Shelf life of homemade confections

[Darienne]

I know, I know, it's very early to mention the word "Christmas" or whatever holiday one celebrates at the end of December. I am partial to the Solstice myself, and we always have a Solstice celebration, and so far it has worked.

Still, confectionery partner, Barbara, and I have to make goodies for a Christmas festival which is held in mid-November. Presumably folks are not buying for gifts, but rather for immediate consumption, but with a Christmas theme.

So, I know from previous posts that hard tack lollies are good for a month and that chocolate covered (but not immersed) turtles are two weeks. I tried to find the earlier posts, but gave up after a while. Immersed in chocolate turtles are good for, if I recall, a bit longer than just coated.

I need a bit of a chart. Answers to any or all of the following will be gratefully received. And I am sure others might well add other confections. I have hardly scratched the surface.

How long ahead of time for presentation/selling/donation/etc can the following be made:

* marshmallows, undipped

* marshmallows, dipped in chocolate

* candied ginger, dipped in chocolate

* peanut/nut brittle

* chocolate-coated toffee

* chocolate-coated pretzels

* candied nuts

* candied nuts, dipped in chocolate

* nougat, undipped

* nougat, dipped in chocolate

* caramels dipped in chocolate

Thanks.

[gap]

Nothing scientific to go on, justpersonal experience:

Undipped marshmallows (depending on your recipe) can start to dry out after a week or two. Not dangerous but not as nice as when you first made them.

Dipped marshmallows keep better - quite a while I'd imagine, but I'm not sure of the exact length

Candied ginger in chocolate would keep for months would be my guess - the ginger is candied and chocolate keeps

peanut/nut brittle can absorb humidity and lose its crunch - depends on humidity in your area

chocolate-coated toffee would keep for ages I'm guessing. I've kept chocolate coated caramels for 6-8 weeks and they've been fine

Pretzels I have no idea - they'd probably keep as long as pretzels normally keep

Candied nuts?? If you mean caramelised nuts, they will absorb moisture over time and lose their crunch. Once again, depends on humidity and storage

Nougat I'm not sure about. I've kept it for several weeks and it's been fine

As I said above, caramels dipped in chocolate have lasted 6-8 weeks for me

[Darienne]

Thanks, gap. That's a good start for me.

[Lisa Shock]

Caramels, brittles and toffee may become rancid after 3-4 weeks, depends on the butter content.

[Darienne]

Caramels, brittles and toffee may become rancid after 3-4 weeks, depends on the butter content.

Thanks Lisa. I think I'll make a chart of often made confections.

[Jaymes]

Rum balls, in a tightly-sealed tin, keep practically forever.

[Darienne]

Rum balls, in a tightly-sealed tin, keep practically forever.

Thanks Jaymes. I've never made a rum ball. Truth be told, I'm not even sure what a rum ball is, but I'll look up a recipe right away.

[rena]

My experience with marshmallow is the best is 2 weeks. After 2 weeks its starts to get a bit spongy and not a fresh tasting. I've made caramet pecan patty's that have last forever so I guess it depends on the weather, humidity etc....fondant cream centers last about a month, is that something you might want to try? Peter Grewelings recipe for fondant is easy and you can add flavors like mint extracts or fresh mint and other extract and freeze dried friut powders. there are some companys out there that will send you free samples for the powders. google freezed dried fruit powders and see what you come up with....

Rena

[Jaymes]

Rum balls, in a tightly-sealed tin, keep practically forever.

Thanks Jaymes. I've never made a rum ball. Truth be told, I'm not even sure what a rum ball is, but I'll look up a recipe right away.

Rum balls (and their southern cousins, bourbon balls) are de rigueur Christmas treats in many locales. Can't go wrong with a tin of them. And they benefit from 'curing.'

[Darienne]

Thanks Rena. Our weather is cool and always near 100% humidity. Thanks for the information. I will google freeze dried fruit powders...

And Jaymes. Thanks again. Rum balls will be on the list this year. I am working with an experienced confection maker and she will no doubt have made rum balls before.

[Lisa Shock]

Thanks Rena. Our weather is cool and always near 100% humidity. Thanks for the information. I will google freeze dried fruit powders...

And Jaymes. Thanks again. Rum balls will be on the list this year. I am working with an experienced confection maker and she will no doubt have made rum balls before.

Rum balls are a bakery's way of making certain they lose as little purchased food as possible. The trimmings from cakes, broken cookies, unevenly edged brownies and other scraps are crumbled and then mixed with rum and maybe nuts. These are then scooped into balls and rolled in powdered sugar, or used and the filling for bon-bons.

[Ronya]

I am trying to make chocolates that have different flavored fillings, such as fruit. The question is, how would I make this so it doesn't need to be refrigerated or go bad? What types of ingredients would I use if I wanted something like a creamy mango filling? I could think of many things, but most would need refrigeration and would go bad after a week or so. What's the trick here?

[Kerry Beal]

I am trying to make chocolates that have different flavored fillings, such as fruit. The question is, how would I make this so it doesn't need to be refrigerated or go bad? What types of ingredients would I use if I wanted something like a creamy mango filling? I could think of many things, but most would need refrigeration and would go bad after a week or so. What's the trick here?

Welcome Ronya. The trick with fillings is to make them with low water activity. So adding things like fondant, glucose and invert sugar will sequester the free water and make it unavailable to bacteria and fungi to work on. Also keeping the pH lower (more acidic) will lengthen the shelf life, and adding alcohol to the filling will also do this.

Finally the act of sealing the filling inside the chocolate helps prevent contamination of the filling.

There is one thread on eG where Schneich introduces a spreadsheet program that allows you to plug in your ingredients to determine if the filling meets certain requirements that will guarantee a decent shelf life. Here is a link to the thread where it is discussed.

[Ronya]

Thanks so much for your reply. I'm fairly new to this and the advice really helps.

If I wanted to make something like a mango filling, would it be ok to use fresh fruit as long as there is enough sugar, etc. or would I need to use an extract? I guess I'm not even sure of what type of base to use for something like this.

[Kerry Beal]

Thanks so much for your reply. I'm fairly new to this and the advice really helps.

If I wanted to make something like a mango filling, would it be ok to use fresh fruit as long as there is enough sugar, etc. or would I need to use an extract? I guess I'm not even sure of what type of base to use for something like this.

I start with mango puree (I sometimes make it myself with fresh fruit), some fondant, butter, white chocolate, a bit of citric acid and a bit of booze.

[pringle007]

Ahhh... booze

[Ronya]

Thank you so much Kerry. I am going to start experimenting this week to try and get the recipe right.

[Darienne]

Caramels, brittles and toffee may become rancid after 3-4 weeks, depends on the butter content.

October 2009 for the above quote in response to my question about storage of toffee. What it doesn't make clear is the size of butter content which makes for shorter or longer storage.

I just made some butter-crunch toffee: almond topped, dark Chocolate coated toffee with slivered almonds in it. DH wants to give a couple of 1/2 pound boxes to the workmen who are putting our foundation back where it belongs...as on the upright supports of our century farmhouse...and not fallen down. Horrible job, in the cold and rain too. Oh yes, it was a surprise.

The recipe calls for: one pound of butter to 2 3/4 cups of sugar. Does this amount of butter mean that it will keep longer or shorter?

I have four packaged boxes left. (You cannot keep this toffee unpacked or you are doomed.) (Well, I am, anyway).

How long can it keep? If I also put it into an air-tight container? Is the Christmas season just TOO far away, as in say the second week of December?

It can certainly be distributed right away, but I thought I would ask. Thanks.