HOW TO USE A CANDY THERMOMETER AND COLD WATER TEST

Making candy requires a special touch. The following are a number of basic guidelines to help you be a successful candy maker.

Using a candy thermometer

If you use a thermometer it must measure up to 180 ˚C (350 ˚F). Test the thermometer before use by placing it in water and then bring the water to boil. The temperature of the water should be 100 ˚C or 212 ˚F at the coast. Make the necessary adjustments for places above sea level which should be a lower boiling point. The boiling point of water drops about 1 ˚C (2˚F) for every 300 m above sea level.

To prevent the glass of the thermometer to crack, first submerge into a glass of boiling water before putting it into boiling sugar syrup. After removing from the boiling syrup, place the thermometer back into the glass with hot water to cool down.

To get the best results, a candy thermometer is essential. However, if you don’t have one, don’t worry, the recipes that you will use are very simple and you can get away without using a thermometer by doing the cold water test. 

Cold water test

The cold water test can be performed to test the temperature of the mixture. Take a teaspoon full of boiling syrup and drop it into a bowl of very cold water. Put your hand in the water and make the drop into a ball. The degree of stiffness of the ball will give an indication of the temperature of the mixture.

Note of Caution: Please be careful when working with boiling sugar. It is extremely hot and care should be taken to avoid spilling and burning yourself.

The candy temperature chart (table 1) gives the different stages of sugar syrup and there uses in making different types of candy.

Table 1 - Temperature Chart (Sugar)

Stage		Temp	Description			Application
Thread	110˚C – 112˚C		The syrup drips from spoon, forms thin threads in water			Glace and candied fruits
Soft ball	11 ˚C -115˚C		Syrup forms ball while in water, but flattens when removed.			Fudge and Fondant
Firm ball	118 C – 120˚C		Syrup forms into firm ball but loses shape once pressed.			Caramels
Hard ball		121˚C – 130˚C		Syrup holds its ball shape, but remains sticky.	Divinity and marshmallows
Soft crack		132 ˚C –143˚C		Syrup will form firm but pliable threads	Nougat
Hard crack		149 ˚C –154˚C		The syrup will crack if you try to form it.	Brittles and lollipops
Caramel		154˚ C –170˚C		The syrup will turn golden brown.	Pralines

Candy Bouguets - a home business opportunity.

Candy bouquets have become popular as gifts and also has the potential to develop in a profitable home business.

If you want to learn how to make candy bouquets, why not have a look at this e-book written by Lana Glass. This 287 page book contains all the necessary information on how to create professional looking candy bouquets.

Improve your baking skills – start a home business

 Starting a home bake business is easier than you think. Maybe you think that you do not have the necessary baking skills to start a baking business. I have developed an e-book (Bake for Profit) setting out all that you will have to know to start such a business. This guide contains topics such as:

1.      What do you have to consider before you get started

2.      Tips for starting up your business and what baking tools and equipment you will require

3.      Some tried and tested cookie and candy recipes that you can use to start a profitable bake business

4.      How to cost your products

5.      How to promote your products

6.      How to find a market

If you need an extra income, a home bake business can be started immediately with minimum costs involved. There will always be a market for home made products, but to produce quality products you have to improve your skills.  With my e-guide you can avoid costly mistakes and get the right recipes that have been chosen for simplicity, quality and profitability. Making cookies and candy can be highly profitable, but then you must view it as a business and start out with a proper business plan. To be successful you will need more than just baking skills. Costing your products, promoting and marketing your products are all important business skills that are necessary to make money from a business venture.

Homemade candy - make money from home

Homemade candy has always been a firm favorite and if you have some knowledge of the basics involved in candy making, you will be surprised how easy most types of candy can be made from your home kitchen. Homemade candy offers a great opportunity to earn money from home. 

Homemade Fudge

The two basic ingredients of all candy are sugar and chocolate and you should know how to boil sugar and how to work with chocolate. Chocolate can be more difficult to work with and for home made candy, sugar is the simplest. If you are interested in starting a profitable home business, you could start with homemade candy. There are many recipes available but not all of them are suitable for business purposes. I have put together 25 well tested and tried recipes and all the recipes in this recipe book are sugar based. However, many types of candy can be covered with chocolate and for this reason some hints are given to melt chocolate and cover candy in liquid chocolate. I have put together this e-book to give you some background of both working with these ingredients and to provide you with some recipes that you can use to start your home candy business. The recipes can be described as traditional and are relatively easy to make.

Here is what you will find in this book:

·       

•      Candy basics

•       Types of candy

•       Tools needed to make candy

•       Twenty five delicious candy recipes

If you are interested in this wonderful opportunity to start a real home business, why not send me an e-mail to vanderwalt.nick@gmail.com and get this candy recipe book for the special offer of $9.99.

Bake for Profit - Start a Home Business

Bake for Profit is an e-book that has been created by Nick Van der Walt (a pensioner) that had to supplement his meager pension with a home business. The obvious option seemed to be to do something that would not cost a lot and to make use of what was available in the home. Although not a great cook himself, he nonetheless started to experiment with baking cookies and making homemade candy that he remembered from his childhood days when his grandma use to make these delectable treats. When his friends were impressed with what he had achieved, he knew that he had something that could become a real home business. The next step was to start marketing his products at the local farmer’s market. At this market he built up a regular customer base and the business started growing. The next step was to supply local coffee shops and other businesses with cookies and candy.

This book is aimed at assisting home bakers to start a profitable home business. The recipes given here were all thoroughly tested and used by the author to start his own home business. Recipes were carefully selected to make sure that the cost of ingredients is low enough to produce a quality product at a good profit. Home baking can be profitable and the combination of cookies and candy will give you the variety needed to offer something for everybody.

The book covers the following aspects:

·         How to start a Home Bake Business

·         Home Bake Basics

·         Profitable Home Bake Cookie Recipes

·         Profitable Candy Recipes

·         How to Promote Home Bake Products

·         Finding a Market For Home Bake Products

·         Some Helpful Information to Make Baking Easier

Important guidelines are also provided on how to determine a reasonable selling price for the different products. Some interesting ideas such as candy bouquets are given to assist you in promoting your products and also how to start marketing on the internet.

This is a real world business opportunity. With the help of “Bake for Profit” you can start your own successful home bake business.

Wusthoff 5=Piece Block Set

Wusthoff Block Set. This fantastic 5-piece knife set will be shipped free of charge.     Find out more.

Home Baking - Earn Money From Home

Bake for Profit Programme

Home baking has become a major source of income for many poor people, especially in South Africa. Learn to Earn is a non-profit organisation created to teach unemployed people to earn money from home. It is situated in Khayalitsha and Hermanus near Cape Town in South Africa. Candidates receive a diploma and the knowledge gained helps them to start their own profitable home business. Other skills such as woodwork and sewing are also taught. The baking for profit course covers areas like:

• Safety and Hygiene
• Measuring Techniques 
• Cooking and Mixing Methods 
• Baking with Yeast 
• Quick flour mixtures

With the high unemployment rate in South Africa, the Bake-for-Profit project is meeting one of the deepest needs in communities throughout the country: the right to earn a living.

All recipes taught have proven over the years to equip the entrepreneur with marketable and affordable products to sell in their respective communities.