Candy

How candies are made

this is a simple discussion on the ways we boil sugar and water to make a lot of different candies.

These variations are achieved by controlling the way in which the boiled sugar syrup cools and solidifies.   The stages the sugar is boiling at are codified and represent the ratio of sugar to water and the crystal structure of the sugar.

If you cool quickly after you boil at a known heat, the candy forms as a crystalline or brittle type such as rock candy.  At a bit slower cooling after boiling at the same temperature, the candy forms a non-crystalline structure known as a taffy or caramel.   Lastly, if you add a gelatin, starch, pectin, or gum to the boiling mixture the sugar will gel and make products like jelly beans, Turkish delight, and licorices.

Sometimes you can combine two of the above types of candies giving a soft center and a hard sugar outer coating.  If you mix beaten egg whites and honey with warm sugar syrup, it forms the base for nougats.   

Sugar acts as a fixative for other flavors such as peppermint, sarsparila, wintergreen, anise, horehound, eucalyptus, cinnamon, marshmallow and many other essential oils of the many herbs on this planet.

Clear candies called "cleargums" are simply sugar, water, glucose, and food coloring brought to a 190 degree boiling and poured into molds to set.

Maple  sugar candy has a distinct flavor and is made by taking the sap from the maple tree and boiling off the excess water.  It is then poured into molds.

Gummy bears are also made from gelatins and sugars and poured into revolving continuous molds where the pieces set up and then are popped out of the molds.

Licorice is a poured gelatin syrup mixture and is often found as a male item such as pipes, rockets, buttons, tanks, money, coins, wheels, dogs, fish, cats and ropes.