Okay, so I’ve been seeing these candied grapes all over my TikTok lately, and they looked pretty darn tasty. Plus, I had some leftover pineapple from that pizza I made last night (don’t judge, pineapple on pizza is the bomb). So, I thought, why not give it a go? I mean, how hard could it be, right?
First things first, I needed to find a place that actually sells the stuff. I did a quick search on my phone for “candied grapes and pineapple near me.”
A couple of places popped up, but most of them were either too far or didn’t have both grapes AND pineapple. Finally, I found this one little shop that seemed promising. It was a bit of a drive, but hey, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do for his sweet tooth.
I hopped in my car and drove over. The place was kinda small, but they had a decent selection of candied fruits. I grabbed a container of candied grapes and another one with candied pineapple. Score!
Let’s get down to the process, shall we?
Making Candied Grapes
- Get the stuff: I washed a bunch of green grapes (seedless, obviously) and made sure they were super dry. Water is the enemy here, folks. Any moisture, and you’re gonna have a bad time. Then, I grabbed some sugar and some corn syrup.
- Cook the sugar: I put the sugar and corn syrup in a pot and heated it up on the stove. You gotta keep an eye on this stuff, or it’ll burn faster than you can say “candied fruit.” I used a candy thermometer (yeah, I actually own one) to make sure it reached that hard-crack stage, around 300°F.
- Dip, dip, dip: Once the sugar was ready, I dipped each grape into the hot syrup, making sure it was fully coated. This part was a bit tricky, gotta be quick before the sugar hardens.
- Cool it down: After dipping, I placed the grapes on a piece of parchment paper to cool. This is where the magic happens. The sugar hardens, and you get that satisfying crunch.
Making Candied Pineapple
- Prep the pineapple: I cut the pineapple into bite-sized chunks. Again, gotta make sure they’re dry.
- Same sugar process: I used the same sugar and corn syrup mixture as I did for the grapes. Heated it up to the hard-crack stage.
- Dip and cool: Dipped the pineapple chunks into the hot syrup, then placed them on parchment paper to cool.
And that’s it! It actually turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. The grapes were super crunchy and sweet, and the pineapple had that nice tartness to balance out the sugar. It was a bit of work, but totally worth it. Now I can finally see what all the hype is about. Maybe I’ll try other fruits next time. Candied strawberries, perhaps? The possibilities are endless!
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