Sugar Confections
How candies are made

The key ingredient is the sugar which has a mystical characteristic because so many things can be done with it. The confectionery fats (butter) affect the sugar's final chemical structure and determine the brittleness, hardness, and flavor and texture (chewy versus crunchy).

Although we are not using any gelling agents such as pectin, agar, starch, or gum - the third ingredient is usually a thickener or stabilizer in the gel family. Jellies and lollipops are all part of this family.

The final basic ingredient is the protein which is found in milk. This determines the flow characteristics and the strength of the candy. To prevent deformation of a piece of candy, more milk solids are added. Caramels require this stability.

During the manufacture of sugar confections, there are four primary processes taking place:

1. Carmelization - Cane sugar deteriorates in heated conditions to form a colored breakdown known as carmelization.
2. Inversion - The second action is the breakdown of sucrose into its two simple sugars - dextrose and fructose. Acids or enzymes accelerate the process. That is why you add vinegar to some recipes.

   A number of familiar products use inverted sugars. Fondant centers, fudge, butter confectioners, chewing gum, jellies, caramels and toffees, hard creams, high boiled sweets, butterscotch, marshmallow and soft creams all are results of this inversion process being careful controlled.

   High levels of inverted sugar, particular fructose, pick up moisture from the air and the water is deposited on the surface of the candy. This water leaches sugar from the candy surface and you can see a layer-by-layer change in the candy when water is present.

3. The third chemical process taking place when you make candies is called the Maillard Reaction. Proteins react with the inverted sugars, adding flavor, texture, and color. Milk is usually the protein used and it is an essential part of making caramels, toffees, and fudge.

   The main effect during the production of sugar confections is the change from ingredients to a highly saturated syrup. This syrup determines the crystalline form the final product will take. How hot you cook the syrup and how you stir and agitate it will make huge differences in the final results. So will the amounts of ingredients and the way you cool this hot sugar syrup.

4. The fourth reaction is the adding of starch or gel in the process. We know these as pectins, agars or gums. The starch swells in water. The swelling forms a stress on the sugar crystal structure. Enough stress will change the basic chemical structure of the sugar at certain temperature ranges. When the syrup turns from clear to opaque the crystalline structure has disappeared and a jelly or gum has occurred. 
   
   
   

   Karo Syrup --
   
   

   The thick, sweet elixir essential to the South's favorite holiday pie – Karo syrup was first offered on grocery shelves in 1902 in convenient take-home bottles. Until then, housewives lugged jugs to the grocery store to refill from large barrels of corn syrup.

   And though there are some regional brands (such as Roddenbery, which used to be made in Cairo, Ga.), Karo has been the leading national brand of corn syrup for the past century.

   "For the longest time, I didn't even know it was corn syrup. I just knew it as Karo syrup," said Watershed chef Scott Peacock, who remembers that Karo was often set out with maple syrups at community pancake breakfasts. "That was a little hard to take," he said of the ultra-sweet syrup, "but when you were a kid and you were in Alabama, nothing was too sweet."

   A chemist for the Corn Products Refining Co. of New York and Chicago created the formulas for dark and light syrups, and one story has it that the brand name "Karo" was chosen in honor of his wife, "Caroline." But another theory is the name came from "Kairomel," an earlier syrup trademark.

   In an effort to create national awareness, the company spent $250,000 in 1910 (a huge amount at that time) to launch an advertising campaign that included a 50-page booklet offering "120 Practical Recipes for the Use of Karo Syrup" written by Emma Churchman Hewitt, a former editor of the Ladies Home Journal.

   Corn syrup such as the Karo brand is used for such treats as caramel corn, popcorn balls and peanut brittle. It is sometimes used to control sugar crystallization in candy and to prevent the formation of ice crystals in frozen desserts.

   But by far the most popular use is for pecan pie -- a concoction of corn syrup, sugar, eggs, vanilla and pecans that company lore credits to the wife of a corporate sales executive in the 1930s. Some still refer to it as "Karo Pie."

   The pie was destined to become a favorite in the South, where pecans are grown. Southern food history books say the pie first began to show up in cookbooks in the 1940s.

   Michael O'Connor, the manager of gourmet food store Star Provisions, uses his Aunt Francis' pecan pie recipe, which specifically calls for Karo. "I use the dark syrup," O'Connor said. "You want that rich molasses like flavor and amber color."

   Peacock said he uses a mixture of the light and dark for his pecan pies. Nancy Cole, owner of the Southern Sweets bakery in Decatur, sticks with the dark. "I've always used Karo," Cole said. "That's what makes a pecan pie. You taste the toasted pecans, the butter and that wonderful Karo syrup."

   KARO FACTS

   About 30 million pounds of Karo syrups are sold annually.

   In its 100-year history, more than 2 billion gallons of syrup have been sold, enough to fill 7,000 Olympic-size swimming pools and make 26 billion pecan pies.

   In 1903, Karo syrup was sold in tin cans and was advertised as "The Great Spread for Daily Bread." The advertising campaign claimed "Children will love and thrive upon its wholesome nutritious goodness."

   Karo light corn syrup has added vanilla. The light refers to the color, not the nutritional content.

   Karo dark corn syrup has a molasseslike flavor; Karo pancake syrup combines corn syrup with maple flavoring.

   In 2002, Karo was purchased from Unilever's Bestfoods by ACH Food Cos., a U.S. subsidiary of the London-based Associated British Foods.

   DESSERT

   Karo's Classic Pecan Pie

   Makes 8 servings Preparation time: 6 minutes Cooking time: 50-55 minutes

   3 eggs, slightly beaten

   1 cup granulated sugar

   1 cup Karo corn syrup, light or dark

   2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

   1 teaspoon vanilla

   1 1/4 cups pecans

   1 9-inch unbaked or frozen deep-dish pie crust

   Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl with fork, beat eggs slightly. Add sugar, corn syrup, butter or margarine and vanilla. Stir until blended. Stir in pecans. Pour into pie crust. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.