Homemade Candy Making Tips

Picture of Wrapped Homemade Candies - Tipnut.com Prevent Crystals: First butter the sides of the saucepan before adding the ingredients. When the mixture starts boiling and bubbling up, the grains of sugar can’t cling.

Saucepan Choice: Use a heavy saucepan that has high sides and the inside is smooth.

Stir: Always stir until the sugar is dissolved. One sugar crystal can cause the whole mixture to be grainy.

Beating: Beating is made easier by first cooling cooked mixture without stirring to lukewarm (110°F.). Use a buttered pan or platter. Always have pan ready before making candy.

Testing Candy: It’s best to use a candy thermometer, but if you don’t have one you can do the cold water test.

Cold Water Test: Drop a few drops of syrup into a small bowl of very cold water (not ice-cold). Form drops into a ball. The firmness indicates temperature of syrup.

Thermometer Test: Clip the candy thermometer to the pan after syrup boils. The bulb of the thermometer must be covered with boiling liquid. Read thermometer at eye level. Check accuracy of thermometer by placing it in hot water. When water boils, thermometer should register 212°F. If it is above or below, add or subtract degrees to make allowance in recipe.

TEST	TEMPERATURE	COLD WATER TEST
Thread	230°F. - 234°F.	Syrup forms 2″ thread when dropped from spoon
Soft Ball	234°F. - 240°F.	Syrup forms a soft ball which flattens on removal
Firm Ball	244°F. - 248°F.	Syrup forms a firm ball which does not flatten on removal
Hard Ball	250°F. - 266°F.	Syrup forms a ball, hard enough to hold its shape, yet plastic
Soft Crack	270°F. - 290°F.	Syrup separates into threads which are hard but not brittle
Hard Crack	300°F. - 310°F.	Syrup separates into threads which are hard and brittle