Reasons For Hard Candy Failures | LorAnn Oils (2024)
Why is my hard candy grainy and not smooth?
The problem is that crystals of sugar were re-introduced into the liquid candy. This will cause your candy to crystallize and become grainy. To prevent this, (stove-top method only) wipe down the inner sides of your pan a few times with a wet pastry brush while your candy is boiling. An alternate method is to place a lid on the pan for about 3 minutes at the beginning of boiling. The idea is that condensed water, trapped by the lid will wash-down the sides of the pan.When making hard candy using the microwave method, always use a clean spoon to stir the candy after it has been cooked.
Another tip is to not add too much citric acid, as this can cause the candy to break down (and become grainy). Generally, ¼ teaspoon of citric acid is all that is needed per pound of candy.
The simple answer is that there is too much moisture in your candy. One or more factors could be contributing to this problem. In hard candy making
candy making
Candy making or candymaking is the preparation and cookery of candies and sugar confections. Candy making includes the preparation of many various candies, such as hard candies, jelly beans, gumdrops, taffy, liquorice, cotton candy, chocolates and chocolate truffles, dragées, fudge, caramel candy, and toffee.
Adding Citric Acid: Once the mixture has cooled to the appropriate temperature, dissolve ¼ teaspoon of citric acid per 1 pound of sugar in a tablespoon of water. Make sure the citric acid is completely dissolved. Mixing it In: Stir the dissolved citric acid into your candy mixture.
Storing these sweets in the same container will cause the harder candies to become sticky. To make sure that hard candies stay hard, sprinkle with finely ground sugar and store in an airtight jar.
Hard candy is often made primarily of sugar, corn syrup and other substances that dissolve easily in water. Like the saliva in your mouth, the water in the glass allowed them to dissolve. Adding heat made this process easier and faster.
Cream of tartar can prevent your homemade hard candy, caramel, and toffee from forming a gritty texture due to sugar crystallization. Adding a pinch of cream of tartar to your sugar syrup will help break down the sugar molecules and stop them from crystalizing early on.
Quickly pour the syrup into lightly oiled molds or on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and let harden. To prevent the candy from sticking, dust finished pieces with powdered sugar.
You may also want to stretch your tongue and jaw into different positions in order to get the candy out. Doing so can lead to chewing and speech issues, making it a better idea to swish some warm water between your teeth instead to loosen the piece of candy.
6. 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.
The alcohol molecules can't attract the coloring and sugar molecules as well as the water so the candy coating doesn't dissolve well in alcohol. The oil molecules have no positive and negative areas. They don't attract the coloring or sugar molecules so the candy coating doesn't dissolve at all in oil.
This is crystallization and it is sometime happens with hard candies. Crystallization can happen from storage conditions or other factors. There is very low moisture content in hard candy, which prevents mold from growing.
By the time the water starts to bubble, it will have removed most of the hardened candy from around the sides of the pot. If there's anything else left around the edges, it will be half melted, soft and pliable enough to scrape off with the back of a spoon or spatula.
Continue boiling, uncovered, not stirring the mixture but shaking the saucepan occasionally to distribute the heat as the mixture turns amber in about 9 minutes, then darker amber as it registers 305 degrees on the thermometer (hard-crack stage ), about 3 minutes longer.
Introduction: My name is Arielle Torp, I am a comfortable, kind, zealous, lovely, jolly, colorful, adventurous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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