| 1 | Put the horehound in a small nonreactive sauce pan and add the water. |
| 2 | Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, or 20 minutes. |
| 3 | Allow to cool, then remove horehound and squeeze out all the liquid. |
| 4 | Add the sugar and corn syrup or honey to the pan, stir with a wooden spoon while bringing to a boil, then turn heat down to a gentle simmer. |
| 5 | If bubbles threaten to overflow the pan, reduce heat slightly and stir. |
| 6 | boil to the hard-crack stage. |
| 7 | If you have a candy thermometer, this is in the range of 330°F, but even so you"ll need to test often toward the end of cooking to get the hardness right. |
| 8 | Keep a shallow cup of cold water nearby. |
| 9 | Stir the liquid occasionally, and watch how it falls from the spoon. |
| 10 | When it forms a thread, begin testing for hardness by allowing a drop of the mixture to fall into the cup of cold water. |
| 11 | Don"t trust your fingers to examine the now-hardened drop in the cup; bite it. |
| 12 | If it"s at all gooey or sticks to your teeth, keep cooking. |
| 13 | When it"s hard enough to crack when you bite it, remove the pan from heat immediately. |
| 14 | if the mixture crystallizes, just add a cup of water and an extra tablespoon of corn syrup or honey to the pan, scrape all the crystalline chunks into it, and begin again. |
| 15 | lightly butter a candy mold, cookie sheet, or other heatproof baking pan, and pour in the hot mixture. |
| 16 | If you"re using a flat-bottomed pan, score the surface of the candy after it has cooled enough to become firm. |
| 17 | This will help in breaking it apart, which should be done as soon as the candy can be handled. |
| 18 | after individual "drops" are formed, sift granulated sugar or powdered sugar over them to keep them from sticking together. |
| 19 | Store in a moisture-proof container. |
