7 Tips for Hard Candy Making Success | LorAnn Oils (2024)

FAQs

Do you need to oil silicone molds for hard candy? ›

Rubber or plastic molds should be used with hard candy only if they are designed specifically for that purpose. Clean, dry, and lightly oil molds to prevent the sugar from sticking. Vegetable oil is suitable for this purpose. Note that silicone molds do not require oil.

In hard candy making, it is important to cook all the water out of the sugar/corn syrup/water mixture. If the sugar mixture is not cooked to the proper temperature (the hard-crack stage 300-310° F {149-154° C.} or if you are working in a kitchen with high humidity, chances are your candy is retaining too much moisture.

At the heart of candy-making is sugar. The type, quantity, and crystalline structure of sugar used significantly impact a candy's taste and texture. Candy-making is a temperature-sensitive process. The way sugar is heated and cooled can result in a variety of sweets, from hard candies to gooey caramels.

In candy making, it's used to add sourness, similar to the way vinegar adds tang to salad dressings. The strength of citric acid is notable, so a little goes a long way. For candy making, it's available in a powdered form, which is what you'll be using to make your sour candies.

Use real butter or oil if you are tempted to create a barrier (although you really should not need to with silicone).

For hard candy use, all molds need to be prepared before use. Hand wash all molds in warm, soapy water and dry thoroughly. After the molds have dried, lightly spray the mold cavities with cooking spray (we recommend PAM).

Provides Smooth Texture: Corn syrup helps to create a smooth and glossy texture in candies, ensuring that they are not grainy or gritty.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are the No. 1 selling candy brand in the United States, consisting of white fudge, milk, or dark chocolate cups filled with peanut butter. They were invented by H.B. Reese after he founded the H. B. Reese Candy Company in 1923.

How it helps Candy Making. Adding cream of tartar when you're making candy helps prevent the creation of sugar crystals. That's why lots of icing, syrup or candy recipes call for it: it makes it so the end product doesn't have large crunchy sugar capsules.

What makes hard candy sour? ›

Citric acid is one of the most common ingredients in sour candy, providing the perfect pop of tartness. Malic acid takes things to the next level, being the acid responsible for extreme sour flavor. Fumaric acid changes the game by allowing the strong sour taste to be long-lasting, due to its low dissolvability.

In candies, add malic acid at the end of the production process to minimize exposure to high temperatures. In chewing gums, knead it into the gum base or use powdered malic acid to dust the finished product. Possibilities Include: Sugar-free hard candy.

Silicone molds are nonstick but can become less nonstick over time. It is always better to be safe than sorry, so spray them with cooking before using them. It only takes a little cooking spray to make your silicone molds nonstick. This will help you avoid any sticking and make cleanup much easier.

Step 2: Casting the Hard Candy

I figured vacuum-formed plastic wouldn't withstand this heat, but any silicone baking molds work really well. So would wood, ceramic, or plaster, or even hand-formed aluminum foil. Just remember to use a release agent like butter or PAM.

To Grease or Not

The non-stick quality of silicone candy molds means that they typically do not need to be greased, in contrast to certain baking molds. For elaborate designs, though, a thin coating of cooking spray or oil may be required to make sure the candies come out easily without any loss of detail.

Make sure molds are clean, 100% dry, and are not dusty or scratched. Make sure the molds are at room temperature. We suggest wearing white cotton candy makers gloves when handling the molded chocolate so that you don't get fingerprints on the chocolate. Do not spray or grease the molds.