When the Good Food Awards is open for entries I get natural, non-GMO ingredients on the brain. In addition to the thrill and challenge of sourcing directly while keeping costs in line, candy makers face special challenges when corn syrups is a typical ingredient as in caramels.
So I was particularly excited when making graham crackers to discover Lyle’s Golden Syrup, made of cane sugar, which somehow had hitherto escaped my consciousness. (It is of British origin — in fact Britain’s oldest brand — hence the use of hitherto and hence.) Am I one of few bakers / makers to not know of this brand that’s been around since 1881? Has this been on supermarket shelves next to the Karo all along unbeknownst to me?
This discovery reminded me of the organic cane sugar syrup samples that Hey Shuga sent me, very likely similar to Lyle’s. So both for the grahams and the marshmallows I planned to make using Gourmet Magazine’s awesome marshmallow recipe from December 1998, I decided to skip the brown rice syrup and corn syrup.
Hey Shuga comes from the Dominican Republic and on a quick price comparison seems fairly similar to Lyle’s – about $8 for 12 ounces. I’m not sure if food service quantities are available. However for candy makers wanting to transition away from corn syrup for caramels and such, these syrups are definitely worth a look.
Survey says: Success! The marshmallows came out perfectly. The grahams “needed work” although I believe more my fault than the syrup’s.
Lemon meringue pie-inspired marshmallows made with Hey Shuga organic cane sugar syrup—perfectly fluffy and light.
Homemade graham crackers made with Lil Shuga cane sugar syrup which has some stevia and so is sweeter than regular syrup… so you can use less. I used a roller to crush the grahams between the duck cutouts to roll the marshmallows as the faux pie crust.
