Candy Question

[Bucket Head]

Here is a question from an extremly inexperienced candy maker.

I made some candy the other night from some of the lightest syrup I had. No machine here, just a sauce pot and an electric stove. I was filling 2 ounce pumpkin (jack-o-lantern) mold's.

The candy has a very coarse grain to it and they have large white (dried out?) area's on both the back and the face of the pumpkin. When I removed them from the mold's, they were "wet" and there was wetness still in the mold. I laid a few of them on a piece of paper towell and they appeared to "bleed" out a little.

I also filled 1/3 ounce pumpkin's and they were better than the large one's, but still showed sign's of the dried out area's but were sticky to the touch.

How can they be dry looking when they were "wet" out of the mold's? What did I do wrong here? Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing?

They tasted good, but the look's of them has turned me away from making any more. Any advice would be appreciated.

Steve

[fred]

i believe it needs to cool down more before you start stirring for the graininess and you may not have been high enough temp in the start for the "wettness" .i have not made candy for years, its tricky and takes a good thermometer

[brookledge]

I would let it cool down to 150 or so if making it by hand. For me i usually go to 200 before starting the machine. The cooler the syrup is before you start to stir it the finner the grain will be. What temp did you boil it to ? You may not have gone high enough.
Keith

[802maple]

I have to agree with Kieth, it sounds like you started stirring to quick and as far as the wetness what was the temperature that you took it to before taking it off the stove? and were the molds dry to begin with as sometimes,myself included in the beginning I would wash the molds just before using them and wouldn't let them get dry enough? Don't give up.