102 



AGRICULTURE HANDBOOK 134, U.S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



soft sugar (32° F. above the boiling point of 

 water). As soon as the bob is made and while it 

 is still hot, the sugar made the previous day is 

 added to it, and the mixture is stirred enough 

 to get uniformity but not enough to cause it to 



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Figure 112. — The thick supersaturated sirup is stirred 

 until sugar crystals form and grow large enough to be 

 palpable but not large enough to be gritty. 



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Figure 113. — The partly crystallized sirup is packed into 

 molds while it is still plastic. In a few hours crystalliza- 

 tion is complete, and the candies are firm and can be 

 removed from the molds. 



set up. The hot bob partly melts the sugar, and 

 the resulting semiliquid sugar can be poured 

 easily. 



Semicontinnous Process. — Ingenuity can be 

 used in candymaking. For example, one pro- 

 ducer has developed the following semicontin- 

 nous process: The sirup is cooked in a special 

 vessel (fig. 114) from which the cooled sirup is 

 dispensed to a small mechanical agitator (fig 

 115). 



Here the sirup is partly crystallized, and 

 while it is still fluid it is run into the rubber 

 molds where crystallization is completed. It sets 

 up in 30 minutes to 1 hour. Candies formed by 

 IX)uring rather than packing have an attractive 

 glazed surface. 



Crystal Coating 



Candies can be prevented from diying by 

 coating them with a moisture-impervious shell 

 made from crystalline sucrose (99). The effect of 

 ciystal coating soft sugar candies is shown in 

 figure 116. The crystallizing sirup is made as 

 follows: Fancy maple sirup low in invert sugar 

 is heated to 9.5° to IT F. above the boiling point 

 of water. This supersaturated sirup should 

 have a Brix value of 70P to 73" at a temperature 

 of 68^ and 63.5' Brix at 210^ (hot). One gallon of 

 standard-density sirup (66° Brix) will make 7 

 pints of ci-ystallizing sirup (70^ to 73" Brix). 



The hot, heavy sirup can be set aside to cool 

 where it will not be disturbed by jarring or 

 shaking, or it can be transferred immediately to 



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igure 111,. — A special candy-cooking kettle has one end 

 shaped like a funnel and is provided with a spout and 

 shutoff. After the cooked sirup has cooled but while it is 

 still fluid, the kettle is mounted in an upended position 

 and the sirup is run out through the shutoff. (Cooker 

 designed by Lloyd H. Sipple, Bainbridge, N.Y.) 



