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Thursday, February 11, 2010

Dried Agar-agar (Jelly) Candy


The sky’s so blue…. Rare.
Not a cloud in sight, the whole afternoon.

It’s so so sunny these days.. that I could wash do 4 rounds of laundry and they all dried up by the end of the day. Usually if it’s sunny at noon, by late afternoon, it’ll rain. But it’s hot and drier than usual. If one round of laundry can dry up in less than 2 hours…. Why not I make some dried jelly?? I’ve never made these before, but I love them.

This is one of the stuff that my brothers and I will rumage for whenever my dad brings back Eid goodies from his Moslem friends. But those that I ate when I was a kid really tasted like candy, lots of sugar. But as I grew up, the candies tasted less sugary and more jelly like. It tastes better this way, less sweet.They are usually made by Malays for Eid ul-Adha and Eid ul-Fitr , never have I seen a Chinese doing this. It’s one of the ‘must’ goodie for Eid. There are lots of blur recipes online in Malay language, but most of them just state "one packet of agar-agar strips". Hello!!! There are many packing sizes.. 10gm, 25gm, 28gm and 32gm. So, how much is one packet???

I might be the first. First, maybe as a non Malay to blog about dried jelly or dried agar-agar. I’m just assuming cos I can’t google any. I adapted this recipe from HomeKreation. I was lazy to keep the balance of 50gm rock sugar, so I dumped the whole pack in. Actually with more rock sugar, there'll be less of a crust. If u want ur jelly candy to have a crunchy crust, replace some of the rock sugar with granulated sugar, of which ur jelly will be slightly sweeter but you'll have a better crust. Do not reduce the sugar instead, cos it will not give u the structure u will need. Oh yes, do not use real fruit juice to make this. The acid from the fruit juice will not make u a dry candy.

Dried Agar-agar Candy /Dried Jelly Candy Recipe
25gm agar-agar strips
1L water
250gm rock sugar
100gm sugar
1 tsp rose flavouring
½ tsp pink/red colouring


1. Boil agar strips on medium heat (pot covered) until fully melted.
2. Put in rock sugar and sugar. Cook until all the sugars are dissolved.
3. Remove from heat and put in flavourings and colouring.
4. Pour into prepared moulds or in a 9 inch square pan.







5. When set, cut into preferred shapes or remove from moulds and lay them on a tray lined with non stick baking paper or muslin.






6. Sun dry until surface of jelly is dry. Flip pieces of jelly ever few hours so that the drying will be even. I made mine in almost a week. It can take up to weeks, if weather is not good. (picture taken outdoors so that the real crust can be seen)


**At night I bring the jellies into my room, so that the air-cond can dehydrate them.

See how much they've shrunk??------------------>


It's not like a gummy jelly, not sticky at all.
It's got a crunchy crust, a slightly chewy and springy interior.
One word, delightful.

Lastly with these red sweet hearts,
I wish everybody
a Happy Valentine's day.
I love u all, please visit me more often
:)

I'm hoping I'll get that new Sony panaromic camera.... Mike, Mike????

35 comments:

  1. Thanks for trying. Good idea to make into heart shape - looks very nice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy Valentine to you as well!

    Nice sweet heart.

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  3. Eeek!! I'd shriek in delight if someone present me these for valentine, so nice! First time i've heard of these...thanks for sharing! Happy Cny n Valentine to u, ur hubby n ur two angels!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very Beautiful Candy. I never heard about this agar-agar strips that can make candy. Happy Valentine to you :)

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  5. I was trying to post a comment at noon but the system hung up. Thanks for trying & good looking heart shape...very creative....taste good eh...

    ReplyDelete
  6. These are lovely. I didnt know agar agar has dried version....you are very creative.

    The pics are awesome too.

    : )

    ReplyDelete
  7. Home Kreation,
    Thanks for the recipe.

    Voon,
    What are u giving ur wife???

    Melody,
    Give me ur hub's phone number.

    DG,
    Same to u. Happy Valentine's.

    Irene,
    I didn't create this candy :) But I might be the only one making them in heart shaped moulds.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wah, new look again.I think I am sua ku...this sounds like a common sweet but I don't remember having it...They look lovely. I think I will try with the fruit puree in my freezer LOL...

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  9. These are so awesome and lovely. Able to keep it for weeks.... that's good.

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  10. Wendy, I'm so tempted to make this! Should I? Should I not? Should I? Should I not? Argh!!! I wish I'm your neighbour, then I can probably "steal" some from you ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  11. So pretty ! You are so good with baking , cooking and making sweets.....May the year of Tiger brings you and your family endless happiness.

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  12. Shirley,
    Do not attempt this with real fruit puree. It won't work. The fruit acids will not give u a dry crust. This is not something like a pate de fruit. The surface of this candy must dry up properly.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Shy kitchen,
    If u dried them well, they can keep for months!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Blessed homemaker,
    U want to make this for Valentines???? I don't think u have enough time. I sun dried the heart shapes for 6 days. The cubed ones took 4 days, direct sunlight, and night time dehydrated in my room's aircon. It will taste even better if the crust was drier, but I need to photograph and edit the pics.
    Try this next time.

    ReplyDelete
  15. AFTH,
    Thanks, hope u have a good year ahead too. More roast pork please :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. They look so pretty. I might try to make some one day. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
    Happy CNY and have a sweet Valentine’s Day!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hey...Wan Yi.
    That candy is so beautiful and looks very delicious.I am going to save this yummy recipe, wish that I have time to explore it myself.
    Was that kind of agar agar candy that we used to eat called "yun tong"(Canto)?
    Will you make any other flavors like orange, green lime...etc???
    Hey...tell you a good news. I am pregnant and my due date is Sep 16 '10.

    ReplyDelete
  18. U wanna ask *him* to make me these? Don't bother la...the only thing he'll cook for me is instant noodles with eggs...

    ReplyDelete
  19. Mel,
    U're so lucky to have instant noodles with egg.
    I only had that when me and Mike paktohed for 4 years. Plain noodles some more.

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  20. Foong Mun,
    First of all, CONGRATS!!!!! I can't wait to see mini big Tham

    This candy is not the same as yun tong. Yun tong is sticky but the exterior of this candy is dry and crunchy. And this candy is not wobbly and soft like yun tong. Do not use real fruit juice to make this, but u can use other flavourings besides rose, and other colours too. I made this rose and red for Valentines :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hi There Wendy,
    Just loved your blog. You know I am a chindian that also makes this jelly candies...haha so now there's 2 of us. I have not started a blog yet. Anyway I made a batch the other day and used fresh ginger juice for flavour and the colouring I opted for the cane rock sugar...the end results a soft golden brown. If gives you a slight kick on the taste buds...yum

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  22. omg thanks for posting a recipe for these! I've been searching a dried agar-agar candy recipe for so long! My nanny used to make orange flavoured colourless ones when I was little. I thought they were the greatest snack ever :D

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  23. lipitiffy,
    Please use artificial orange flavouring to do this, as real orange juice will not give you a dry crust. Now that summer's coming, do give this a try.
    Hope you like it.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hi Wendy

    plse can you tell me - if I can't get rock sugar - can i just use all normal sugar? or what should i use instead?

    many thanks for the lovely blog :)

    Betty Bake x

    ReplyDelete
  25. Betty,
    U can use all regular sugar, but the crust will be thicker and it'll be sweeter. But please simmer it for at least 30 minutes if you're using regular sugar, not just until it dissolves. It is to prevent it from crystalizing again when dried.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Wendy,

    Can i use agar-agar powder instead of agar-agar strips?

    ReplyDelete
  27. Sammy,
    You may. Method is different.
    Check out my comments in the latest agar candy post in Jan 2011. I answered one question regarding this on how to do it.

    ReplyDelete
  28. wow..this is beatiful...will give a try

    ReplyDelete
  29. After putting the flavourings and colourings, do you pour straight into the moulds or leave it till cool before you pour into the moulds? Are your heart-shaped moulds made of plastic? Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous,
    Straightway. It will harden when it cools so you can't pour it anywhere.
    Yes, made of plastic and they are for jelly making

    ReplyDelete
  31. OMG! Thank you so much for this recipe!!!! It is impossible finding those rice paper jelly candies that I grew up eating :)

    ReplyDelete
  32. Hello! How beautiful. I want to try these, but I am more familiar with finding and using powder agar agar. Will pwdr work? And if so, do you know the amount to use? THANKS!
    ~AH

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  33. a Hesse,
    Yes it will work, just use with the same amount in weight and boil the whole thing for at least 30 minutes because agar powder dissolves almost instantly in contact with boiling water and a short boiling time is not advisable for this candy.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Hi Wendy, what is different between agar agar jelly candy and agar agar candy?
    they both used agar agar strips too, right?
    thank you :)

    ReplyDelete
  35. amelia
    See my ( ) ?
    Agar agar, is a vegan form of jelly.
    Some people here just refer it as jelly, and some call it specifically as agar-agar.

    ReplyDelete

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