Candy making basics

This page is about the technical aspect of making candies.

No worries – it is neither complex nor expensive at all. I started making candies with no tools at all and over time started making or buying as I went along. I think in total I never got above 100$ and you don’t even have to go there – unless you wish to buy the best of tools, machines or even production lines.

One warning before we start – hot candy mix is both hot (i.e. third degree burns guaranteed!) and sticky – so it’s hard to remove if you accidentally dipped your finger in that! Make sure to work carefully and slowly! If some has poured on a body part – use tap water or anything from the freezer is the best way to cool the candy! Blowing air on it won’t help. Once you turn the heat on make sure kids and pets are far away.

My tools are simple and plain: Measuring cups, a small 0.1gr sensitive scale, a laser thermometer and two pots (small ones – about 1/2 liter volume will do just fine). I have a a good stainless pot with a thick bottom and another one which is made of a sheet of stainless – very thin bottom, which is the one I started making candies with. To cut the candies I use a flat bar of aluminum I bought at home depot (to be replaced with stainless… one day). You don’t need much more, actually anything else will be fun to have but not necessary at all!

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Two tips before we start –

  1. Don’t make HUGE batches of candies.  Make small ones and learn how to manage this new hobby – and if a batch goes wrong just throw it away and start a new one. I suggest you start making 70gr (or 1/3rd cup) batches of hard candies. This is what I do, as a routine, trying new tastes and textures. Believe me it’s enough – you get two handfuls of candies. I usually take those to my day job and hear comments, improvement suggestions and requests, which I highly value.
  2. Start with hard candies. Why hard candies? Because you don’t have to callibrate both texture and flavoring –  you just have to control the flavor. This simplifies things for you and it’s a good start and will let you gain experience.

Let’s review the process from start to finish in the order you will need to make it:

  1. Take out the scale, thermometer, measuring cups, 1/2 liter stainless cooking pot and a long handle stainless stirring cup.
  2. Prepare 1/4 of parchment paper (around 10″ square) clean and ready on your clean and dry table.
  3. Weigh the required flavoring ingredients and put aside.
  4. Weigh and pour into the pot the candy ingredients as follows:
  • 70gr or 1/3rd cup of plain white sugar
  • 1/9’th or 1/8’th cup of corn syrup  (1/3rd of the sugar volume)
  • 1/9’th or 1/8’th cup of water

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Place your pot on the smallest burner and turn the heat on high. I usually mix the ingredients from time to time but that is necessary because I use a laser thermometer, not a candy thermometer (that is stuck in the hot candy). So, to get a good and reliable temperature measurement I mix the hot candy and them measure the temperature. Heat the candy mix to 150c or 302F. Once the mix has reached the required temperature turn off the heat and add the ingredients (e.g. cinnamon powder for a cinnamon candy). Make sure to both quickly and evenly mix the ingredients into the candy mass and then pour on an parchment paper.

Now that you have poured the candy put your hot pot in the sink to cool (and fill it with water, preferably hot, to dissolve the sugar). You can leave the candy to cool and then shatter and break the large candy mass using a mallet but this generates razor sharp glass-like pieces. I prefer to mark the candy to make breakage lines suing a clean aluminum bar which is 30cm (1foot) long, 2cm (7/8″) wide 2mm (3/32″) thick. These dimensions are not critical – any flat bar will do. The back end (thick end) of a rectangular butcher knife will also work just fine. As long as your cutting blade is blunt and thick enough so the candy won’t heat it up – it will not stick to the candy. I press the bar thin edge against the candy slab and this forms a line of semi-cooled candy. If the candy slab is too hot the lines will merge. This is not a problem – just wait a few seconds (not minutes!) and move it to a cooler place on your table to speed up the cooling. Making horizontal and vertical lines gives a nice rectangular pattern which will later (10min or so) be broken by hand and form rectangular candies. For example, look at the honey candy page.

One thing is for sure – making candies is much faster and simpler than explaining how to do them! And eating them is even faster!

Enjoy
Saar