Hard candy

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Hard candy
Alternative namesBoiled sweet
TypeConfectionery
Main ingredientsSugar syrup (sucrose, glucose, or fructose)
VariationsMany such as candy cane or lollipop

A hard candy (

bêtises de Cambrai. "Boiled" is a misnomer, as sucrose (a disaccharide) melts fully at approximately 186 °C. Further heating breaks it into glucose and fructose molecules before it can vaporize.[1]

Most hard candy is nearly 100% sugar by weight, with a tiny amount of other ingredients for color or flavor, and negligible water content in the final product. Recipes for hard candy may use syrups of sucrose, glucose, fructose or other sugars. Sugar-free versions have also been created.

Creation

Heated syrup being poured onto a cooling table

Recipes for hard candy use a sugar syrup, such as sucrose, glucose or fructose. This is heated to a particular temperature, at which point the candy maker removes it from the heat source and may add

food dye, and some flavouring, such as a plant extract, essential oil, or flavourant. The syrup concoction, which is now very thick, can be poured into a mold or tray to cool, or a cooling table in case of industrial mass production. When the syrup is cool enough to handle, it can be folded, rolled, or molded into the shapes desired. After the boiled syrup cools, it is called hard candy, since it becomes stiff and brittle as it approaches room temperature
.

Chemistry

Chemically, sugar candies are broadly divided into two groups:

amorphous candies.[2] Crystalline candies are not as hard as crystals of the mineral variety, but derive their name and their texture from their microscopically organized sugar structure, formed through a process of crystallization, which makes them easy to bite or cut into. Amorphous candies have a disorganized crystalline structure. Hard candies are non-crystalline, amorphous candies containing about 98% (or more) solid sugar.[3]

Medicinal use

Red hard candies
Kongen af Danmark ("King of Denmark") are Danish candies containing anise, sugar and beetroot juice. They were originally invented to persuade the king of Denmark to take the medicine he had been prescribed, as he did not like the anise's strong flavour.

Hard candies are historically associated with

apothecaries used sugar candy to make their prescriptions more palatable to their customers.[4]
They are also carried by people with
diabetic management.[5]

Sugar-free

Hard candies and

In Japan

Japanese hard candies are known as bekkō ame (鼈甲飴, lit: tortoiseshell candy). Common legends about the yōkai Kuchisake-onna say that she can be escaped by distracting her with bekkō ame.[7]

See also

Confectioners of boiled sweets

Notes

  1. ^ "What Are Boiled Sweets". Sugar Stand. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  2. .
  3. .
  4. The Food Timeline
    . Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  5. ^ "How To Treat Hypoglycemia" (PDF). The National Diabetes Education Initiative. The National Diabetes Education Initiative. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  6. . Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  7. .

References