How to Boil Sugar
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat.
Boil for 15 minutes without stirring.
Do not stir the syrup at any point to prevent it from becoming grainy.
Test the degrees
To check for the second degree, dip your forefinger and thumb in cold water and take a little syrup between them; if it forms a thread, it is ready for use in frozen fruits, sherbets, and preserves.
For the fourth degree, continue boiling until the syrup forms tiny bubbles when blown on; this takes about 20 minutes and is ideal for creams and richer flavors.
For the sixth degree, keep boiling until a little syrup on a stick breaks off brittle when dipped in cold water; this is used for icing fruit and cake.
Be cautious not to boil past the sixth degree, as it can burn quickly.
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
- Dissolves into the water and, as it cooks, sets the syrup's sweetness and concentration.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can be heated evenly into syrup before concentrating.
The step that matters
Stop at the right degree and avoid stirring. Sugar syrup keeps concentrating as it boils, so the stage changes quickly near the end and it can burn. Stirring can trigger crystallisation, leaving the syrup grainy.
“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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