UIL LINO I SUNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

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University of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign LibraryBrittle Books Project, 2012.

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REMOTE STORAGE

A BRIEF DISCUSSION OF

PRINCIPLES OF CANDY MAKINGLOUISE STANLEY

of the Home Economics Department, University of Missouri.Prepared for Use of Missouri State Board

of Agriculture

Issued December, 1911

This bulletin has been prepared with the idea of helping tosimplify and rationalize candy making. By teaching a few gen-eral principles it ought to be possible for anyone to make candyeither with or without the help of the recipe. In going over thenumerous recipes to be found at this time in the popular maga-zines the writer has been impressed with the laxness displayedin statements, and if the directions were followed implicitly, onlyfailure could be the result. It is hoped that with the intelligencegained from the study of this bulletin the reader may be able toformulate her own rules, else modify and use with more intelli-gence those recipes found elsewhere.

Sugar.

The basis of practically all our candy is ordinary sugar. Su-crose is its chemical name. We call it cane sugar because for so manyyears all our sugar was obtained from the sugar cane. The canesugar is identical in composition with the sugar which is obtainedfrom the sugar beet or the sugar maple. The maple sugar has adifferent flavor because of the impurities left in it, just as the brown

or unrefined sugar differs in taste from that which is fully refined,

on account of those impurities which are characteristic of theplant from which the sugar is derived.

All the sugars of this group form crystals and the sugar isnamed according to the size of the crystals, confectioners, pul-

verized, or granulated. In this country most of our granulatedsugars are made up of crystals of a uniform size. In Englandwe find these crystals varying from the minute ones found in pul-

verized sugar to crystals as large as a pea, which are called coffee

crystals.The only candy in which we desire our sugar in a crystallized

form is rock candy. The manufacturer prepares this by immers.

ing a string in a concentrated cane sugar solution, in which case thesugar is deposited upon the string in crystals gradually increasingin size.

In making candy in the home we aim to keep our candy from

crystallizing (graining we sometimes call it), else aim to obtainvery small crystals, crystals too small to be separately felt.

Except in the case of a few simple candies made from confec-tioners' sugar, all candies are cooked. In cooking sugar we mayuse moist or dry heat. In order to understand thoroughly theprinciples involved in candy' making, it will be necessary to knowthe effect of these two forms of heat upon the sugar ordinarilyused in candy making, or cane sugar. In order to determine theeffect of dry heat upon this sugar the following experiment is rec-ommended.

Brittle Candies.

Take one-half cup sugar and melt over the fire in a saucepan, stirring constantly to prevent burning. This should meltcompletely and be left over the fire with constant stirring untilthe color just changes, but the material is not burned. This canbe poured over whole or crushed peanuts to form peanut brittle.Cocoanut or any other nuts may be substituted, or hot water maybe added in sufficient quantities to dissolve this melted sugar andthe whole kept for flavoring as caramel. It must be rememberedin adding any liquid to the hot melted sugar that the temperature ofthe melted mass is very high and any cold liquid suddenly intro-duced will tend to harden the mass and make it quite difficult toremove. If the melted material is poured out without dilutionit should form a hard, clear cake.

This melted sugar is the basis of a group of candies calledbrittles. In these candies the sugar is melted, preferably in agranite pan, flavored and poured, usually over nuts. While melt-ing, a metal spoon must be used to stir the mass, as the tempera-ture reached is sufficiently high to burn a wooden one. If theback of the spoon is used for the stirring the half-melted sugardoes not cake in the bowl and cause trouble.

When is the Candy suficiently cooked?

By far the greater number of our candies are prepared bymeans of the action of moist heat on sugar. They are simply so-lutions of sugar and water with various forms of flavoring added,boiled until this solution reaches a definite concentration or con-sistency. This consistency may be determined in various ways,

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, by (1) the length of time of cooking, (2) the way in which thesyrup drops from the spoon, (3) the consistency of the mass itforms when. cooled in cold water. These tests as generally usedare most inaccurate. Providing we start with the same propor-tions of sugar and water, the concentration of our solution mustdepend upon the amount of evaporation. This is not dependentsolely upon the length of time of cooking, but is influenced by

S such factors as the amount of surface exposed and the intensity ofthe heat applied; therefore the first test above is most inaccurate.The tests depending upon the way the syrup drops from the spoonand the consistency of the mass when cooled in water, while moreaccurate than the above, still vary considerably in the hands ofdifferent experimenters, and in the latter case especially are de-

r pendent upon the temperature of the water. Far more importantthan this, however, is the loose way in which these tests are ordi-narily stated. Looking over the recipes listed in two columnsof a popular magazine it was quite interesting to note the direc-tions for determining when the candy was done. Nine of the can-dies were practically the same, cream candies, with flavors of dif-ferent kinds added. From the nine in these two columns thedirections were to cook in one case until it clung when droppedinto cold water, in two cases to soft ball, in one case to bubble, inthree cases until it threaded, and in two cases which were cookedaccording to time, the one with the larger proportion of waterwas to be cooked five minutes and the one with the less water,

therefore theoretically needing less cooking, was to be cooked forten minutes. This is a fair example of the usual accuracy of re-cipes. We need a greater degree of standardization which wecan get only by the development of general principles. Eachkind of candy is not a law unto itself but is one of a few generalgroups. In each group the proportions within limits are the same,

and each should be cooked to approximately the same concen-tration.

Much the simplest and most accurate method for testing can-

dy or any syrup is to use an ordinary chemical thermometer. Ifthe bulb of the thermometer is immersed in the boiling solutionit will indicate the temperature at which that solution boils. Nowwe know that as the concentration of the sugar in the solution in-creases, the temperature at which that solution boils is raised. There-fore reading the temperature gives us a definite measure of the

concentration of the solution. The advantages of the use of thethermometer are that it is easier, more accurate, and none of thematerial needs to be lost.

Thermometers-Where to get them and howto use them.

Regular candy thermometers or an ordinary chemical ther-mometer can usually be purchased, or ordered for you by anyhardware or drug store. These come graduated either in Faren-heit or Centigrade scale. Those graduated to 500 F or 300 C willbe found most useful for general household purposes, though thegraduations need not extend so high for candy work. In usingthe thermometer, the bulb must be completely immersed in theboiling solution, but should not touch the bottom of the vessel.The thermometers with milk glass rather than the paper scaleare to be preferred. This is a delicate instrument, so should behandled carefully. If held wrong end up there is danger of hav-ing the mercury separate, in which case the thermometer willregister inaccurately.

The ordinary household tests for candy with the corresponding

temperatures are given below:

F CSmall thread .......................... 215 ° 102°

Large thread .......................... 2170 1030Pearl ............................... 220° 105 °

Large pearl .......................... 2220 1060The blow ............................. 230 ° 110 °

The feather ........................... 232 ° 111 °

Soft ball.............................. 2380 1130Hard ball.......... .................. 248 ° 120 °

Small crack............................ 290 ° 143 °

Crack.............................. 3160 1550Caramel............................ 3600 1750

Candies made from sugar with additionof water.

The obtaining of candy without crystals, or with very smallcrystals, is a problem of sugar chemistry, and if this subject isthoroughly understood the whole question of candy making issimplified. When we want to make candy which will not crys-

tallize we, in the home, use cane sugar and add vinegar. If enoughvinegar is added it will never grain or crystallize, and furthermore,if the usual amount for pull candy is added it will not cream.

Effect of moist heat on sugar.

This brings us to a consideration of our second topic or theeffect of moist heat on sugar. We find that moist heat splits upcane sugar, forming from it two simpler sugars, glucose and fruc-

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tose. The relation between these three sugars is that cane sugarwith the aid of heat and water splits up into fructose and glucose.Mixtures of equal amounts of glucose and fructose, such as areformed from cane sugar, are called invert sugar. Invert sugar

crystallizes with great difficulty and if at all, in very small crystals.It has been found by experiment that if acid is added to the

boiling sugar solution it hastens the change from cane into invertsugar. We make use of this principle in the making of cream

candies, candies with very small imperceptible crystals, and thosecandies which contain no crystals at all, as taffys, caramels, etc.

The acids ordinarily used in the household are vinegar andcream of tartar. Vinegar is usually used in making taffy becausewe like the flavor, and also the danger of too much acid is not so

great here. The per cent of acid in our vinegars varies so much

that we cannot use it with any certainty of getting a definite quan-

tity of acid. With cream of tartar it is different. It is a solid

and the per cent of acid present is fairly constant. So in all candieswhere a definite proportion of acid is important, cream of tartar

should be used.As the whole point in adding acid is to obtain a certain pro-

portion of invert sugar in your solution, it is possible to omit the

acid if you substitute the requisite amount of invert sugar or glu-

cose which behaves in the same way. We do this in those candies

to which we add glucose, corn syrup, molasses, honey, and even

brown sugar has a certain small per cent of invert sugar left in.

This is the plan followed almost entirely by the manufacturer,

as in this way he can control his result more accurately, and also

because glucose is cheaper than cane sugar. This is perfectly

justifiable in case the glucose used is of pure quality, and would be

more used in the home if it were possible to get a form of glucose

or invert sugar which would not affect the flavor of the product.

Cream Candies.

In the cream candies we use less acid than in those candies

which are not to cream, because we want a certain amount of crys-

tallization. You have all probably made fondant, which was a

sticky, gummy mass and refused to cream. This has been caused

by the addition of too much acid, so too large a proportion of in-

vert sugar has been formed.In the making of cream candies, therefore, we are concerned

with two general series of precaution. First, we want just the right

proportion of cane sugar to invert sugar in the candy when it is

cooked. This depends upon the amount of acid used, and the

length of time for cooking. The (length of time naturally dependsupon the amount of water added and the rapidity with which it

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is cooked. The more water we add the longer time the candy mustbe cooked in order to evaporate this water, while the more rap-idly the solution boils the more quickly the water is given off.Thus we see there is a direct relation between the proportion ofacid used, the amount of water, and the rapidity of cooking. Onthis account we have in the statement of recipes exact amountsof these constituents given, with directions to cook slowly or rap-idly, as the case may be. It is simply a question of time duringwhich the acid should act upon the sugar at this temperature.If you know that your candy has cooked too rapidly andthe acid has not acted on the sugar sufficiently long, it is a simpleproblem to add a small amount of water and in this way prolongthe cooking time.

In the second place, since we are leaving in this solution a defi-nite proportion of cane sugar, we must make use of all meanswithin our control to have this crystallize in the small crystals weso much desire. We know that when sugar solutions are stirredwhile hot, the crystals tend to become larger. Also that when crys-tals fall into a concentrated sugar solution, larger crystals tendto aggregate about them. In accordance with this last pointwe aim to keep all crystals off the sides of the vessel in which thecandy is cooked. We sometimes prevent this by boiling candyfor a few moments at the beginning with the cover on, as in thisway the condensing steam washes down the crystals from the sidesof the sauce pan. This retards the evaporation of the water andincreases the length of time the candy must be cooked, and socannot be relied upon except in the first stage of the candy making.By far the simpler process is to wash them down with a danipcloth wrapped around fork, or even with well-moistened fingers.Lastly, the candy should never be stirred or violently agitatedwhile hot and cooling.

A rough surface forms points for the adherence of the sugarcrystals, therefore directions always read, use a smooth sauce pan.

Directions for Making Fondant.

From the above facts, the rules for making fondant are sim-plified and the reason, for each step made clear. To five cups ofsugar we add one and half cups of water and one-fourth teaspoon-ful of cream tartar. The whole is allowed to cook slowly untilsoft ball stage (1130 C), keeping all crystals removed from the sides.The solution should always be stirred until the sugar is thoroughlydissolved. After that it is better not to stir it unless there is dan-ger of burning, because the stirring causes crystals to form onsides by splashing up of syrup, and as the solution becomes moreconcentrated the tendency to produce crystallization in the solu-

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tion proper is increased. The syrup, when the proper temperature

has been reached, is poured out, preferably on a marble slab or

platter, or may be left to cool in sauce pan, in which case care must

be taken that all crystals have been thoroughly removed from the

sides of the pan. When cool enough to allow the finger to be held

in it, the mixture is ready to be kneaded or stirred. If stirred it

is best accomplished by means of a wooden spoon until it creams,

when it should be taken up in hands and worked. Much troublecan be avoided by taking up candy soon enough. In case it is

beaten while too warm, not only are the crystals apt to be large

but it soon becomes too hard because the evaporation is greater

at high temperature. If the syrup remains clear, that is, no crys-

tals are formed, it means that too much acid has been used or ithas been cooked too slowly. At any rate, too much invert sugarhas been formed. If it reaches this stage the only remedy is to

add more sugar, no acid, and cook quickly, because the acid is

still there to change more sugar. If candy creams but does notharden, do not despair. If set aside it frequently hardens, and

the soft variety is the very best for dipping and making pattiesof various flavors.

Some add glycerine in small amounts to fondant, because theglycerine does not evaporate as rapidly as water, therefore thefondant keeps moist longer. Cream or butter may be added toit if a richer product is desired.

Candies made from Fondant.

Fondant when made in this way can be worked up into agreat variety of candies. It should always be kneaded to breakup any crystals. It can then be flavored and formed into va-rious shapes. These may be decorated with nuts or candied fruits,or may be rolled in powdered cinnamon, making the well-knowncinnamon balls. Chopped nuts may be worked in with the flavor-ing and the mixture used to fill in the cavity of dates from which

the stones have been removed. The fondant may be melted, overhot water always, and dipped out by spoonfuls to form patties orafter dinner mints, or various materials such as nuts, and white grapes,may be dipped into the melted fondant and in that way coated.A little experience soon shows just to what degree the fondantshould be melted. The softer fondants should be used for thispurpose. If too soft, a little standing over hot water causes aslight amount of evaporation, so if the fondant proves to beentirely too soft it may be remedied in this way. If while thecandy is being dipped out, the fondant becomes too hard it is usu-ally a good plan to add a few drops of water, being careful alwaysnot to add too much. A slight amount of grated cocoanut may

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, UII UOU OU f

be added to the melted fondant, the whole spread in a layer, markedinto squares and allowed to cool. Balls of fondant and cocoanutmay be dipped into the melted fondant, and lastly, the fondantmay be dipped in chocolate. For this purpose, if sweet chocolateis desired the regular coating chocolate may be procured from anyconfectioner, or the ordinary bitter chocolate used. In using thelatter it will be found to stay on more successfully if melted, thenbeaten until it thickens up slightly. These are merely suggestionsas to the possibilities. The kinds of candies with fondant as basisare numberless.

All those candies with directions to beat until they cream orharden fall into this same group and the general rules are thesame, the only difference being in the kinds of flavoring added.

Uncrystallized Candies.

These fall into two groups, those which are to be pulled andthose which are not. The chief difference between this andprevious group lies in the fact that more acid is used, else moreinvert sugar or glucose added, because in the end our proportionof cane sugar must be small to prevent graining. The temper-ature to which they are cooked depends upon the product de-sired. For pull candy it will vary from 1200 C to 1400 C, as wewant a candy of the chewy or brittle type. In the unpulled candiesthey vary in consistency from caramels 1250 C to toffee 1550 C.

Candies with Special Texture.

In certain of our candies we aim to give a special texture bythe addition of certain materials, such as egg-white, gelatine, orgum arabic. In general these may be said to be cream candiesadded to above substances.

Conclusions.

1. Candies fall into certain groups, and for these groupsthe general directions are the same.

2. Dry heat melts sugar, driving off water and forming sub-stance known as caramel.

3. Moist heat splits up cane sugar, forming invert sugar,a mixture of glucose and fructose. Acid facilitates the reaction.

4. The amount of invert sugar formed depends upon theproportion of acid and the length of time it acts.

5. Invert sugar does not crystallize readily, therefore is de-sired in candies which are not to crystallize or are to crystallizein very small crystals.

6. The size of the crystals is also influenced by stirring whilehot or by the entrance of other crystals into concentrated syrup.

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This book is a preservation facsimile produced forthe University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.It is made in compliance with copyright law

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