Preparing Tiger Nuts a la Bain Marie: A Step-by-Step Guide for Anglers
Friday, 27th June 2014
Ever since Dynamite Baits brought out their preserved tigers in jars people have been looking for different ways of preparing long life tiger nuts at home. A fella on Carp Forum (Zack) put me onto his method, which involves using plastic bottles and this has always been reasonably effective for me.
However I thought you guys might like to read about another method I have been using recently, one that I read about on the internet somewhere but cannot remember where, so if you are reading this and recognise ‘your’ method, I apologise for not giving credit where it is due!
For this method you will need several Kilner jars, the sort with the hinged lid and rubber seal that your Mum or Gran uses to make jams etc. These need to be sterilised using boiling water and a hot oven. Alternatively a dishwasher will do a great job on them.
You will first need to prepare the tigers and I like to add a touch of flavour. These are two of my favourites.
Naturally enough I get my tigers from Haith's, as they are the freshest I have ever used.
Place the dry tigers in the jar to the top and cover with boiling water and add flavour.
Seal the jars and leave to stand for 24 hours.
Now prepare the tigers as follows:
1. Empty the jars into a saucepan along with the water in which they have been soaking.
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Next create a syrup consisting of 6oz granulated sugar dissolved in boiling water.
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Stir to create a solution. The syrup on other words.
4. Add the syrup to the saucepan, and top up the saucepan with boiling water if necessary.
5. Bring the tigers to the boil and then turn down the heat and simmer briskly for 5 minutes.
Using boiling water pre-heat the jars.
Once the oven is ready, pour the near-boiling water from the jars into the baking tray.
Fill the hot jars with the tigers to within 1cm of the top.
Ladle the water in which they have been cooking into the jars so that it covers the tiger nuts.
Seal the jars and place them in the baking tray. Remember that this has been filled with boiling water from the jars as per photo 11.
Put the tray in the oven and set a timer for 60 minutes.
When the 60 minutes is up, turn off the heat and allow the jars to cool in the oven.
When cool write the date on the jars and store in the bait cupboard. These were made on the 1st March 2014. You can keep them in their jars almost indefinitely, certainly up to 18 months or more. I have made up a dozen jars of home made preserved tigers and I keep a sort of production line going to replenish used bait.
I do feel that the longer they are in store the better and sweeter they become and as a minimum I like to keep them in store for three months. These were opened on the 8th June.
As you can see, the liquid, which was really thin and runny at bottling, has thickened considerably and the syrup is now gooey and sticky and the tigers themselves taste absolutely divine!
I won’t say that this method is quick and easy, but when was doing anything really worthwhile easy? Here’s one I caught earlier on my home made preserved tigers.
Written by Ken Townley
- Comments
"Shelf Life" by anonymous
16 Apr 2017
Once the jar is opened do you treat as a fresh bait or will they stay preserved?
Haith's customer services:
Hi Gregg
Many thanks for your question.
Treat them as fresh and use them within a month. They will not go gooey but the sugar should still preserve them for some time.
I Hope this helps.
Many thanks
Haith's Bait
