white streaks on candy

[markcasper]

The last two times I've made candy I have been getting alot of the leafs with the outside edges all white. It has been a pain. I have made it for years and have never had anything like this. The maple leafs are the worst, but have a log cabin one that does it too. The tips of the leafs look awful. I am wondering if the molds get too old and they start doing this? Is there a point where they need to be replaced? How do you know? I know many have complained of white spots, but its nothing like that. Its almost as if there is something on the edges of the molds causing this. The molds are dry, so thats not it either.

[GeneralStark]

Without knowing your specific method of making the candy it is hard to say for sure but white blemishes ie spots or edges, often are related to the temperature the syrup was cooled to after cooking. The cooler you go the less likely there are to be blemishes.

When using a machine I find it typical to get 5-10% of the pieces having blemishes, but it will depend upon the temperature in the kitchen as sometimes I get more and sometimes less.

I do have some older molds and have never seen this occur as a result of mold age, but nothing lasts forever.

Steve Childs wrote an excellent article for Maple News discussing candy making making and gets into how to reduce blemishes. One method he suggests is putting the candy pieces with blemishes in a sealable plastic container right after they are made, and the blemishes will dissolve.