Making Candy with Heavily Nitered Syrup?

[Manatawny]

I have this idea meant to make the most of all that I produce, but I don't know if it's a good idea or not:

Instead of filtering the niter out, I've just let it settle to the bottom of jars, so far. I'll pour the clear syrup off the top, back into a pan to heat up to canning temps.

The more heavily nitered syrup left behind... could I just make candy out of that? Won't the niter dissolve back into the syrup again when I heat it up to candy temps and whip it?

Thoughts?

[GeneralStark]

When you cook the syrup for making candy the niter will likely burn and give an off flavor to the candy. You may not care about that as it may not be all that pronounced. Depends who the final consumer is....

[325abn]

Yeah not a good idea. Niter is the "minerals" left over from evaporation so no it will not dissolve when you heat it back up. Just try making candy with some of your filtered syrup.

[DrTimPerkins]

The more heavily nitered syrup left behind... could I just make candy out of that?

This is not a good idea, particularly if you're using any lead-containing equipment (buckets, tanks, evaporator pans). Lead is fairly concentrated in niter.

[Ray_Nagle]

I've been saving my heavily-nitered syrup to include in the ferment next time I make mead. My thought is it will provide flavor and sugar for the yeast, with the niter harmlessly settling to the bottom. Does anyone see a problem with this idea?

[DrTimPerkins]

I've been saving my heavily-nitered syrup to include in the ferment next time I make mead. My thought is it will provide flavor and sugar for the yeast, with the niter harmlessly settling to the bottom. Does anyone see a problem with this idea?

IF your sap collection and processing equipment contains lead, the niter could have a substantial amount of lead in it. When you ferment the syrup with niter, lead could be remobilized into the mead.....meaning that it won't be just the alcohol impairing your brain cells, but the lead as well. You'd be better served by filtering the syrup to the best extent possible prior to using it in any way that involves a food or beverage product. If you don't use any lead-containing equipment, then the niter might add a bitter off flavor to your brew.

[Ray_Nagle]

Thanks, Dr. Tim. I never even thought about lead being an issue. I do use some old collection buckets and spiles...gonna have to switch to plastic now that I know about the lead leaching.