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.

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.

Heating up the solution forces the sucrose molecules to break up and caramelize. But when we do that, the sugar molecules really want to crystallize back into their solid form. Candy-makers use that crystallization process, and some strategic interference, to create the candies that we know and love.

The process of turning sugar into a hard, smooth, transparent confection involves heating a sugar/corn syrup/water solution to 300 – 310° F. {150 - 155° C.}, or what is known as the hard crack stage of sugar. The use of a candy thermometer is not essential, but highly recommended and accuracy is critical.

It's best to make candy on a cool, dry day. If it's 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 than the recipe specifies.

Too much humidity – An overly humid environment can make caramel sticky and create a less than desirable layer of scum on its surface.

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.

This is because when the weather is damper with an increased humidity level your Homemade Fudge Recipe will take longer to boil. 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'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.

What is the biggest factor in candy making? ›

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.

Higher temperatures with greater sugar concentrations usually result in hand candies, whereas, lower temperatures result in softer candies. Temperature control is critical when it comes to candy making, so having an accurate thermometer can make all the difference.

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. This can make the resulting candy softer than it is supposed to be.

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.

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.

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.

Contrary to studies performed at an industrial level, we found that solutions heated to 90°C experienced significantly greater rock candy mass growth than solutions heated to 60°C, 70°C and 80°C. Additionally, solutions heated to 60°C, 70°C and 80°C experienced nonsignificant differences in mass growth.