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Thread: Candy with white holes

  1. #21
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Kirschnerville, NY
    Posts
    463

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    Randy,
    You are correct about the barometric pressure. It directly relates to the boiling point of water. What I have for example..... my water boiling point is 210.7 My invert is say...50 off the glucose meter or 1% then I know I can make candy at 242.7, but if I take note that the barometric pressure is 30.0 and rising I know that it going to be a nice day and I can lower my boil temp by 1-1.5 degrees for a softer candy.....the opposite goes for if the pressure is lowering..... i'll have to boil a little harder to maintain the consistancy I'm looking for. You can make candy anytime by just boiling your syup at 242 (unless your invert is completely off the chart), but I've included the rising or falling of barometric pressure to be able to maintain the same consistancy, and quality of candy that is coming out of our molds. Our family is best know for melt in your mouth candy.....(best example I could give would be like a peanut butter cup....has that little snap on the outside, but is really creamy and smooth once it's in your mouth) To get this feature it only takes a small amount if variance to either have a batch that is too hard for our liking, or the opposite and it become too soft where you can smoosh it with your finger.
    The syrup I have the most difficulty with is my lower invert sugar syrup.... .4-.6% What I have found is that I boil the syrup too hard and when make the candy it wants to set way too quick or after i take it out of the molds it has a light haze and begins to whiten. This is a tell sign to me that the candyhas been boiled too long for the level of invert sugar. See the lower the invert sugar the larger the crystals and this is what your seeing in the little haze on the candy or the light spots. Syrup I make my best candy with hovers around 1.4%....at times I believe I may slightly under boil because remember as your invert goes up your boiling temp should go up, but many times I'll finish at the same as lower invert and end up with a softer candy.
    The last thing I have noticed is that (can't prove by scientific facts)but when the syrup is cooling before stirring if there is a be difference of temps through out the pan (infared therometer) I'll end of with white spots everytime. I can only guess that this is because the cooler syrup is crystallized more than the warmer syrup and during stirring you can't blend the different temps thus creating the spots. I'm no scientist but I have noticed this so take it as fact or crap just my opinion
    I hope you find this somewhat helpful, but if you keep track of boiling point, barometric pressure, invert sugars, and pan cooling you find a direct corrolation between them to create a quality candy out of every batch. Some spots may still appear, but that's just the maple candy gods not letting us get to cocky!
    Jake Moser
    Moser's Maple
    758 lbs molded maple candy last year (all by hand)
    over 400 lbs sold on ebay (mosersmaple 1904)
    Award Winning Maple Confections
    2012 World Maple Festival Grand Champion Maple Syrup

  2. #22
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Athol, NY
    Posts
    219

    Unhappy

    Jake, Thanks for all the help. I'm sure it will make a difference.


    Randy

    Toad Hill Maple Farm

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  3. #23
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Wellsboro Pa
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    305

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    What do you guys use to check invert sugar/

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Kirschnerville, NY
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    463

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    We use simple glucose meter (diabetic meter) to check the invert. Cornell has put out a table of what the glusose reading is converted to percent of invert in sugar.....eg.... a 50 reading on the meter is 1% invert sugar. All you do is mix the syrup with water at a 1:10, stick your test strip in and get your glucose reading. Cornell has created a chart for acceptable ranges of invert for candy, cream, granular, and coating. Not sure if Cornell.edu website has the chart. I obtained my with the purchase of the New York Maple Confections Notebbok. I can give Steve Childs a call to see if he minds that I post a copy of the chart for all to see. After all it's their research and I'm not sure if he wants the chart only seen by those who purchase the book, or if this is info to share with all. Just trying not to affend anybody.
    Jake Moser
    Moser's Maple
    758 lbs of molded maple candy last year (all by hand)
    over 400 lbs sold on ebay (mosersmaple1904)
    Award Winning maple confections
    2012 World Maple Festival Grand Champion Maple Syrup

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Barrington, NH
    Posts
    2,762

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    Update on our candy this year. I don't think we got any candy with the white holes in it this year. We did coat our candy as usual, and we did keep our candy in the freezer for longterm storage and pretty sure we did last year as well. We are using new syrup this year, so maybe that's why we didn't have any problems?? Not positive, but I think all of the candy made last year was made from the same drum. This year when making candy, we changed our method. Before we used to let a lot of crystals form in the trough before pouring into molds, but this year, as soon as it starts to cloud, we pour it in...maybe this helped?? We haven't checked invert sugar before, but maybe we will.

    I do have issues with candy getting white areas on the back side...think this is due to differential cooling maybe??

    During the summer, we have virtually no candy sales, so I think moving forward, we will no longer be stocking candy then.

    Moser. Thanks for the info.
    Josh

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  6. #26
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    East. Greenbush, NY
    Posts
    1

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    I didn't read all the replies, but I have had the same thing happen to the candy I made after a while. My question is, is the candy still okay to eat with the white spots on it?

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    Esko,MN
    Posts
    290

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    yes it's ok to eat. Just doesn't look nice.
    Chad

    2014: 12 taps, 5 gal buckets
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