Homemade Light Corn Syrup

Its just a hunch, but I'm guessing that this

is an ingredient that most of us hate seeing in recipes. Its either not available or CRAZY expensive at an import store. I still remember finding a large size bottle of this in a super nice import store in Shanghai back in 2006. It was not something the little import store in my city even knew existed. I probably DON'T want to remember how much I paid for it, but you better believe I bought it and took it home and enjoyed it throughout the holidays! Its called for in some holiday classics like pecan pie and caramel corn. Well, I tried my hand at making it from scratch this week. It was super easy to do. I have tried it before and was not successful (my peanut butter krispies were not very crispy!), but I tried a different recipe this time. I then made 2 batches of caramel corn--one with real Karo corn syrup and one with my homemade version. Honestly, I didn't even really see a difference in the two (except that I cooked one too long and it tasted a little more like burned sugar!). I will say, caramel corn is the only thing I've tried this in (recipe in a day or two!). So if you're in the market for a pecan pie this week, you'll just have to try it and see! Seeing how it didn't have any problems in the caramel corn, I'm going to guess it'll do fine in a pie! Hope this is a helpful recipe for you.

Homemade Corn Syrup
2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup water
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
dash of salt

Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Stir regularly and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cover for 3 minutes (this will help sugar crystals slide off side of pan and into the syrup). Uncover and cook it until it reaches a soft ball stage (240F/116C if using a thermometer or syrup balls up when dropped in a glass of cool water). Cool syrup. Store in covered container at room temperature.

Notes: I have a thermometer and got my syrup to the soft ball stage (nearly 240F). But as it cooled it REALLY thickened up. I couldn't even spoon or pour it into a jar. I only made half a recipe to try it, but ended up having to throw the extra out. I'd recommend not getting it as hot as soft ball stage. I think I cooked mine for nearly 10 minutes or so, so maybe try cooking less time or to lower temperature.

Please let us know what recipes you try this in successfully!