How To cast candy basics questions

[Mac_Muz]

I read back and all aroind on threads and find there isn't a basic How To forb this. I would like to try making a little candy from a quart by hand.

I did last year from the last run which was about grade B dark i guess.

I only made 3 gallons of syrup and waited to see what I would make before i tried any candy.

Well I munged most of that up casting what I made into an ice cube tray.

What i made didn't want to harden in time, and it pooled syrup on top, while the bottom was a heavy sand like grain.

I know what is the wrong way now, but I haven't read what works in a small batch.

I need to know which run, How hot, and what to do all in basics assuming I know nothing because i know exactly nothing. My wife tried to help with the little she knows about making candy and that just made things as bad as I made them..

I am after 2 different things. One that mimics candies in the shape of a leaf you can buy in tourist stores, and a more brick like thing I once bought in Canada, which i used to carry camping and could hack off a hunk and make syrup adding water. You couldn't bite off that brick any...

I plan to use the ice cube tray again for candies for just in home use, and what ever small bread pan maybe to make any brick, if I do.

All I have for a thermometer is a cheapo ordinary one for cooking in the typical kitchen.

Answers to this post are ok, but this site needs a real How To, by someone who knows their stuff...

[ennismaple]

Candy syrup should be the lightest you've got - the sugar crystals are finer. I can't help you on the temperatures... I'm the maple butter guy. Mom makes the candy!

[Al]

I heat my syrup to 248 degrees then let it cool to 180 degrees and stir until I see a color tail. I then pour it into my maple leaf molds. I've found that a shallow glass pan works well for candy also. When I don't have time to fool with the molds during the season that's what I do. Then just cut it up and throw it in the bucket. We call it sugarhouse candy.
I've used dark amber syrup for candy before but not a dark dark syrup. Our first couple of years we made 3 or 4 gallons of the darkest stuff. It never made good candy. Always had a after taste. I still use a small round candy thermoneter I got at Price Chopper.
Hope this helps.

[brookledge]

making candy with out a candy machine is a little harder than making it with one. However it can be done. With a candy machine basically what is happening is a consistent small batch that can be poured into the mold before it sets up. When making it in a large batch or even in a quart bowl when it reaches the right consistency you can't always get it into molds before it stops flowing thus causing ugly and unattractive pieces.
Keep the batches small or even if you boil more down at a time you could split it in half to begin stirring.
It won't affect the taste but it will affect the look.
The lighter syrup like ennis maple said will make better candy.
I boil it to 32 degrees over the boiling point of water.
Keith

[Jerome]

try this link http://www.atkinsonmaple.com/ look under information ant then popular maple products they have all the information.

[gmcooper]

Rob Lamothe in CT and his wife do seminars on making candy. They are very good and do a good job of telling like it is and keeping it in terms people can understand. A good thermometer is priceless when making candy. Check with Lamothes website or check with Bascoms as they have had candy making instructions for both machines and by hand. Also check UVM and Proctor Maple for info. Too dark syrup will not always form crystals to make candy. Weather is also important. A nice dry low humidity day is easier to make good candy than a damp day.

[Mac_Muz]

Thanks for all the tips. Maybe there will be more tips?

I don't care about pretty, the idea is to have some candy i can wrap up in wax paper and carry in a harversack, eat some, maybe hand some out to friends to eat, but pretty isn't any part of it.

I don't want break anyones teeth, or end up with a sticky mess in my haversack.

So far it seems to be one way or the other, sometime both things at the same time.. A lump harder than a rock still leaking sweet..

Looks like 246-248 from here to heat too. I can't recall what I did last year trying, but that might be a good thing.

I am surprized to find a dryer day over a damper day in the kitchen means a thing.. I am no cook for anything unless it is over a camp fire. (hot bed of coals)

None of this is for sale either.. Most of this would be used in a sort of hobby sport called Trecking which a sort of very old fashined way to go hiking, wearing funny old trappers Clothing and carrying a flintlock gun, and doing related other things while also camping. Really pretty has no place here, it is about the food.