Usually I keep a batch of this candy around just in case either of us has an upset stomach, but with the moves and ensuing chaos I had yet to prepare a batch.
Tummy tamer candy is something I came up with a few years ago when my daughter could not keep anything down due to illness. I made them and asked her to keep one in her mouth to suck on. Being a small child she loved having the excuse to keep a piece of candy in her mouth, and in short order her stomach calmed down to where she could handle other things.
It is a homemade hard candy recipe made with ginger and Sweet Dreams (or Sleepytime) tea. The tea has chamomile and peppermint in it, both of which have stomach soothing properties, and ginger is famous for settling stomachs. You don't need a lot of ingredients or tools to make this simple herbal remedy:
That's it, all you need to make tummy tamer candy.The recipe:
2 cups sugar
1-1/4 cups brewed Sweet Dreams tea
1 tsp. ginger (approx) - you may have to adjust because some children find this dosage too spicy.
Mix it all in a heavy pot and cook over medium heat, allowing it to boil until you reach the soft-crack phase. Soft crack is where you can put some in cold water and it holds its strands together, yet it still is a tad soft.
Boiling towards the soft crack phase.Once it is done cooking, pour it into a well-buttered baking sheet. If you don't have a baking sheet don't buy one. Just use some plates or baking dishes - you can even use a skillet if you have to - but on the things you can't safely flex a touch you may want to add a layer of aluminum foil and butter that instead to make it easier to break up.
I waited too long on mine. It went into the hard-crack phase. It's all good just looks a little different. Here it is poured out on the metal pizza pan I greased for the occasion.The goal when you pour it out is to get a thin layer. If it is too thick it will take too long to harden plus be hard to break up.
Once you pour it out, you can take a buttered metal spatula and press indents into the candy in a small grid pattern to make breaking easier. I generally use 1/4 inch grids for mine.
I wasn't paying attention and this batch ended up in the hard-crack phase before I know it, but just because I cooked it too long the batch isn't ruined. It will just look a little different and harden faster. I didn't move fast enough to make a grid on this batch, but it broke apart easily enough.
Allow it to harden and break it apart.
Ready to eat!