CANDY MAKING FOR BEGINNERS

Making candy seems difficult but in fact there some basic things that you need to know and you are on your way. Whether you’re a novice in the kitchen or an experienced cook wanting to try your hand at candy making, these tips and instructions will provide all the information you need to get started. 

Common Candy Ingredients

Almost all candies have basically two common ingredients and these are sugar and chocolate. If you know how to work with sugar and chocolate, you can make almost any type of candy.There are also two main factors that affect the taste of your candy: the quality of the ingredients and the procedure that is followed.  By learning more about common candy ingredients such as chocolate and sugar, and by selecting the best ingredients you can find, your success is assured.

Vanilla Fufdge

Working With Sugar

 

There is nothing terribly mysterious or complicated about making candy, but if you are new to the world of confectionery, you might find some of the recipe instructions confusing. Candies that are based on a sugar syrup—sugar and water boiled together—often give instructions to boil the syrup to a specific temperature. To make these recipes, you will either need a candy thermometer, or will need to be familiar with the “cold-water method” of temperature checking. The chart and details of how to use a candy thermometer can be viewed in the post "How to use a candy thermometer".

Working With Chocolate

Working with chocolate requires a skill to melt the chocolate. You will need some experience to do this, but once acquired, there are many possibilities for working with chocolate

There are some tricks to successfully melting chocolate. Whether you are working with dark, semisweet, milk, or white chocolate, here are some tips to follow.

·         Never allow any water to come in contact with the melting chocolate, unless the chocolate is being melted in a large amount of water (2 tablespoons water per ounce of chocolate is the minimum amount). Just a drop or two of water can make the chocolate seize up, or become hard and lumpy. Even the steam from the bottom of a double boiler can cause this problem. Make sure to keep the chocolate dry as it melts. If it does seize, you can blend in a teaspoon of vegetable oil (NOT butter or margarine) and the chocolate should smooth out.

·         Chocolate should only be melted over low heat. The microwave is a good appliance to use because the cooking time is so controlled. If you stand there at the stove and stir constantly, you can melt chocolate in a pan set over very low heat. A double boiler (watch out for condensation) is a good method; make sure the water in the bottom is barely simmering.

·         White chocolate or vanilla milk chips are the most difficult to melt. Too much heat will make this type of chocolate seize.

·         To melt chocolate bars in a microwave, first coarsely chop the chocolate. Place in a microwave safe bowl and heat on 50% power for 1 minute. Remove from the microwave and stir. Continue this process until the chocolate is almost melted. Then stir until the chocolate is smooth.

·         Melt chocolate chips just like chopped bars. To make a dipping chocolate for coating candies, when the chocolate is almost melted add 1/4 cup more chips and stir constantly until the mixture is smooth. This will help set up sugar crystals so the chocolate stays firm at room temperature.

Equipment for Making Candy

In general, candy making does not require much in the way of specialized equipment. Many candies can be made using basic kitchen tools that most people already possess. But there are a few tools that reappear in recipes over and over again, like a candy thermometer, and if you anticipate making candy on a regular basis, it will be helpful to familiarize yourself with the most commonly used candy and chocolate equipment.

·         Candy thermometer

·         Candy moulds

·         Piping bag with attachments

·         Lollipop moulds

·         Scraper

 Getting Help

To get useful tips and advice on making candy, you can get more information from "Baking for Profit - start a home business"