Sugar Panning Hard Candies

[minas6907]

Hi All

 

I had a question about if anyone has any information on making hard candies and panning them after. I've seen this in a number of videos, confectionerys boiling sugar, flavoring and coloring it, feeding the sugar through rollers (as with making lozenges) and afterwards, panning the candies in a sort of cage to remove the excess bits of broken candy. Once you got all your nice looking drops, a sort of sugar syrup (I believe its a sugar syrup, but I dont speak French, so perhaps someone can help my out with the videos down below) is applied. The candies are panned some more, sugar is added, and you then have your newly made hard candies with a sugary exterior, sort of like an old timey candy.

 

The reason I'm interested in this is purely for shelf life reasons. I love the gorgeous glossy look of newly pulled hard candies, but even when stored in an air tight container, in evidently (over a period of 10 days or so) they start sticking together and as they sort of rub up against each other, they get damaged, which is easy to see since they originally started off smooth and shiny. Its not a problem with lollipops, since they are wrapped individually, but I'm looking for a way to greatly extend the shelf life of hard candies. I've seen this done is quite a few videos, all from European confectioners. Anyone have any insight on this? I guess I'm just wondering what the syrup is that they are lightly applying to the hard candies. Then I assume just add some regular granulated sugar?

 

I have not read anything about this way of finishing up hard candies, just seen it in videos. But I just wanted to put it out there if anyone else had seen it or anything. Even though the sugar on the exterior would take away the beautiful finish of pulled sugar, I wouldn't mind for the sake of a long shelf life. And, perhaps someone can correct me if I'm wrong, the sugar is added to the outside of the candies to crystallize it, right? The boiled sugar candies themselves are not crystallized, and thus are extremely hygroscopic. But by adding a coating that crystallizes the candy, you'd get a candy that will not be so sustainable to humidity. And that would explain why those old timey candy drops you find in stores that look like they have been sitting on the shelf forever dont stick together in the package, but something like a candy cane has to be individually wrapped, otherwise it'll get crazy sticky. Anywho, I've probably over analyzed everything, but just wanted to put it out there to see if anyone had any info.

 

You can see what I'm talking about in the two videos posted below. The first, skip to 1:30, and the second video they show it at 3:40

 

 

[Darienne]

Wonderful videos. Watched them both in fascination. So good to watch professionals make it all seem so easy.

Obviously you have to go there and visit them Minas6907. Probably not an acceptable site for a honeymoon. All best in your upcoming marriage.

[Kerry Beal]

I'm a long way from my books - if you remind me the first week of August I'll go through them and see what I can find.  

 

The liquid he was adding didn't look like clear sugar syrup though - wonder if it might have been gum arabic.  

 

I think the crystalline sugar would seed the non crystallized centres as you suspect.  

[minas6907]

Thank you so much Darienne! Id love to go to France, but we've settled on Cabo!

Kerry, ill definitely do that, ill send you a pm then. The reason I assumed a sugar syrup is because in one of the videos I thought I heard them say something about a sugar syrup in French. Again, my French is rusty, but I can make things out sometimes. I think in one of the videos the syrup looked clear, like a normal sugar syrup, and in the other it had a strong caramel color. Gum Arabic is not something I considered, thats interesting. I have some gum arabic but have no idea what to use it for, I got it a while back with a large order from chef rubber. Thanks for the replies!

[Kerry Beal]

Here you go for a start.  Head down to page 56 - it talks about gumming then sugaring.  

 

I'm sure that the books I have at home will give proportions for the various syrups that will work.  

[jmacnaughtan]

It's a shame the videos are promotional, rather than technical- in the second one they say "a freshly boiled syrup" that is poured on until "all the water evaporates".

 

I imagine it's a syrup cooked to 110-125°C, but I'll defer to the experts.  Confiserie has never been my strong suit.

[Alleguede]

In the video, they talk about a syrup. He turns the pan till the water is evaporated. I have heard of this process to sand the candies in order to avoid stickiness and give it a sandy finish

[Kerry Beal]

Here we go -

 

"Another method of sugaring the warm candies is to wet them with a mixture of gum arabic and water.  Dissolve gum arabic in twice its weight of hot water.  Moisten the hard candy with the gum solution and roll in granulated sugar."

 

Choice Confections - Walter Richmond formula 259