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To Boil Sugar for Candying

This recipe describes boiling sugar to produce syrup for candying fruit.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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To Boil Sugar for Candying

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the syrup

  1. Clarify the sugar in syrup as per the standard method.

  2. Boil 2 ½ pounds of sugar until it reaches 35 degrees (feather degree).

  3. Immerse the pan in a deep dish filled with cold water and ice to cool quickly.

Set up the candying

  1. Place a circular piece of thin paper on the sugar.

  2. Once cooled, pour the sugar into the candying pan with the items to be candied.

  3. Cover with a close-fitting piece of thin paper.

Dry the fruit

  1. Set the pan in a drying closet at 15°F to 20°F for about 18 hours.

  2. Remove corks from the funnel-like tubes to drain the syrup and allow the fruit to dry.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Provides sweetness and forms the syrup that coats and preserves the fruit as it sets.

The step that matters

Boiling the sugar to 35 degrees. The syrup's sugar concentration depends on the final temperature. Reaching the feather stage gives the right amount of dissolved sugar, which controls how firmly the syrup sets and how well it preserves the fruit.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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