Candy Cooking Temperature Chart • Loynds (2024)

FAQs

What temperature should you cook candy at? ›

If the candy forms thick threads when it drips from the spoon, it is in the hard ball stage or 250°—265°F. If you gather the candy mixture into a ball it will be a hard ball. Divinity or rock candy is typically cooked to this stage.

Hard-crack stage (300 degrees Fahrenheit and above): A small amount of syrup added to cold water makes a loud cracking noise and separates into brittle threads. The hard-crack stage is for toffee and hard candies like lollipops. Above 330 degrees Fahrenheit, the sugar begins to caramelize and brown.

What Temperature Is Hard Ball Stage? The hard ball candy stage forms at 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 degrees Celsius).

To make candy or jelly at home, it's essential to have a thermometer that can process particularly high temperatures. Though a meat thermometer might seem like a convenient substitute, it doesn't have the ability to read and process temperature to the same extent that a candy thermometer does.

Test the accuracy of your candy thermometer.

It should read 212 degrees F., while the water is boiling. If the thermometer does not measure boiling temperature correctly, remember to adjust the candy thermometer during cooking to reflect the difference, or dispose of it and replace with a new one.

Clip your candy thermometer to the side of the pot. Yes, I happen to own two-too-many candy thermometers, but I wanted to see how all of them calibrated together. I'm weird like that. Make sure that the thermometer is submerged by at least two inches of water.

We loved the ThermoPro TP510 Waterproof Digital Candy Thermometer for its easy use; its highly user-friendly interface and features landed it in our top spot without question. The OXO Good Grips Glass Candy and Deep Fry Thermometer was a close second for its quick and accurate readouts and ideal design.

Hard Crack: With a clean spoon, when the syrup dropped into ice water it separates into hard, brittle threads that break when bent. You can actually hear a crack when the syrup hits the cold water.

What is the best temperature for gummies? ›

Anything over 240°F will cause the gums to take one a hard candy texture; anything under 220°F will yield a pate de fruit texture. One more thing that you should note, the gummy will have a different texture between 220°F and 240°F. The higher the temp the stiffer the texture.

At 270F degrees the ball will make a sound when dropped into the bottom of the cup. Butterscotch recipes, brittle recipes and hard candy recipes should reach candy temperatures of the medium crack stage 275 to 300F degrees.

In hard candy making, it is important to cook all the water out of the sugar/corn syrup/water mixture. If the sugar mixture is not cooked to the proper temperature (the hard-crack stage 300-310° F {149-154° C.} or if you are working in a kitchen with high humidity, chances are your candy is retaining too much moisture.

Jolly Ranchers are also the hardest of the hard candies—they're like concentrated and pressurized diamonds of fruity sugar. The endurance factor is also very strong; you can suck on a Jolly Rancher longer than any other candy on this list. It's an all-time classic hard candy.

A candy thermometer is used to measure temperatures up to 400 degrees F. This long, skinny thermometer is commonly used when making hard and soft candy such as brittle, pralines, toffee, fudge, and more.

Create different sizes and color combinations by placing candies near each other in groups. Step 3: Place the baking sheet in a 300°F oven for 8 minutes. Step 4: Remove the candy from the oven as soon as it melts. If it stays in the oven too long, the candy will scorch.

For the Cold Water Test: 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of the syrup (candy mixture) is dropped from a clean spoon into a small bowl of very cold water (not ice cold). Quickly examine and/or carefully pick up the sugar from the cold water. The firmness of the sugar indicates the highest temperature the syrup reached.