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If its naturally humid in your location we recommend that you invest in a dehumidifier. Once the candy has cooled to the point where it can no longer evaporate moisture it can actually begin to reabsorb moisture.
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.
Candy making in high humidity. Humidity is the enemy of candy makers. The perfect candy-making climate has a relative humidity of less than 35 percent. But if you live in an area thats hardly ever that dry you can always use your air conditioner or a dehumidifier for about a day or so before making candy.
Cooking candy sugar to the proper temperature requires achieving the appropriate sugar-moisture balance. High humidity hastens the breakdown of sugar as it cools. Once the candy has cooled to the point where it can no longer evaporate moisture it can actually begin to reabsorb moisture.
This produces a softer product than may be desirable. Otherwise the candy begins to drip and soften. My solution frankly is not to make candy on high humidity days.
The results never are as good when conditions are poor. I just switch to cookies. The ideal humidity for making candy is no more than 35.
If the humidity in your kitchen rises to 50 then you might run into problems later on when the candy has finally hardened. If its naturally humid in your location we recommend that you invest in a dehumidifier. Barometric pressure and humidity greatly affect candymaking.
My advice is to never make candy on a humid day. Many people dismiss the effect of relative humidity in the air because its hard to feel or see the difference between say 50 and 25. But the difference is dramatic.
Thats why dry days are recommended for candy making although the effects of humidity can be somewhat counterbalanced by cooking the candy to the upper end of the appropriate temperature stage. Cool weather is also recommended for candy making becausegenerallythe faster candy cools the less chance it has to form unwanted crystals. You can try this but its not guaranteed to work.
Set you oven for 250F and let the heat drive off the humidity turn the oven off and let it cool while closed for a few minutes before you put your candy in there to cool. Put your candy in there shut the door and let. Candy Making Tips Humidity.
One of the most important candy making tips is to understand the affect of humidity. Humidity can cause candy and sugar to soften. If you are battling humidity or rain and cant bear to wait for a cooler dryer day to indulge in a bit of candy making never fear.
They werent measuring humidity to calculate temperature. Rather for home cooks temperature is used to determine humidity. In fudge making the goal of cooking is simply to reduce the water in the sugar syrup to a specific concentration.
Sugar syrups produce different hardness of candy at different concentrations. According to the Spangler Candy Company circus peanut moisture must be between 44 and 63 to be acceptable. Thats a range of just 19 which would be challenging to measure accurately with a moisture meter.
Fortunately when moisture changes in products that dont have much to start with the water activity reading changes a lot. The gauge will let you know when humidity is high. 50 is a normal level anything over 70 means youll want to adapt your baking ingredients and methods.
Another way to test for humidity is by using the ice cube method. Place 4 ice cubes into a glass of water. Stir and wait for 5 minutes.
In hard candy making it is important to cook all the water out of the sugarcorn syrupwater 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. Check the temperature before making candy.
Candy should not be made when the weather is high in humidity or rainy or it has a hard time setting. Check the room temperatureit should be around 60ºF-68ºF 155ºC-20ºC with low humidity. Humidity and candy-making.
Tacosandbeer Jun 12 2011 1057 PM Im going to have some egg whites left after completing another recipe and was thinking about practicing some divinity. I know the golden rule is dont make candy when its humid. Making Candy on a Humid Day Its best to make candy on a cool dry day.
If its humid or rainy the candy might end up with a more sugary grainy texture. If you are making candy on a hot or humid day cook the candy until the thermometer registers 1 to 2 degrees higher. I assumed she meant the humidity was changing things.
After all the boiling process of a sugar syrup reduces the amount of water. I knew that after it cools a certain amount and stops evaporating moisture out the candy can start reabsorbing it from the air on a muggy day which incidentally can make your candy softer than it ought to be. Tips for Successful Baking On Steamy Summer Days.
Lessen the Recipes Liquid. To help counterbalance the additional moisture your dry ingredients soak up from the air try reducing the amount of liquid in the recipe by about one-quarter. For example if your cake recipe calls for 1 cup of milk reduce it to ¾ cup.
Reserve the other ¼ cup. Peanut brittle was one of the very first candies. Its characteristic crunch made it a gourmet dessert reserved for special occasions.
Later its crisp form made it an ideal lunchbox item for troops to carry into battle. Though it has only a few ingredients peanut brittle can be a challenge to make particularly in humid.