Handy Kitchen Reference: Candy Temperature Chart (2024)

FAQs

What temperature should a candy thermometer be? ›

At sea level, it should read 212° F. If it reads above or below this number, make the necessary adjustments when cooking your candy syrup. Note: The temperatures specified here are for sea level.

Finally, if the candy forms hard, brittle strands that easily break, the candy is at the hard crack stage, between 300°—310°F.

Hard-crack stage (300 degrees Fahrenheit and above): A small amount of syrup added to cold water makes a loud cracking noise and separates into brittle threads. The hard-crack stage is for toffee and hard candies like lollipops. Above 330 degrees Fahrenheit, the sugar begins to caramelize and brown.

Test the accuracy of your candy thermometer.

It should read 212 degrees F., while the water is boiling. If the thermometer does not measure boiling temperature correctly, remember to adjust the candy thermometer during cooking to reflect the difference, or dispose of it and replace with a new one.

The critical difference is that a digital thermometer is used for cooking meat and other food types. You insert the probe into the meat, and it displays the temperature reading for the meat's internal temperature. On the other hand, a candy thermometer measures boiling sugar or any candy solution up to 400 F (204 C).

To make candy or jelly at home, it's essential to have a thermometer that can process particularly high temperatures. Though a meat thermometer might seem like a convenient substitute, it doesn't have the ability to read and process temperature to the same extent that a candy thermometer does.

Because candy cooks at a much higher temperature than most meat you generally need a special cooking thermometer made for candy. If you don't have a candy thermometer, you can still make candy from sugar syrups by using the cold water method.

For the Cold Water Test: 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of the syrup (candy mixture) is dropped from a clean spoon into a small bowl of very cold water (not ice cold). Quickly examine and/or carefully pick up the sugar from the cold water. The firmness of the sugar indicates the highest temperature the syrup reached.

ThermoPro TP510 Waterproof Digital Candy Thermometer

This thermometer emerged as an instant favorite. It gave the fastest reading of all that we tested and was accurate.

The fudge is ready when a candy thermometer reads between 112°C to 114°C (234°F to 237°F) or the mixture forms a soft ball in cold water.

What temperature does sugar spin a thread at? ›

The thread stage occurs between 223 F and 235 F, the lowest temperature range in candy making. In addition to using a candy thermometer, you can determine the thread stage by dropping a spoonful of the hot syrup into a bowl of very cold water.

It changes into a liquid from crystalline form at the same temperature, 295 *F, as its decomposition point. In other words it can not exist as a stable liquid that can boil. The boiling in sugar is from the sucrose in the composition.