How to make sugared berries with just water and sugar for a beautiful sparkling garnish for desserts, platters, pies and drinks. These frosted berries are made from blueberries, cranberries, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and more.
½cupcane sugar*I used organic because of the larger grain
Instructions
Prep
Rinse and pat dry fresh berries. Remove any soft berries or those that are gone. Set aside.
Set out a cooling rack with a protective paper or cookie sheet beneath to catch loose sugar.
Pour ½ cup sugar to a bowl to prepare for rolling the berries to coat.
½ cup cane sugar*
Make Sugared Berries
First, make the simple sugar syrup by adding ½ cup of sugar to ½ cup of water and set into microwave for 1 minute. Remove cup and stir until all sugar is melted. Microwave another 15 seconds if you need to dissolve any further.
½ cup organic cane sugar, ½ cup water
Set the syrup aside to cool, about 20-30 minutes. Don't use it warm or it will pop the berries.
1st coating: When the syrup is at room temperature, dip each berry using a slotted spoon or fork to coat it completely. Lift the berry out and let excess syrup drip off. Pro-tip: Tap the fork or slotted spoon for about 15 seconds to be sure the berry is left with a sheen of syrup, not a thick layer that might cause clumps.
Then roll the berry in the sugar in the bowl. Set coated berry on cooling rack to dry. Do this until all berries are coated.
1 cup blueberries, 1 cup cranberries, ½ cup cane sugar*
2nd coating (optional): If you want to apply a second coat, dip each freshly coated berry once more in the bowl of sugar.Pro-tip: For second coating, there is no need to dip in syrup again.
½ cup organic cane sugar
Dry the Coated Berries
Whether dipped once or twice, line the berries on the rack to dry.Drying takes 30 minutes at room temperature to dry the berries well enough to be able to work with them.
Store Sugared Berries
Store them uncovered in the refrigerator for 4 days. If they get wet and the sugar coating seems to dissolve, simply roll them in sugar to refresh the coating.
Video
Notes
Strawberries. If you use strawberries, chop them into similar sizes first.Other berries. Use very unripe and firm berries. Over-ripe berries will not work.Herbed candied berries. As you make any candied berry, add herbs such as rosemary needles, mint leaves, even sage leaves in with the liquid syrup, and sugar coat those along with the berries. Use the candied herbs to garnish the candied berries.*Try to use organic cane sugar because the texture is coarse and more like diamonds, so will give your sugared berries a prettier effect than would, say, regular cane sugar which is dusty.