Mexican Tamarind Candy

1. Bring tamarind pulp, water, and orange to a boil in a pot; continue to boil for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 30 minutes.

2. Pour tamarind mixture into a colander placed over a large bowl. Mash and scrape against the side of the colander until all the juice and pulp drips into the bowl. Dump remaining seeds into a strainer and repeat the process; remove the outer casing around the seeds by hand and toss out the seeds.

3. Blend outer casings with juicy pulp in an electric blender.

4. Return mixture to the large pot and add sugar, Tajin®, and butter. Bring to a soft boil, stirring constantly. Heat to 240 degrees F (115 degrees C) or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from water and placed on a flat surface.

5. Remove from heat and let cool, about 2 hours.

6. Fill a pastry or plastic sandwich bag with the candy mixture and squeeze onto plastic spoons. Place plastic spoons onto a cookie sheet and chill until firm, about 1 hour. Coat with more Tajin® if desired, wrap with plastic, and close with a twist tie.

Cook's Notes:

You can use 1 lemon or 3 limes instead of an orange.

Soft ball stage is when a drop of hot candy sauce is dropped into a cup of cold water, and it can be rolled up into a soft ball. If you cook to the hard ball stage (where candy dropped into cold water rolls into a hard ball), you can make lollipops and hard candy drops from this recipe. This recipe an also be made into jam...by cooking until thickened, but not quite at the soft ball stage.

You can also squeeze the candy mixture into small plastic souffle cups, add pieces of fruit, and sprinkle Tajin(R) over tops, chill, and wrap.