Home › Candies and Candy Making › Candies and Candy Making: Clarify

Candies and Candy Making: Clarify

BOILING SIRUP FOR CANDY To Clarify Sugar. To make good candy it is first advisable to clarify the sugar by boiling it to a thin sirup with half its own bulk or more of water and the addition of the white of egg, gum arabic, or gelatin. This precaution will cause the impurities to rise in a scum, which may be removed with a skimmer. The resulting clarified sirup is the basis of all high-grade candies.

Similarly to clarify brown or yellow sugar, add white of egg or a solution of gelatin, isinglass, or gum arabic with water, and boil until the impurities rise to the surface. Dissolve 4 cupfuls of sugar in 1 of warm water and add the white of 1 egg beaten up with 1 cupful of cold water. Boil with gentle heat, removing the scum as fast as it appears. Or dissolve 4 cupfuls of sugar in 1 cupful of warm water; simmer with gentle heat, and add ounce of gum arabic dissolved in a little boiling water. Remove the scum with a skimmer as fast as it appears.

For white sugars, less of the white of egg is required, but the same quantity of water should be used.

To clarify loaf sugar, 1 white of egg to every 6 pounds of sugar is all that will be required. But add, when boiling loaf sugar, 1 tablespoonful of lemon juice or vinegar to prevent it from graining. As the sirup boils, add a little cold water to prevent it boiling over, and skim as the froth subsides. Do this three or four times, and strain the whole through cheese cloth. Add flavoring matter, if desired, after the purified sugar has been removed from the fire.

To Clarify Molasses. -To make a fine grade of molasses candy or to purify molasses so that it may be used in place of sugar for candies, cooking, and other purposes, take equal parts of molasses and water, and part of coarse broken charcoal; as, 24 pounds of molasses, 24 pounds of water, and 6 pounds of charcoal. Mix and boil for half an hour over a slow fire. Pour into a large flat pan or vat and let stand until the charcoal settles to the bottom. Strain off the clear molasses through a piece of cheese cloth and simmer with gentle heat until the water is all evaporated and the molasses has returned to its proper consistency. Molasses will lose nothing in bulk by this process, as 24 pounds of molasses will give 24 pounds of clarified sirup, from which the finer grades of molasses candy can be made. -- To Clarify Maple Sugar. To weigh, melt, and clarify maple sugar, break up the cakes and add enough water according to the condition of the sugar-whether hard or soft grain-to dissolve. Place over a slow fire and stir while melting. If the sugar was of a soft grain, add 15 pounds of granulated sugar. Or, if a hard grain, add 15 pounds of best light coffee sugar. Boil to a medium ball. Test by pouring a little in a porcelain-lined saucepan until the grain is cloudy. Leave a little of the grained sirup in the saucepan from the last stirring to make the next grain quicker. Pour in buttered molds, or set the kettle into a tub of ice water to cool and harden. But observe that maple sugar thus mixed with cane sugar must not be offered for sale without a statement of the fact that it has been thus treated.

To Boil or to Candy Sugar.-The art of candy making is very ancient, and the process of boiling sugar for candy has been observed and studied for many generations. Thus it has been observed that the clarified sirup, as it gradually loses moisture by evaporation in the course of boiling down, assumes certain stages in which it is best adapted for use in making different kinds of candies. For convenience in preparing recipes these stages have been named and carefully defined, so that with a little attention they may be noted by anyone. When once observed they will always be recognized at a glance, and the process of candy making will become almost as easy for the amateur as it is for the professional confectioner.

Seven different states or degrees are noted, three of which fall into two different stages. These are called respectively (1) the lisse or the thread, which may be large or small; (2) the perle or pearl, either large or small; (3) the souffle or the blow; (4) the plume or feather; (5) the boulet or ball, large or small; (6) the cassé or the crack or snap; and (7) the caramel or hard baked.

To Test Sirup. -The method practiced by professional confectioners to test the state or "degree" of boiling sirup is to dip the tip of the forefinger and thumb of the right hand into iced water, then into the boiling sirup, and quickly back into the iced water again. The operation is much like that of testing a hot flatiron with a wet finger. If the test is CANDIES AND CANDY MAKING made quickly enough, the ice water will prevent the hot sirup from burning the fingers. There is, of course, a knack in doing this, but with a little practice it can be readily acquired, The thumb and forefinger are brought together in the iced water, to prevent the sirup from running off, and quickly withdrawn, holding a pinch of sirup between the forefinger and the thumb. By spreading them, the state or degree of the boiling sirup can be ascertained.

Another method of testing, which may perhaps be preferred by the beginner in candy making, is to take out a little of the sirup with a spoon, lower it in a cup of cold water, and let a drop fall from the edge on the tip of the forefinger.

Or, to dip the forefinger and thumb in iced water, take out a little of the hot sirup on a small stick or skewer, and test a drop between the thumb and finger.

Candies that are to be pulled may be tested by pouring a spoonful of sirup into cold water and observing if it is brittle enough to break without bending, like a pipestem, otherwise the boiling must be continued. THE SEVEN DEGREES To make the experiment of noting the seven degrees in sugar boiling, crush 1 pound of fine loaf sugar, add 3 gills of water and put it on or boil in a clean saucepan over a sharp fire. Have at hand a bowl full of iced water, a suitable skimmer and if desired a small stick or skewer. Remove the scum as fast as it rises to the surface, and after about 2 minutes by the watch make the first test as above suggested either by dipping the thumb and forefinger, first into the iced water, then into the boiling sugar, and back into the iced water again, or by means of a spoon or skewer. Take great care that the sirup does not boil over, and stir frequently so that it may not burn.

The Lisse or Thread. If on separating the thumb and forefinger with a pinch of sirup between them, a thin, short thread is formed which quickly snaps, the sugar is in the state known as the "small thread."

In a few seconds more, when the thread can be drawn out to double its former length without snapping, its state is known as the "large thread."

The Perle or Pearl. - After another minute or two longer, the sugar in boiling will form small round bubbles or globules that look like large pearls. This state is known as the "small pearl." Soon the pearls will cover the entire surface of the sirup, and this state is known as the "large pearl." In the pearl state a pinch of sirup may be drawn out to the full extension of the finger and thumb without breaking. This is the proper degree for most kinds of candy making.