Science of Candy: Can Weather Affect Candy Making? | Exploratorium (2024)

FAQs

Science of Candy: Can Weather Affect Candy Making? | Exploratorium? ›

Oddly enough, it can. Cooking candy syrup to the desired temperature means achieving a certain ratio of sugar to moisture in the candy. On a humid day, once the candy has cooled to the point where it is no longer evaporating moisture into the air, it can actually start reabsorbing moisture from the air.

When I've made the candy on a warmer, humid day, it tends to be a stickier brittle. This is because the brittle takes longer to cool, and it reaches a point where it is no longer evaporating moisture into the air. It reabsorbs moisture from the air and forms unwanted crystals.

The secret behind candy making lies in the skill of manipulating the inherent size and shape of a sugar crystal — more formally known as sucrose. As the compound is heated to different temperatures, it will move through several candy stages until the desired effect is achieved.

The final outcome of the candy depends on the sugar concentration or the syrup. Higher temperatures with greater sugar concentrations usually result in hand candies, whereas, lower temperatures result in softer candies.

Weather can be a factor, and special precautions are necessary to get the best quality candy. A cool, dry day is best for making candy. On a rainy day, you may need to cook candy to a temperature a degree or two higher than stated in recipe.

The best candies to enjoy in the summer won't melt in your hand, and will be supremely delightful and refreshing. We recommend bringing a selection of our licorice, hard candies, salt water taffy, and gummi candies to your next day at the beach, poolside, or park.

If the weather is cold, the temperature of the environment may aid in cooling the mixture faster. On the other hand, if it is humid outside, this can slow the evaporation process from the candy mixture and affect the final texture and hardness of the candy.

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.

The most commonly used interfering agents are corn syrup, butter, and cream. Some recipes call for egg white, cream of tartar, or vinegar as interfering agents, too. Corn syrup is high in the monosaccharide glucose.

Will candy melt in hot weather? ›

While exposure to high temperatures affects all food products to some degree, most candy is relatively stable. Some types of candy can melt, including chocolate, caramels, marshmallows, and gelatin-based gummies.

As a rule of thumb, only make candy when the weather is cool and dry, as the candy will cool faster and reduce the likelihood of crystal formation. Remember, high-humidity days can occur during the winter as well as summer.

When making Fudge on a damp, humid day it will need to boil to a higher temperature in the pan and when it's left to cool and set it will be a little softer. That doesn't mean you can't make Fudge on a damp, humid day! You can make Fudge all year round.

Oddly enough, it can. Cooking candy syrup to the desired temperature means achieving a certain ratio of sugar to moisture in the candy.

That's part of why candy making is so prevalent in winter; the best climate for making candy has a relative humidity of less than 35%, and cold air usually has less moisture than hot air.

Dry spells also produce smaller harvests. According to Climate-smart Cocoa, if less than 47 inches of rain falls over the cocoa growing area each year the soil will lack the necessary water levels to produce enough cocoa to meet the world's demands.

A supersaturated solution is unstable—it contains more solute (in this case, sugar) than can stay in solution—so as the temperature decreases, the sugar comes out of the solution, forming crystals. The lower the temperature, the more molecules join the sugar crystals, and that is how rock candy is created.

Higher temperatures will result in greater water evaporation, thereby increasing sugar solution saturation, and thus greater crystal formation (Hartel and Shastry, 1991).

Perhaps you heard your grandmother complain that “you can never make fudge when it's raining.” No mythical urban legend here. High humidity alters the cooking properties of sugar. Fudge can take three times as long to set up, if at all. Sugary meringue absorbs humidity.