and Confectionery All sugar candies, whether brittle or creamy or chewy, are essentially mixtures of two ingredients: sugar and water Cooks manage to create very different textures from the same materials by varying the relative proportions of sugar and water, and the physical arrangement of the sugar molecules They control the proportions as they cook the sugar syrup, and they control the physical arrangement as they cool it Depending on how hot the syrup gets, how quickly it cools, and how much it’s stirred, it can solidify into coarse sugar crystals, fine sugar crystals, or a monolithic crystal-free mass To a large extent, the art of the confectioner depends on the science of crystallization Setting the Sugar Concentration: Cooking the Syrup The first factor that influences candy texture is the concentration of sugar in the cooked syrup Confectioners have found from long experience that certain syrup concentrations are best for making certain kinds of candy Generally, the more water the syrup contains, the softer the final product will be So the cook must know how to make and recognize particular syrup concentrations This turns out to be pretty simple When we dissolve sugar or salt in water, the boiling point of the solution becomes higher than the boiling point of pure water (see p 785) This increase in the boiling point depends predictably on the amount of material dissolved: the more dissolved molecules in the water, the higher the boiling point So the boiling point of a solution is an indicator of the concentration of the dissolved material The graph in the box below shows, for example, that a sugar syrup that boils at 250ºF/125ºC is about 90% sugar by weight ... dissolved molecules in the water, the higher the boiling point So the boiling point of a solution is an indicator of the concentration of the dissolved material The graph in the box below shows, for example, that a sugar syrup... are best for making certain kinds of candy Generally, the more water the syrup contains, the softer the final product will be So the cook must know how to make and recognize particular syrup concentrations This turns out... or salt in water, the boiling point of the solution becomes higher than the boiling point of pure water (see p 785) This increase in the boiling point depends predictably on the amount of material dissolved: the more