2001 Grained and Ungrained Confections - staging.files.cms.plus.com

Grained and Ungrained Confections
In hard candy the
viscosity of the
syrup is so high
that the sugar
molecules in it
cannot come
together to
form crystals.
Examples of Fat-based Confections
Figure 1
Examples of Fondants and Cremes
Figure 2
Examples of Hard Candy
Figure 3
dissolved in water to form the familiar,
deliciously sweet syrup.
Honey is normally a clear liquid with a
pale amber color, but sometimes honey
becomes opaque. It changes in character
from a free-flowing liquid to a paste, sometimes
called honey butter.The least soluble
of the sugars in honey butter, dextrose, has
crystallized because its solubility in water
is only 48 percent at 70°F, compared with
fructose (79.3% at 70°F), and the syrup is
said to have grained.The dextrose crystals
reflect light, so that the syrup becomes
opaque.They also have a large surface area
which has to be lubricated by the remaining
syrup still holding the structure
together, so that the grained product does
not readily flow.
There are fundamental differences
between syrup-based confections with
uncrystallized syrup holding or gluing the
confection together and those in which one
or more of the ingredients dissolved in the
syrup have crystallized, changing its character
in several ways.This simple example
demonstrates clearly the change in physical
character from a thermoplastic material
that will flow, to one with internal friction
between crystallized particles that
inhibits flow.
Honey butter is the earliest example of
a fondant — a dextrose fondant.We will be
examining sugar versions of this and discussing
the technology of fondants and
cremes, examples of which are shown in
Figure 2.
We can also change the character of a
syrup by taking some of the water out of it.
As we do so, it becomes more and more
viscous. Finally, when we reduce the water
below 3–4 percent, the syrup becomes so
viscous that when it is cooled it forms a
glass-like product, forming the basis of the
hard candy section of our industry. In hard
candy, the viscosity of the syrup is so high
that the sugar molecules in it cannot come
together to form crystals, and it has thermoplastic
characteristics — glass-like when
cold and softening when warmed. If we
warm it enough to agitate or mix it, some
sugar microcrystallization can take place,
and we use this in pulled-sugar products
to change the texture and appearance of
the hard candy, examples of which are
shown in Figure 3.
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42 55 th PMCA Production Conference, 2001