Maple candy trick

[Maplehead]

One of these posts somewhere suggests cooking your syrup to 2 degrees less than the standard temp for candy. (I think the standard is 242 degrees.) By doing so it will produce a softer candy.

Is this true or do the pros add something to it like cream?

My wife loves the soft, melts in your mouth candy and not the harder crytalized versions I make.

I need to please my wife with my sugaring. It helps with the justufication.

[mountainvan]

Lowering the temp can make a softer sugar, but it could also make taffy type stuff. In my experience I let the syrup cool to 180 and then start to stir. Sometimes it starts to set up in the 1/2 gal pot I use to pour it in the molds, but then I put it on the burner, low flame, and stir it till it will pour again. Melts in your mouth. Stirring at 190/200 and pouring in the molds as soon as I see crystals makes grainy sugars.

[Maplehead]

Interesting because I start stirring at 200.

Is 242 the correct temp to bring it up to? Or rather 25 degrees above syrup temp?

[HanginAround]

If you want a super smooth, fondant style candy (we call this maple cream here), I posted a series of pics and lots of commentary here:

http://www.mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?t=2152

Cook to +26 or 27 (above water boiling pt.) and stir cool, about 80 F. Use light syrup or it might not set well due to high invert sugars. Stirring hot makes a large grained product. Stirring cold makes an extremely fined grained melt in your mouth product.

[Maplehead]

Now those are instructions. Thanks.

I too will be trying this yet on a much smaller scale. I can't wait.

[HanginAround]

Let us know how it turns out.

[Maplehead]

I'm making "cream" tonight.

When you say cook to +27, is that 27 degrees above the water boiling point or the syrup point?

So if water's boiling at 212, are we talking 239 or 246?

[HanginAround]

Above the boiling point of water.

It's going to set up in the pan you stir it in, keeps stirring until you can't anymore. Then just crumble it and and eat it as is, or warm it in the microwave in a pyrex measuring cup if you want to pour it into molds.

Good luck, let us know how it works.

[Maplehead]

I just finished making the first batch.
My water boiling point was 207 so I set stopped boiling the syrup at 234.

It took more than a half an hour for the stuff to cool to 80.

When I began the stirring process, the stuff was like super tough taffy. It was quite hard to move the spoon through. I actually broke the handle off the first wooden spoon, the second survived. It was more like 30 minutes for me before it set than 20. It set and was just as smooth as the store bought kind I was trying to achieve. Hooray!
But you've got to work for it to get there.
I double boiled it now to get hot and fluid. That's a process too. The stuff is never liquid enough to just take out and pour into molds. My molded candies look a bit deformed as the stuff starts setting quickly as soon as it's on the spoon and out of the pot. Even the top of the stuff furthest away from the bottom of the pan was a little set.
I'll try the pyrex/microwave approach next time.

Overall though, the point was to achieve the soft, not grainy and melts in your mouth stuff.

I did.

Thanks again.

[HanginAround]

Wooohooo!

Another happy customer. Glad it worked out. When you double boil it, keep going untill it is very liquid, as close to water boiling pt as you can get it, the more liquid it is the better. When we cool it, we always use a water bath, if you have a pot, fill the sink with water and set it in, you can even add ice cubes if you want, but yeah, takes a while.

You said you broke a spoon, I believe it... when we do a big pan (10 Imp gl), stirring 5 or 10 minutes at a time is about all your arms and shoulders can take. Takes four people really, but we've done it with two. Even doing it in a pot, should have a couple people so you can spell off.

If you think it was maybe a little bit thick, back off a degree or so when you cook the next batch... it isn't an exact science, every batch is a bit different, but there comes a point that it won't set up hard enough to hold it's shape if you don't cook it enough. Sounds like you got it about right though.

[Maplehead]

I did do the ice cube bath. I even kept changing it. It's just that the density holds the heat in longer. No biggy.

I'm concerned now because the stuff is pretty hard and crumbly. It isn't grainy though. I'd like it to be softer to bite into.

I didn't use a thermometer on the double boil. I just thought it'd get hot and liquidy. I'll try that next time. I also want to see what the microwave/pyrex method gives up.

It's true about the stirring though. Once I got past the initial, almost impossible to stir five minutes, my method changed to turning the spoon like a blender around in the pot. This eased up things on the wrists and arms.

I had a sweat going at the end though.

[HanginAround]

I'm concerned now because the stuff is pretty hard and crumbly. It isn't grainy though. I'd like it to be softer to bite into.

It does vary a bit and hard to get it just right, sounds like you have room to move down a degree or so.


I didn't use a thermometer on the double boil. I just thought it'd get hot and liquidy. I'll try that next time.

You don't need a thermometer, just warm it past what you think you need to, it will thin a bit more. From what you said above, might have been cooked just a little much, and you might have had the same problem getting it into molds no matter what. Also, the more time on the double boiler, time to get it into the molds, it will cook some more in this time too. When we scoop it into tins, the first ones are always much nicer than the end ones, sometimes starting to get pretty stiff. When they do leaf molds and cones, they always do it with the measuring cup, so it can be rewarmed a bit as it cools.

[Maplehead]

Thanks for the advice.

I just got a stem type digital candy thermometer so I can get some pinpoint accuracy on the temp and bring it down a degree or two.

For those reading this, don't get the digital type with the SS cord. If it gets wet at all it's ruined. I think "Polter" makes one.

I'll also liquify my candy in the double boiler more.

Thanks again,

Maplehead

[royalmaple]

Could you reheat the candy in the mold to get it to settle in a bit better to the mold?

[HanginAround]

I think that would probably work okay. I think with the measuring cup, better to rewarm a bit as you see it getting cool rather than glob it into the molds and then try to make it settle in though.

[Maplehead]

I'll be making another batch soon as everyone loved this first one and I got a lot of requests for more - so I'll be trying out the advice to get a better looking molded candy.

As to the hardness, my wife now prefers it.
(Still talking candy here so no laughing.)
She says it lasts longer in her mouth before it turns to cream.
(See previous parenthesis.)

Anyways, they don't look pretty but I guess they're the best.

[HanginAround]

ROFL, I know, you told me not to.. couldn't help myself :)

Good luck with your hardness issue.