Why did my “Turkish Delight” turn into a horrible goopy mess?

Question

I don't normally make a lot of confections but decided recently to try a few new things.

Yesterday I used this recipe for Turkish delight which I originally found on the Hydrocolloid Recipe Collection. It uses agar as the gelling agent and appears relatively easy to prepare (that's why I tried it). Basically you just dissolve some agar in warm water, orange juice, and lemon juice, add sugar, simmer it, then cool and refrigerate to set.

Unfortunately, what I ended up with after refrigerating overnight was closer to the consistency of jam or marmalade than a Turkish delight. It was far, far from delightful.

When I prepared this I didn't actually follow the source URL and noticed a few differences that may account for the problem (but I'm not sure, that's why I'm asking):

• The original recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of agar; the one in the collection specifies exactly 1.2 g.
• The original recipe specifically says to cover with a cloth; the collection recipe is not so specific, it just says to cover (I used plastic wrap).
• The original recipe says to refrigerate in an ice-water bath; the collection recipe does not (I just put the dish in the fridge).

Other issues that may have been causes:

• It turned out that my scale wasn't precise enough to get exactly 1.2 g. The amount I used could have been anywhere between 1 g and 2 g. In retrospect, I wish I had checked the original recipe and simply used the 1/2 teaspoon that it called for.

• I got the agar from an Asian grocery store, and the packaging clearly said "agar agar", but I did notice that it had two ingredients, the second one (after agar) being vanilla. I'm not sure whether this is normal or whether it might have been diluting the agar mix.

• I did notice that it did not seem to be gelling at all while it was coming down to room temperature. It was basically a soup until it had been refrigerated.

Can anyone identify the most likely reason why this didn't work out? Did I use too little agar? Too much? Could some of the differences between the two recipe versions be important? Could it be something I haven't thought of yet?

And equally importantly for the purposes of this question, can I fix it or am I going to have to throw it out?

Asked by Aaronut

Answer

I've worked with agar a lot, and made a few things from the HRC. Of all of the things you've identified as possible problems, I think the biggest likely ones are the quantity of agar, and the agar powder itself. Everything else about the cooling issue is normal. Agar powders do vary. You want to find one that is pure, unadulterated agar, not one that is setup to be a pre-prepared dessert as those are weaker.

If just for a laugh you want to try to save this batch, heat it back up until the agar fully melts, shear in a second amount equal to what you did last night, making sure it fully dissolves, then let it set again. I'm pretty sure that will work.

You can also pick up a sub-gram scale on Amazon for around $20. Thanks, drug dealers! They are very helpful when making small batches of "molecular" recipes.

Answered by Michael at Herbivoracious

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How to create a gummy candy cake?

Question

I want to give my gf a present for Valentine's day that consists on a board with glued gummy candy, marshmallows... all that lovely sweet stuff. When put all together it will be like a romantic painting but with glued gummy candy instead.

However, I don't know what to use as a frame to stick the candy and also what to glue them with!

Is there anyway to make/(buy) some kind of edible frame? I'm ok with plastic or glass but if it could be edible it would turn out awesome! :) Furthermore, do you have any ideas on what to glue the candy?

Final Result:

This is what I ended up doing. The base is a sponge flan cake, which I bought in the supermarket. Regarding the glue, I was presented with the options of a pure glucose syrup and a shinning glucose gel. I chose the latter, since I was told it was commonly used to stick crystallised fruits in cakes and that sort of stuff :)

Thank you all for the tips and the inspiration. She loved it ;)

Asked by MobileCushion

Answer

For the frame, I would suggest baking a cake, brownies, gingerbread or even cookie dough in a baking sheet (so it's one big, quite thin piece). But put the temperature of the oven lower than if you would use a regular baking mold. You could also use a piece of styrofoam/polystyrene*, covered with tin foil. Then you can use tooth picks to hold everything in place. To cover the tin foil, use sour strips, marshmallows...

As glue you can use chocolate or caramel if it should sit quite steady. You can also use edible glue (this is often used to glue pieces of fondant to cupcakes). If you present it horizontally, you can use a lot (syrup, honey, jello, icing, even a thick pudding...). I think you could even melt some candy and use it as glue. I have no idea however how strong this would be.

*) I'm not sure this is the correct English term. To be clear, I mean this.

Answered by Mien

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How to create a gummy candy “painting”?

Question

I want to give my gf a present for Valentine's day that consists on a board with glued gummy candy, marshmallows... all that lovely sweet stuff. When put all together it will be like a romantic painting but with glued gummy candy instead.

However, I don't know what to use as a frame to stick the candy and also what to glue them with!

Is there anyway to make/(buy) some kind of edible frame? I'm ok with plastic or glass but if it could be edible it would turn out awesome! :) Furthermore, do you have any ideas on what to glue the candy?

Final Result:

This is what I ended up doing. The base is a sponge flan cake, which I bought in the supermarket. Regarding the glue, I was presented with the options of a pure glucose syrup and a shinning glucose gel. I chose the latter, since I was told it was commonly used to stick crystallised fruits in cakes and that sort of stuff :)

Thank you all for the tips and the inspiration. She loved it ;)

Asked by MobileCushion

Answer

For the frame, I would suggest baking a cake, brownies, gingerbread or even cookie dough in a baking sheet (so it's one big, quite thin piece). But put the temperature of the oven lower than if you would use a regular baking mold. You could also use a piece of styrofoam/polystyrene*, covered with tin foil. Then you can use tooth picks to hold everything in place. To cover the tin foil, use sour strips, marshmallows...

As glue you can use chocolate or caramel if it should sit quite steady. You can also use edible glue (this is often used to glue pieces of fondant to cupcakes). If you present it horizontally, you can use a lot (syrup, honey, jello, icing, even a thick pudding...). I think you could even melt some candy and use it as glue. I have no idea however how strong this would be.

*) I'm not sure this is the correct English term. To be clear, I mean this.

Answered by Mien

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Colorful Marshmallow

Question

How to make colorful marshmallow without using synthetic coloring agents?

Asked by Soss

Answer

If you are making your own marshmallows, you can add home made or purchased natural food color. With home made colors there is a trade-off: too much coloring liquid and you get the added flavor, too little, and the colors will be whitish. You make your own by concentrating the juices of blueberries, raspberries, spinach, or carrots, or by using turmeric.

If you live close to a Whole Foods supermarket (or other well supplied supermarket) look in the spice section for the India Tree natural dyes. They cost more than the artificial colors, but they save you a lot of work. You may also buy them online.

There are several companies that make natural colors. US based Wild Flavors explains on their web site how they produce the natural colors they sell (look for the PDFs in the color library).

Answered by papin

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Why did my Turkish Delight come out flavorless?

Question

Yesterday I made Turkish Delight, and today I cut it into squares and tasted it. This was the recipe:

• 330 ml liquid (apple juice, from freshly cold-pressed apples, strong flavor)
• A small amount of ascorbic acid, to prevent apple juice from browning
• 330 grams of sugar
• 25g powdered gelatin
• icing sugar

Steps:

• Boil sugar and liquid until at 115 degrees celsius
• Take off the heat
• Add gelatin, soaked in a bit of the liquid
• Let set in a cold environment
• Cut into pieces
• Dust with icing
• Enjoy

It has set fine, it's pretty beautiful and hasn't bled yet (making icing soggy) but perhaps in a while.

The problem is that it is UTTERLY tasteless. Before cooking the sugar solution, it tasted great, and had a beautiful green color. After cooking, it was almost tasteless and almost completely clear.

Why did the juice lose the flavor, and what can I do to prevent it? It happened before adding gelatin.

A bonus question: It took a while to reach 115 degrees, about half an hour. It seems that cooking to 115 was mostly a matter of reducing the solution so that the boiling point increased. Does the extended boiling have any other beneficial effects, or can I simply increase the sugar amount from the start and bring it to a boil?

Answer

First, I don't know where you people all get these gelatin-filled Turkish delight recipes. Turkish delight is made with starch, not gelatin (at least the recipes used in Turkey are all with refined starch or rice flour). What you are making here is jell-o (if you use small amounts of gelatin) or gummi bears (if you use lots of gelatin).

Second, about the taste. It is normal that fresh apple juice loses its taste when it is cooked. The normal Turkish delight tastes of sugar. Its aroma comes from strong aromas added to the liquid (rose essence, or artificial aroma). You don't preserve natural fruit tastes in Turkish delight. Even if you wanted to, I don't think there is a way to do it with apple juice. Some stronger tasting fruits (cherries, raspberries) could give a syrup with more taste, but are not part of traditional lokum.

Third, about the temperature. Your observation is correct, you are just evaporating the liquid. In some cases, it might be desirable to start with more liquid and evaporate, so you get more concentrated aroma - for example, if you have started with pure rose water. But if you are making a recipe which requires concentrated sugar syrup, it is OK to start with a ratio which creates saturated syrup at room temperature (3 parts sugar to 2 parts water) and cook until the desired consistency is reached (this is recognizable from the boiling point).

For most recipes however, you don't want a concentrated syrup. The candy hardness is defined by the amount of starch used. In this case, you just mix everything and you are ready after it has bubbled, just like any pudding. The amount of sugar seems to be 1 part sugar to 2 parts water.

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How do I get caramels to turn out grainy?

Question

Yes, I know the opposite of the usual question. I've been making candy since I was a little kid. My caramels are always smooth and creamy. My partner's father thinks they taste good but that the texture is all wrong. He liked the gritty/grainy ones his mother used to make. Everything I have ever seen listed as a way to fix grainy caramels I have tried reversing.

I have tried many things, including:

• adding granulated sugar late in the process
• not using corn syrup or other invert sugar
• cooking them at high temps
• cooking them for too short a time
• stirring or not stirring at all the wrong times
• switching recipes
• varying the fat content

I guess I am wondering what makes caramels turn out grainy. It's not as far as I can tell, wholly related to the sugar dissolving/melting. If it was adding some granulated sugar as it cools should cause more crystals to form.

Is it related to the liquid content? Because sometimes after months in a cupboard even ordinarily smooth caramels will have developed some graininess.

Answer

As you mentioned it is all about how the crystals form.

Some of the factors off the top of my head:

• How saturated is the solution - The more sugar packed into the syrup the more easily it will crystallize.
• How quickly it cools - The slower the bigger the crystals
• Interference - Do you have a starch or other sugar molecules gumming up the works?

Obviously you already knew this from your question.

Not using other sugars will help. You might also try adding more sugar to the recipe at the beginning to fully saturate your solution. The fact that you add sugar at the end and it still dissolves in makes me think your solution could take a bit more. Letting the solution cool slowly with your seed sugar at the end should help.

You would think it would be easier to get it wrong. Perhaps you simply have too much experience doing it right.

Ask an amateur to try out your recipe and see if they fail properly.

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Substituting glucose syrup for glucose

Question

I've noticed that many pate de fruit recipies call for a small amount of glucose in addition to sugar. My local store didn't have any glucose, but I have glucose syrup around. Can I use glucose syrup in place of glucose (I'm assuming they mean the dry kind)? If so, what ratio should I use?

As an example, this is one recipe: http://trissalicious.com/2010/02/25/family-gems/

This question isn't specific to that recipe, though. Most pate de fruit recipes seem to call for glucose.

Answer

In boiled syrup candies like this one, glucose is often used as an insurance policy to keep all the rest of the sucrose in the recipe from crystallizing. The dissimilar sugar molecules in the solution interfere with the sucrose crystallization and they instead form smaller crystals and the candy has a smoother texture.

You can easily use glucose syrup in this recipe. As it adds a little water you will have to boil the syrup a little longer to reach the desired concentration (and thus temperature.)

As far as the ratio- You can look at the label of your syrup to see the glucose content and use that as a starting point but don't worry about being too exact in your conversion. As the glucose is simply for interference small variations aren't going to make much of a difference. Often when I am making candies like this I will just eyeball a tablespoon or two depending on how much candy I am making.

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Substituting glucose for glucose syrup

Question

I've noticed that many pate de fruit recipies call for a small amount of glucose in addition to sugar. My local store didn't have any glucose, but I have glucose syrup around. Can I use glucose syrup in place of glucose (I'm assuming they mean the dry kind)? If so, what ratio should I use?

As an example, this is one recipe: http://trissalicious.com/2010/02/25/family-gems/

This question isn't specific to that recipe, though. Most pate de fruit recipes seem to call for glucose.

Thanks!

Answer

In boiled syrup candies like this one, glucose is often used as an insurance policy to keep all the rest of the sucrose in the recipe from crystallizing. The dissimilar sugar molecules in the solution interfere with the sucrose crystallization and they instead form smaller crystals and the candy has a smoother texture.

You can easily use glucose syrup in this recipe. As it adds a little water you will have to boil the syrup a little longer to reach the desired concentration (and thus temperature.)

As far as the ratio- You can look at the label of your syrup to see the glucose content and use that as a starting point but don't worry about being too exact in your conversion. As the glucose is simply for interference small variations aren't going to make much of a difference. Often when I am making candies like this I will just eyeball a tablespoon or two depending on how much candy I am making.

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Peanut-Butter Treat - Using Less Sugar and Less Butter

Question

I'm making a chocolate covered peanut-butter treat this weekend. I'm going to play with the recipe, to have less fat and calories, and I'd like some suggestions.

3 lbs. confectioners sugar
1 lb. butter
2 lbs. peanut-butter
3 tbsp. vanilla

Reducing the amount of butter and sugar comes to mind, but I'm wondering how it will affect the taste and texture.

Answer

When I make buckeyes using this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, I tend to reduce the amount of butter a little, and the sugar a lot. Then I increase the graham crackers, and add some low-sugar puffed rice (Rice Krispies-like cereal) for texture. You might be able to work with some "filler" ingredients like that to make up for the lost fat from the butter. The cream cheese in this recipe probably helps to counter any reduction in butter so that might be worth experimenting with in various amounts; you could use Neufchâtel cheese instead of cream cheese to reduce the fat there.

Another great option is homemade peanut butter. Your basic creamy Skippy-brand peanut butter has 17g of fat in 2tbsp. Creamy Jif has 16g in 2tbsp. Depending on what recipe you use, you can reduce that quite a bit - this recipe has about 11g of fat in 2tbsp. That's a huge difference when you scale it up to 2 lbs!

Obviously with all these substitutions they won't taste exactly the same as you're used to, but for what it's worth, I made the buckeyes exactly as the recipe said the first time; the second time I modified it as I said in the first paragraph (using store-bought peanut butter) and I preferred the latter much, much more. The original version was just too sweet...and the original version is a modification of another recipe that used double the confectioner's sugar!

Since this treat you're making is likely similar to the buckeyes (in that you don't need to bake at any point), I would highly recommend cutting the ingredients down to very small amounts, and try making a few different versions and having a taste test with some variations.

As an aside, one tip I learned through practice: if you're dipping peanut butter treats (instead of pouring the melted chocolate onto them), and are having trouble with them being too crumbly when you reduce the butter and thus they are falling apart into the chocolate, you can freeze the peanut butter balls/treats for a while to make them firmer - this makes them much easier to dip.

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What does pulling on syrup (in the semi-solid state) do to the texture/taste?

Question

I have seen this done at candy shops before, where the syrup is pulled/stretched 10s of times before they are allowed to cool off.

What chemically does this do to the sugar? How does this affect the taste?

Answer

It aerates the sugar (you do the same for taffy) - adding tiny bubbles in the final product.

It makes the finished product lighter and chewier instead of denser and hard.

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Can anyone identify this Chinese candy?

Question

We just grabbed our customary mint on our way out of the Asian Bistro by our house but when we opened it, it wasn't a mint and the wrapper was almost all Chinese (I think). It was an asian bistro, but most of the food was Chinese, so I'm guessing that it's Chinese.

So the candy was green and definately fruit flavored, but didn't taste like anything discernable. The fruit on the picture kind of looks like a pear, but not really any of our western pears. (Sorry for the fuzzy image, my phone would not focus and the wrapper was so small, so small)

Answer

That is Classic Series Guava Candy made by HongYuan. You can buy a 14oz bag on Amazon, here.

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Salted butter in toffee

Question

What effects would using salted butter instead of unsalted butter have on a toffee recipe?

I'm using the basic

• Equal parts butter and sugar
• Heat to soft crack (285 F)
• Poor into flat cooking sheet or something similar to cool

Answer

Besides the obvious - your toffee will have more salt in it? Salted butter also contains more water than unsalted butter, and varies more on both salt and moisture content on a brand-by-brand basis than unsalted butter. A higher percent of water means less fat, so after the water cooks out, your ratio of fat to sugar will be off somewhat.

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What are the differences between candy thermometers and meat thermometers?

Question

I know that meat thermometers generally won't handle as high a temperature range as candy, but I'm only planning to make caramels and fudge (so soft ball and firm ball) and that's within the range of the meat thermometer that I already own.

Also, meat thermometers are often labelled "medium well" etc., rather than "soft ball". Since I have access to the temps required, that's not an issue.

I'm definitely a noob to candy, so is there some magical reason I can't use a meat thermometer for my candy? Is it a huge no-no? Does it contain leprechauns that will destroy my caramels?

Answer

I think Doug and yossarian both touched on the main points, but to summarize, there are four reasons why you might not want to use a meat thermometer for candy:

1. Range A meat thermometer might go from 140 F to 220 F or something like that, which is plenty for meat. Candy often requires a range from about 75 degrees (chocolate) up to 400+ degrees (hard candy). The range on most thermometers is simply not sufficient for most candies.
2. Accuracy When you temper chocolate, 88 F degrees is an ideal working temperature (for dark chocolate). Some people would consider 91 so high you might want to think about starting over. When you make caramels, the difference between 235 F and 240 F can be the difference between wonderfully chewy caramels and a sugar-flavored rock. If you can't read one degree increments at a glance, you need a real candy thermometer.
3. Speed Meat thermometers often take 30 seconds to a minute to get an accurate result. When you are making candies, you have to be able to tell what the temperature is right now.
4. Contamination I don't want the thermometer that goes in semi-raw meat anywhere near my chocolate.

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Why does my fudge always set up like a rock?

Question

I've followed the recipe for an opera fudge (and several others) as close as I can, yet my fudge always turns out grainy and crumbly. The best results I've gotten have come from not washing down the sides of the pan, but transferring the mixture to a new pan instead.

Thanks

Answer

In Scotland we make a kind of fudge that is deliberatly hard and crystallised known as Tablet. This was a popular treat when I was growing up. Essencially the recipe for tablet, soft fudge, toffee and caramel are quite similar. The difference is made by how you cook and treat the mix as it cools.

Essentially you need to know about sugar boiling points. There are two important levels used: soft boil, and hard boil. My cook books suggest using a sugar thermometer to get the perfect boil but I've never found a sugar thermometer in the shops. Instead I rely on a great deal of practice, the colour, the texture and the drip of the mix to gage how hot the sugar is.

In a soft boil (234–240 °F or 112–115 °C), if you drip the mix onto a very cold surface or into cold water, then touch the drip with your finger, it will be soft like caramel. Additionally the colour will change from cream to yellow/tan.

In a hard boil (250–266 °F or 121–130 °C), dripping again onto a cold surface or into cold water, then touching the drip with your finger, it will be firmer or even hard. The colour will darken slightly to a dark yellow or light brown.

For caramel and fudge you go to a soft boil then cool. For tablet and toffee you go to a hard boil.

The next part is the cooling. This is equally important as the boiling. The faster you cool the mix the smaller the crystals become. The slower, the larger. If you want a caramel or a toffee, you must avoid agitating the mix as it cools. For fudge you should stir the gently as it cools slightly before pouring onto the try. For tablet, the mix should be vigorously stirred until stiff then poured onto a try.

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What is the purpose of vinegar in this lollipop recipe?

Question

I found a recipe for lollipops. It uses 2:2:1 ratio of sugar:water:vinegar. What exactly is the role of vinegar in it?

The recipe was:

• 10 spoons of granulated/crystalic sugar
• 10 spoons of water
• 4 spoons of vinegar
• food coloring

Combine ingredients and cook approx 10-12 minutes since water has started to boil. All water has to boil out. You can test if it is boiled enough by making a drop.

Answer

It is simply to add tartness to add some balance against the sugar. The water from the vinegar will evaporate and leave behind acetic acid. There is an old fashioned type of hard candy known as vinegar candy. Your lollipop is essentially just that candy on a stick.

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