Tummy Tamer Lolliops

Stomach sickness is awful... period.

There is just something about when your stomach is feeling upset that makes it hard to do anything else. I can work through headaches, colds, runny noses, allergies, etc... but when my stomach gets sick, forget it, I am out.

I jsut returned from a really fun quick break away with my husband. We needed it. I am so happy we went :) We hit the beaches of California and took a quick day at Disneyland. It was great!

One of the most fun things about vacationing is eating :) Oh is that just me, ok then...

I am happy to report I ate everything under the sun, a lot of things I normally do not eat. And then I paid the price. My stomach quickly let me know that it really couldn't wait for me to be home cooking like I ususally do.

We all know how great ginger is for when we are sick, but there are almost zero brands of ginger ale that are free from high fructose corn syrup and some have absolutely zero actual ginger in them... fail.

I wanted to think of a way to incorporate ginger in a fun, easy to eat, portable way... thus the lollipop was born.

These babies are good! Full of fresh grated ginger, lemon zest, lemon juice and honey. oh and they are corn syrup free too!

Lemon Ginger Lollipops
(makes 8 big ones, or 16 small ones)

natural (not bleached) sugar and honey make brown pops, but they sure taste amazing!

1 cup sugar (I used organic evaporated cane juice sugar)
1/3 cup water
1/8 tsp cream of tarter
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger (do not use the powdered stuff)
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon honey
1.5 teaspoons lemon juice
8 big lollipop sticks (or 16 small ones)

honey is missing here, but there is the ginger, lemon and zest

Line a baking sheet with parchment (not waxed) paper, and spread out sticks - set aside
In a heavy bottomed pot fitted with a candy thermometer, over medium heat, add sugar, water, lemon juice and cream of tarter
Stir until all sugar is dissolved
Turn up heat to medium high/high and let boil (do NOT stir) until it reaches hard ball stage (about 310 degrees) . It took me about 7 minutes.(if you drop some of the liquid into ice cold water it should harden to the point of breaking and no longer be sticky)
Working very quickly after the temperature reaches the right stage, remove pot from burner, plunge bottom of pot in water, add in honey, lemon zest and ginger, stir, and carefully pour onto sticks.
Let set up about 10 minutes.
Brush tops of lollipops with more lemon juice and sprinkle with more zest and ginger if desired.
Let set until completely dry and peel from paper.

Happy Eating...