for this if you're nervous pouring from the pan. A heat-resistant spatula can be helpful for coaxing the last of the mixture from the pan.
- Lest lollipops rest perfectly still until fully cool and hard - about half an hour.