I am making peppermints for the first time.
1 cup water
2.5 cups sugar
boil until it turns the color of a hazel nut.
This thing has been boiling for a while, but it is still clear simple syrup.
Ought I to use a roling bioil?
You’re boiling off the water, and the temperature is slowly going up.
When you boil off enough water, and the temperature is high enough, the sugar will carmelize.
Just keep it at a medium boil, and things will start to happen soon enough.
I gave up. Cooking with sugar creeps me out. I poured it and now have snow-white peppermint.
This is why a thermometer can really help. But the best way to cook candy is at a very high heat–the faster it cooks, the whiter the candy will be. So turn up the heat.
So being overly-cautious hurt me. Humm.
The kicker is being reckless could have caused molten sugar to give you 2nd & 3rd degree burns. There is a line there that must be tread upon carefully.
Around my house, we call this (and jam) kitchen napalm.
How do they get minty? I don’t see mint in your recipe?
Usually cooking with sugar recipes specifies a stage or temperature. The only recipe I have that doesn’t is microwave toffee. It says to cook until it is the right color, but after the first correct batch, it was much easier to identify the correct stage by smell than color.
The recipe is in today’s New York Times, here it is from memory:
1 cup water
2 1/4 cups sugar
bring to boil and allow the sugar to turn the color of a hazel nut, remove from heat
A 1 tsp (I used 2 tsp) peppermint extract. (I sizzles nicely)
pour onto lightly-greased non-stick cookie sheet and allow to cool.
remove from cookie sheet and break into bits.
Yield is a couple of cups of bits.
Did it break into bits? Then you at least got it to the hard crack stage, which is hot enough. I’m not sure why a peppermint candy recipe would want caramelization, to be honest. I’d think the caramel flavor would fight with the peppermint.
Never lean near hot candy your adding flavoring to. A giant cloud of extract instantly explodes out of the pan. Even if the steam cools down the extract will make your eyes sting. I’ve never heard of making peppermint candy brown.
Also, adding a flavor extract to a screaming hot base just doesn’t make sense. Flavor compunds are extremely volitile, that’s what makes them flavorful. So you want to add the extract at the very last second and you don’t want it to sizzle. Although the recipe does say to add the extract after you turn off the heat. But sizzling is bad.
Since this is about cooking, let’s move to Cafe Society.
samclem GQ moderator