The original Gummy Bear Style...

A good Buddy called a short spell ago, wondering if he could talk me into running off a batch of salmon candy.
Tried to get him to go with the Cranberry Sweet Thia version, but NOPE!
HAS to be the maple-honey "Gummy Bear" stuff.
Damn!
Long process, expensive, and been just long enough since I made it I said... SURE... why not...

So, as the original post of this version has long since gone the way of the Dodo, I figured I'd run it up for anyone interested once again...

In this case we actually went with a mix of coho, red and white springs.
All caught offshore, vac sealed and flash frozen...

Thawed the frozen salmon just enough to cut. Works a tad better to make what we're looking for when there are still ice crystals through it. Ripped the hides, pulled all the bones, and cut into strips.

The brine was made the same morning, and given a spell to blend while we were cutting..

Brine:

1 gallon of water
1/2 cup of coarse salt
4 Kg's of Demerra Sugar
4 cups of real maple syrup
4 Kg's of pure honey (melted)
1/2 cup lemon juice

Place the strips into the brine and let it do it's thing.
Occasionally stir gently.




The strips can sit in brine as little as 24 hours, but double that is better when you can keep it cold.

Prep the grills with a GOOD shot of BarBee Pam, and set them up on your drying table.
Do NOT rinse the salmon strips when they come out of the brine.

Lay each strip out on the grill such that they don't touch each other (or they WILL glue to each other).



Set the loaded grills up under your fans, keep the air temp chilly, and dry them puppies out some...



In this particular case, with the relative humidity right up there and temperatures on the chilly side, we ran the fans for 48 hours before being happy with their progress. Can take a fair bit shorter when the conditions are different. What you are looking for is the translucent gummy bear look...



Now it's time for a visit to the preheated smoker.
Once the product hits, I like to keep it medium low for this kind of candy.
A combination of 50/50 Apple / Alder chips gives an almost "velvety" finish.



Continued...