Brush down the sides of the pan, with a heatproof pastry brush that has been dipped in warm water, to remove any sugar crystals that may have formed on the sides of the saucepan. Only seasoned candy makers memorize temperatures since most candy thermometers will display both temperature and stage. Once youve reached a goldenbrown color, youve made caramelized sugar. It is highly recommended that you use a candy thermometer to reach this stage, since you can easily miss it by a few degrees and produce candy in soft crack stage, or you may caramelize or burn your sugar. Fill whites with egg yolk mixture, heaping it lightly. If it gets higher than 320, the mixture will not remain solid. Hard ball, 250266 degrees f, 122 degrees c, syrup will form a hard.
Some candies require you to cook the sugar to an even higher temperature. To reach the hard ball stage, continue cooking the syrup and then pour a spoonful into the bowl once more to test. A test for sugar syrup describing the point at which a drop of boiling syrup immersed in cold water separates into hard, brittle threads. Hard crack stage 300 310f 150 155c separates into hard, brittle threads. Hard ball stage is used to make certain types of candy like nougats, marshmallows, and divinity. At these temperatures, there is almost no water left in the syrup. Candy making or candymaking is the preparation and cookery of candies and sugar. Hard crack stage is 300 f to 310 f 150 c to 155 c cold water test hard crack. Once you take the syrup out of the cold water you can feel how brittle and sharp it is. Hardcrack stage hardcrack stage occurs at 300 to 310 f. If your syrup has reached the hardcrack stage, it will form brittle strands in the water and crack as you bend it.
The first time you made the candy, you might have neglected the precise instructions. You need to boil it for 2530 minutes to get to the hard crack stage, if you dont have a candy thermometer. Stages of cooked sugar syrups for candy temperature guide. Obviously, if you dont have a thermometer you should just forget about the number and focus on the stage, because the names of the stages correspond to a physical matter state. Pull it off the heat when it has reached the hardcrack stage 300 degrees f or when the mixture starts to separate the oil starts to separate from the sugar. The firmball stage is the state wherein the boiling point of the solution reaches a temperature that indicates that the syrup contains 8791% sugar, 245249f 118121c. Hard crack is used for candies like english toffees and some nut brittles. Nov 27, 2012 temperature of the sugar syrup look at enough caramel recipes, and youll notice that there is a huge range of temperatures for cooking that initial sugar syrup, from 250f hardball stage to 320f hard crack stage. First the sugar will dissolve, then it will turn into a clear sugar syrup and bubble like crazy, then the sugar syrup will eventually take on a clearish golden amber color, and cook to 300 degrees f, the hard crack stage.
When the water temperature is between 300 and 310degrees fahrenheit, the sugar reaches its highest concentration, at 99%, and is in the hard. The syrup should separate into strands that are firm but not brittle and will bend slightly before breaking. Candy sugar syrup temperature chart craftybaking formerly. The stage or temperature at which a small quantity of heated sugar syrup forms a hard ball when dropped into cold water. This adjustment allows the candy maker to control the degree of evaporation necessary to achieve the proper sugar concentration for the desired end product.
Syrup at the thread stage is perfect for candied fruits. This adjustment allows the candy maker to control the degree of evaporation necessary to achieve the proper sugar concentration for. Aug 16, 2016 this video is about stage of sugar cooking thread stage soft ball stage medium ball stage hard ball stage hard crack stage caramel music. Hard ball stage definition and cooking information. So my candy is in the freezer, as it gets soft at room temp. Used for brittles, toffees, glazed fruit, hard candy, pulled poured and spun sugar. Chances are though, that that didnt turn out too good. Peanut brittle how to make peanut brittle at home easy.
It does take a long time and if you stir the stuff that needs to go to crack or hard crack, you get sugar crystals in it. When a small amount of sugar syrup is dropped into very cold water. Hard crack stage is the hottest stage in candy making before you begin making caramels, which are heated to caramel stages. The use of a candy thermometer is not essential, but highly recommended and accuracy is critical. Candy making or candymaking is the preparation and cookery of candies and sugar confections. Softcrack stage 270 f290 f 2 c143 c sugar concentration. Whenever making caramel, marshmallows, honeycomb or just about any other sugar candy youll often find that recipe either tells you to boil a sugar syrup to a certain temperature. With a clean spoon, when the syrup dropped into ice water it separates into hard, brittle threads that break when bent.
Syrup dropped into ice water separates into hard but pliable threads. Thats the firmball stage, which is what you want for caramels and other softbutchewy candies. At this temperature, the syrup drips from a spoon and forms thin threads in cold water. Hardcrack stage 149 154 c cooking tips high altitude. After that, though, it all happens very, very fast, so you must be very attentive or you will whiz past hardcrack stage even and be approaching. You can actually hear a crack when the syrup hits the cold water.
C 2 degrees f from the temperatures given in your candy recipe. As the temperature of the sugar increases, the sugar syrup will begin to go. How long should i boil candy for the hard crack stage. Often, candies that are cooked to softcrack stage feature a caramelized sugar flavor and a hard, pleasingly crunchy texture. On a candy thermometer, the hardcrack stage is between. Place the pan on the stovetop over medium heat and watch as the sugar goes through several stages over the next 1520 minutes. Hardcrack stage is a cooking term meaning that a sugar syrup being heated has reached 149 154 c 300 310 f. Boil the mixture over mediumhigh heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until the temperature reaches the hard crack stage, 300 degrees f 149 degrees c. The sugar concentration at this stage is about 95%. Well add liquid to the caramelized sugar and then cook it to the proper temperature to achieve that percentage. Hardcrack stage 149 154 c it takes a long time even boiling at a high temperature to hit 105, and then again to hit 110 c. I keep cooking it for 1015 minutes until it reaches the hard crack stage one of those candy thermometers that attaches to your pan is ideal. At this point of heating, the sugar concentration in the syrup is 99%.
What to do when candy temperature stops increasing. Candy making without a thermometer cold water test. To create toffee, we will basically heat sugar and butter until the sugar reaches the hard crack stage 300f 150c. As the syrup reached softcrack stage, the bubbles on top will become smaller, thicker, and closer together. Drop a spoonful of hot syrup into cold water, then remove the candy from the water and attempt to bend it. On a candy thermometer, hard crack stage is defined as between 300310 degrees f 148. I have a very heavy cast aluminum pan that was a former pressure cooker that we only use for making candy. Candy making at high altitude high altitude adjustment for candy. Hardcrack stage is a cooking term meaning that a sugar syrup being. Youll probably need to add a bit of water and then cook it longer to reach the 300 degree f. For each 1,000 feet above sea level, reduce the finish temperature by 2f.
It is when syrup is dropped into ice water and forms a hard ball which holds its shape on removal but is still plastic. Angie hi tam, i dont think youll have much luck reheating hard candy mix if it has already set, but you could give it a try. Soft crack hard crack light caramel dark caramel bind agent for fruit pastes a spoonful of sugar drizzled over a plate forms a fine, thin thread. Saltwater taffy and butterscotch are cooked to the softcrack stage. Thats the hard ball stage, and its what you want for homemade marshmallows or a really chewy toffee. I let the syrup reach 265 f before adding the peanuts or if you dont have a thermometer drop some syrup in a bowl of cold water. Temperatures for each stage, ranging from soft ball stage to hard crack stage, must be precise or the candy will not set up properly. How to tell the temperature without a candy thermometer leaftv. The first time you made the candy, you might have neglected the precise instructions and just guessed your way. On a candy thermometer, the hard crack stage is between. The earliest candy temperature stage is thread stage. Drop a teaspoonful of hot syrup into a small bowl of ice water.
It is a test of how hot a sugar syrup is, and of how much water is left in it. You do not have to change the temperature to which you cook it to achieve the desired results. After few minutes, it would reach hard ball stage, which you can check in 2 ways by using candy thermometer. Specifically, hard ball stage refers to cooking candy to a certain temperature, usually between 250265 degrees f 121. If you continue cooking the sugar past the hardcrack stage, it will become a clear liquid and then a brown liquid. Syrup will form threads that are stiff brittle and break easily. It is a test of how hot a sugar syrup is, and of how. When syrup is dropped into cold water at the hard crack stage, it separates into hard brittle threads that when removed from the water cannot be bent without breaking. This stage makes a syrup, not a candy fudge, fondant, creams, penuche, maple, etc. Depending on the recipe, a toffee mixture may be cooked to anywhere from 236 degrees f to 300 degrees f measured with a candy thermometer, or called the hard ball stage. Syrup dropped into ice water separates into hard, brittle threads that break when bent. Candy making includes the preparation of many various candies, such as hard candies, jelly beans, gumdrops, taffy, liquorice, cotton candy, chocolates and chocolate truffles, dragees, fudge, caramel candy and toffee.
At the hard crack stage the syrup will have darkened in color and when dropped in the cold water, it separates into hard brittle threads. Cut a very thin slice off the bottom of each egg white before filling to help the eggs stay in place on. For every 300 metres 1,000 feet that you are above sea level, subtract 1 degree c 2 degrees f from the temperatures given in your candy recipe. Thats the hardball stage, and its what you want for homemade marshmallows or a really chewy toffee. Soft crack stage 270 f290 f 2 c143 c sugar concentration. Dec 21, 2015 like at the softcrack stage, hardcrack mixtures will form separate threads in water, however, these threads are brittle and break when bent.
The higher the temperature of the cooked sugar, the less water there is in the sugar. Nov 12, 2018 place the pan on the stovetop over medium heat and watch as the sugar goes through several stages over the next 1520 minutes. To reach the hard ball stage, continue cooking the syrup and then pour a spoonful. The process of turning sugar into a hard, smooth, transparent confection involves heating a sugarcorn syrupwater solution to 300 310 f. If you dont have a candy thermometer, you can use the cold water test in a pinch. I think both of these help prevent the crystallizing. The boiling bubbles are becoming smaller, thicker, and closer together. May 02, 2020 these include the thread, soft ball, hard ball and soft and hard crack stages. Drop a little of the molten syrup in cold water and it will form hard, brittle threads that break when bent. How to tell a hard crack stage with thermometer thermopro. This video is about stage of sugar cooking thread stage soft ball stage medium ball stage hard ball stage hard crack stage caramel music.
After a syrup boiled to this temperature cools, it is called hard candy, since it becomes stiff and brittle as it. Hard crack stage is 300 f to 310 f 150 c to 155 c hard crack. When you cook sugar with other ingredients together to make candy, the heat temperature rises. Or, theyll tell you to cook it to a certain stage, for instance, soft ball or a hard crack stage. The hardcrack stage is the highest temperature you are likely to see specified in a candy recipe. Hi, i made some candy the other day, for my second time, but i did not get the temp to 300 for the hard crack stage. Jun 27, 2004 hardcrack stage is a cooking term meaning that a sugar syrup being heated has reached 149 154 c 300 310 f. Apr 20, 2020 hard crack stage is the hottest stage in candy making before you begin making caramels, which are heated to caramel stages. A candy thermometer is a handy tool for determining the proper temperature, although experienced cooks can determine the hardball stage without one.
If your syrup has reached the hard crack stage, it will form brittle strands in the water and crack as you bend it. Apr 17, 2020 or, theyll tell you to cook it to a certain stage, for instance, soft ball or a hard crack stage. How to tell the temperature without a candy thermometer. Mar, 2011 hard crack stage is 300 f to 310 f 150 c to 155 c cold water test hard crack. If you dont allow the sugar to reach this temperature before cooling, the texture will be different.
The ball will be hard, but you can still change its shape by squashing it. Thread softball firmball hardball soft crack hard crack light caramel dark caramel. On a candy thermometer, and in most recipes, you will get measurements in 2 forms. For more information on testing the different sugar stages. Bring to a boil and heat until it reaches hard crack stage, or 280300 degrees. A spoonful of sugar drizzled over a plate forms a fine, thin thread. Jan 09, 2018 after few minutes, it would reach hard ball stage, which you can check in 2 ways by using candy thermometer. These include the thread, soft ball, hard ball and soft and hard crack stages.
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