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How to make hard candy from table sugar

I really don’t want to write another post about cooking with sugar, mostly because all my carefully honed and lovingly nurtured communication skills fall to ruin after I type the word “sugar.” For some reason, people don’t understand what I’m saying and there’s only one person to blame.

But after a bunch of recent requests for a recipe, I decided to try again. The problem begins with the idea of a recipe because a recipe implies a ratio of ingredients that will give you the proper results. But cooking with sugar is more of a process than a formula.

If I start by explaining that table sugar (or sucrose) is a disaccharide that you want to invert into a mixture of glucose and fructose by way of a hydrolysis reaction, you won’t remember. Furthermore, it doesn’t matter. Trust me on this.

Just think of it this way: when boiling sugar you are changing its format. Instead of little crystals you will get either a smooth and pliable dough (fondant) or a hard candy, something akin to a lollypop. These formats are easier for you to handle—and less likely to be discarded by your dinner guests—than tiny sugar crystals.

To make fondant or hard candy, you simply dissolve the sugar in the smallest amount of water possible and then cook it to drive the water back out. Really. You don’t need any other ingredients, but a little lemon juice, vinegar, or cream of tartar helps to speed up the conversion of sucrose into glucose and fructose.

Beekeepers argue about the amount of water needed to start, but it doesn’t matter. You can put ten pounds of sugar in three cups of water or in five gallons of water—you will get the same thing in the end. But the more water you use, the longer it will take to drive it all off again. The trick is to use as much water as necessary, but as little as possible.

The temperature you cook the solution to determines the consistency of the final product. Boiling until 234°F gives you fondant, boiling to 250°F will give you hard candy. For more on these temperatures, called stages, and for information about calibrating your thermometer, see my previous post, “Notes on cooking with sugar syrup.”

Below are directions for hard candy. I will add fondant in a day or two.

Hard Candy

Print recipe
Hard Candy
Serves 4-5 hives
Prep time 10 minutes
Cook time 1 hour
Total time 1 hour, 10 minutes
Dietary Gluten Free, Vegan
Meal type Main Dish
Misc Pre-preparable, Serve at Hive Temperature
Occasion Winter
These candy cakes can be kept on hand and slipped quickly into a hive that is low on stores.

Ingredients

  • 10 lb granulated sugar
  • 1 quart water
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice

Note

If you are extremely picky, you can wipe down the inside of the pot with a wet pastry brush while the mixture comes to a boil. This will keep any errant sugar crystals from forming more crystals as the mixture cools. I don't do this because the bees don't care.

When the cooking is done and the bubbling has stopped you can add a few drops of essential oil, if desired. I like to add anise oil because the bees seem to find the sugar cakes faster. If you decide to add an essential oil, it may cause the hot syrup to splatter, so be careful. After adding the oil, give a quick stir before pouring the syrup into the molds.

Directions

Step 1
Prepare molds in advance. I like to use paper plates lightly sprayed with canola oil. Lay them out on a flat, heat-proof surface.
Step 2
Measure the water and the vinegar (or lemon juice) into a large pot and bring to a slow simmer.
Step 3
Pour in the sugar, stirring until it dissolves completely. Keep stirring until you feel no "grits" in the water. If the sugar won't dissolve add more water, little by little, until all the crystals disappear.
Step 4
Once the sugar is completely dissolved, you can gently turn up the heat to medium high and stop stirring. Insert your candy thermometer. (Because the crystals are gone, there is nothing to settle on the bottom and burn; the sugar is in solution.)
Step 5
Boil the mixture until the thermometer reads 250 degrees F, then remove the pot from the heat. If you wish, you can test the candy at this point. Place a drop of syrup into a glass of cool water. Reach in and get the drop. The drop of candy should hold its shape, but you can flatten it between your fingers.
Step 6
Carefully pour the mixture into 8 or 10 paper plates.
Step 7
Allow the candy cakes to cool completely and then pop them out and store between layers of wax paper.
Step 8
You can store the candy cakes for long periods. Just keep them away from insects, mice, and moisture.
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Rusty
HoneyBeeSuite

Winter feed Q & A: liquid vs solid sugar

My recent posts on heat transfer in liquid and solid feeds have generated a host of good questions. Since many of the questions are similar, I’ve attempted to answer them in the following Q & A.

Q: So what should I feed my bees, sugar syrup, fondant, or hard candy?

A: Both liquid feed and solid feed have their place. Ideally, a solution of 2:1 syrup can be fed in the fall until the syrup itself reaches about 50°F (10°C). In colder temperatures solid feed (either fondant or hard candy) should be fed.

Q: I’ve heard that evaporating the syrup is particularly difficult for the bees in cold weather and this is why it shouldn’t be fed in winter. What do you think?

A: There are really two questions here.

Q1: Is it difficult for bees to evaporate water from syrup in winter?

A1: Absolutely. Cold air can hold less moisture than warm air, so in a cold hive no amount of fanning will evaporate the water from cold syrup. Think of dew. Dew forms on objects because the cold air of evening cannot hold all the moisture that warmer daytime air can hold. As the temperature drops, the water vapor literally falls out of the air and condenses on things. If winter air cannot hold the moisture from the syrup, it will not evaporate no matter how hard the bees work.

Q2: Is this why you shouldn’t feed syrup in winter?

A2: Most winter feed is not given to bees in the hopes they will store it, it is given to bees to keep them from starving should they run out of honey. A feeder full of cold syrup in your hive will not hurt your bees, but it won’t help them either. It just sits there because it is too cold for the bees to drink. And since they won’t drink it, it is not an emergency food source.

Q: Don’t bees need some water in order to eat hard candy and fondant?

A: Yes, a source of moisture is needed, but there is plenty of moisture in the hive for this. The moisture from bee respiration condenses on cool surfaces just like the dew. Since the fondant or candy is above the bees, the moisture from their breath lands on it and condenses. Unless you live in the desert, damp air coming in from outside through the entrance may condense on the solid sugar as well. These sources provide plenty of water for the bees to consume solid sugar.

Q: Won’t bees leave the hive in dangerously cold temperatures in order to find water to dilute the fondant?

A: No. Bees don’t commit suicide. At any rate, the colder the air, the less water it will hold—and the more bee respiration will condense on the sugar.

Q: I’m confused. I thought 2:1 syrup was fed to bees in order to build up reserves for winter.

A: It is. But, as I mentioned above, the purpose of fall feed and the purpose of winter feed are different. A hearty feeding of 2:1 syrup in the fall while temperatures are still warm enough to evaporate it will be stored by the bees and used to increase their winter food supply. On the other hand, the purpose of winter feed is to keep bees that are low on stores from starving—they are not going to store their winter feed, they’re going to eat it.

Q: Should all bees be fed sugar?

A: No. Bees should eat honey. Sugar is fed when a colony hasn’t collected sufficient stores to make it until spring, when the beekeeper has over-harvested, or when the beekeeper needs to administer certain medicines, such as Fumagilin for Nosema diseases.

Q: So you’re not advocating solid sugar over liquid sugar?

A: I’m not advocating anything. I’m just trying to explain why the bees treat different feeds differently at different temperatures. Very specific physical properties govern how the world works. The more you know of these, the easier it is to make good management decisions.

Rusty

HoneyBeeSuite.com

Notes on cooking sugar syrup

Where I grew up in rural Pennsylvania, candy wasn’t something you purchased, it was something you made. So when it came to making bee candy, the process didn’t seem mysterious at all. However, based on questions I’m getting, it seems that candy-making is difficult to understand if you’ve never done it.

All you really need to make hard candy are sugar and water. The other ingredients alter the basic formula in some way, but they aren’t really necessary—especially for the bees. Take lollipops, for example. A lollipop is just hard candy with color and flavor added, and when it starts to get hard, you insert a stick. Nothing to it.

When you make hard candy, you are doing nothing more than adding water to sugar and then taking it back out again in order to force the sugar into a specific consistency. A solution of sugar in water behaves in different ways as you drive out more and more of the water.

In the days when cooking thermometers were not readily available, cooks developed certain guidelines so they could tell when a certain amount of water had been driven out of the solution. They called these guidelines “stages” and you still see them in cookbooks and written on thermometers. If you are using a thermometer—and I highly recommend it—you don’t have to worry at all about these stages.

For the sake of clarity, however, here are some typical candy stages. The test is performed by spooning a few drops of the liquid from the pot and dipping it into a cup of cool water. After a moment, remove the candy from the water and look for the “signs” of having reached a certain temperature.

Stage Temperature in °F Cold-Water Test
Thread 230-233 Candy falls off spoon in 2” long thread.
Soft-ball 234-240 Ball of candy flattens and runs between your fingers.
Firm-ball 244-248 Ball of candy holds its shape for a moment, but flattens at room temperature.
Hard-ball 250-266 Ball of candy holds its shape but can be flattened between your fingers.
Soft-crack 270-290 When first dropped into the water, candy separates into hard but pliable threads.
Hard-crack 295-310 When first dropped into the water, candy separates into hard brittle threads that break easily.
Caramel 330-350 Syrup turns golden brown. After this it will burn easily.

But like I said, with a good thermometer you can forget all that staging business. Just make sure you calibrate your thermometer before you start. Calibrating is easy: just heat a pan of water to a full boil, insert your thermometer and, after a moment take a reading. Remember (as in write down) this number.

As an example, let’s say your boiling water gave a reading of 220° F. That is 8 degrees above the normal boiling point of water which is 212° F at sea level, so you will have to add 8 degrees to the temperature stated in the recipe. So if the recipe directed you to boil the syrup until it reached 265° F, you have to go to 273° F.

If you live at a high elevation, you do the same thing except you first determine the temperature at which water boils at your elevation (use a computer for this) and deduct the difference from your recipe. Then calibrate your thermometer by placing it in boiling water and reading the difference between what the thermometer says and what it should say.

For example, at 5000 feet water boils at about 203° F. So you will have to deduct 9 (212-203=9) degrees from your recipe. If your thermometer reads 210° F at boiling (instead of 203), you will have to add 7 degrees to your recipe. So instead of 265° F, you will cook your mixture to 267° F (265-9+7).

Another issue with candy making is humidity. It is difficult to drive off the last small amounts of water when the humidity is high because sugar will absorb that moisture right out of the atmosphere. It is best to make candy on a low-humidity day.

So in the end, how important is all this for making bee candy? Not very important at all. The thing to remember is this: as long as you don’t burn the sugar, the bees don’t really care what “stage” it is in. If your candy comes out a little runny, or soft, or hard, or dry or whatever, the bees will still eat it. It might be inconvenient for you, but the bees don’t give a rip.

My advice is this: if your bees need supplemental sugar, make sure they get it. You can give them granulated sugar, or go as fancy as you want with candy boards or sugar cakes. The main thing is that they have enough food to get them through the winter. They will not criticize your candy-making ability, so don’t stress over it.

Rusty
HoneyBeeSuite

How to make protein-enriched candy boards

I just made my first batch of candy cakes enriched with pollen substitute and I am very happy with the result.

For years I’ve been messing with pollen substitute in different formats. Many times I’ve tried making it into patties. Some of these patties got runny and dripped down between the frames. Some dried up and turned hard as hockey pucks. Some sprouted furry green mold. I’ve tried pressing them between disks of wax paper and rolling them in granulated sugar but nothing seemed to keep them palatable.

Last year, I mixed the substitute with heavy syrup and poured it into plastic zip bags which I split open like baggy feeders. Some of these got eaten and some grew the furry green stuff in the shape of an X, right where I cut the bag.

Then I read that you could mix pollen substitute into the sugar syrup when making candy boards or candy cakes. Thing is, I worried that the high temperature of the syrup would degrade the proteins, so I was reluctant to try it. Finally, I wrote to the makers of MegaBee and asked them about the heat problem.

I was quite impressed with the timely and thorough answer from MegaBee. According to the answer I received, they have sent the enriched hard candy to independent testing labs for analysis and found no significant degradation of the amino acids. They also provided me with an updated recipe for the boards which they say will stand up better to variations in ambient humidity.

Since I’m getting ready for spring build-up, I immediately mixed up a batch. It was easy to do and I actually liked the way it smelled—sort of malty. As soon as it was ready I poured the mixture into paper plates the same way I do when making plain candy cakes. I am eager to see how the bees react to it because it was much easier to handle than any of the messy preparations I made in the past.

If you try this, make sure you work quickly after you pour in the MegaBee because the mix will harden in mere moments. And just a reminder: use extreme caution when making candy. The mixture is very hot and could cause severe burns.

Rusty
HoneyBeeSuite

Candy board fact and fiction

Candy boards are suddenly a hot topic and beekeepers are asking how to make them and where to buy them.

I want to stress that candy boards are for emergency winter feeding. They are not necessary for a normal, healthy hive with plenty of stored honey. Bees are meant to eat honey—not refined sugar—so forego the candy board if you can.

That said, sometimes you need winter feed. For example, maybe the summer produced very little nectar, maybe the colony is young and small, or maybe you caught a swarm so late in the year that it couldn’t store enough food for winter.

Most colonies have some amount of stored honey, so even if winter feed is necessary it is usually not needed until the end of winter. By the end of winter I mean February or March, depending on where you live.

I often hear that candy boards should be in place by December 22, which corresponds roughly to the winter solstice. It is ridiculous to give winter feed based on a calendar; the decision should be based on the condition of the hive. You don’t even need to open it. Lift up the back of the hive. If it’s really heavy, you don’t need extra feed.

If you read my previous post on candy boards, you know I prefer sugar cakes—which are basically the same thing as candy boards except the sugar is formed into disks and simply placed on the bars above the cluster. This is a much cheaper solution than candy boards and, in my opinion, it works better.

Among the many complaints I hear about candy boards—especially commercially prepared ones—are these:

  • The candy oozes out during shipment.
  • The candy liquefies in the hive and the sugar drips down through the Varroa screen where the bees can’t reach it.
  • The candy breaks out of the lid and lands on the top bars.
  • They are expensive to ship.

For a candy board to work properly the sugar must be boiled to the firm-ball stage (244-248°F or 118-120°C) at the minimum. The hard-ball stage (250-266°F or 121-130°C) works even better. Candy cooked only to the soft-ball stage (234-240°F or 112-116°C) behaves like a dense liquid and will migrate easily.

Once placed on the hive, moisture from the bee’s respiration will condense on the cool surfaces within the hive—including the candy. If the candy has high water content to start with, this may cause the candy to liquefy or may cause the candy to drop out of the board and onto the bars. (If you make sugar cakes and place them on the bars in the first place, you save a very expensive step.) And, yes, candy boards are expensive to ship. Sugar and water are cheap, but they are heavy. It’s not a good idea to be shipping sugar and water around the countryside, especially since we don’t need to.

If you still want to use candy boards, I recommend making them yourself and boiling the syrup into a harder candy. Most cookbooks or online cooking resources will tell you how to make candy without burning it (or yourself) and this is what you need to do. Please use extreme caution when working with boiling sugar!

To help keep the sugar in place, some beekeepers shoot staples into the inner side of the empty candy board to give the sugar something to adhere to. These should stick out of the wood part way to form a very rough surface. Once the staples are in place, simply pour the sugar syrup over them and let it harden.

Rusty