Candy mold material

Candy and lollipop molds are great.

Sure, they are time consuming, need cleaning and drying and so on – but the end results justifies it: lovely candies with a variety of shapes kids and adults love.

However, I would not use plastic or even “safe” silicon molds for candies – simply because of the high temperature used (150-160c or 300-320F). The high temperature could cause the mold to release chemicals into your candy. I know there are so called “safe” candy molds or “hard candy molds” made from either ABC plastic or silicone – but prefer to avoid these.

I use either aluminum or stainless steel – and the best material in my humble opinion is  stainless steel. Aluminum is also not ideal but as long as the candy is non-acidic (i.e. it’s not sour) I think that’s fairly safe. Also, considering that metal molds need to be lubricated with a small amount of vegetable oil before use (to prevent the candy from sticking to the mold) makes it a little bit safer.

If you haven’t made any candies yet and would like to know why there is a need for the very thin vegetable oil coat on the candy mold – think of pouring cement or plaster. Hard candies resemble cement or plaster since both materials take the exact shape of their vessel. Any minute scratches or tiny defects in the molds (even ones you can’t see) will allow the cooling candy to grab hold of the mold. This bond is amazingly strong considering that the material is mainly sugar…. Trust me – it will be nearly impossible to release the candy from the metallic mold without this tiny layer of tasteless vegetable oil that prevents it from bonding to the mold. And if you do mange to force one out – it will shatter or crack most of the times.

Bottom line: if you want to make candy molds and you have an option – go for stainless steel molds, just like the ones below:

Here is a short video on candy mold making and discuss the molds and how to use them.

Have fun making candies!

Saar