Molten Sugar
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine sugar and water in a large pot.
Heat until the syrup reaches 35° on the syrup gauge.
Coat the dragees
Scrape the revolving pan and add the dragees for filling.
Keep the syrup hot until half of it is used, then remove from heat.
Moisten any crust that forms on the syrup with water.
Spread the syrup over the dragees carefully without breaking them.
Gradually decrease the amount of syrup used for each charge.
For the last 4 or 5 charges, ensure the syrup does not exceed 30°.
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
- Forms the syrup that hardens into the candy shell around the dragees.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can be heated into a syrup.
The step that matters
Keep the syrup temperature under control for the last charges. As sugar syrup cools and concentrates, it sets harder and more brittle at higher temperatures. Lowering the syrup temperature for the final charges helps the thin coating stay smooth and even rather than crystallising or cracking.
“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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