How Sweets are Made

Candy especially sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water to which flavouring and colouring are added to make them seem more attractive on shop shelves. Sweets have a long history and come in a variety of colours.

Rock candy is made from crystallised sugar and is the simplest form of candy. Even though this is the easiest form of candy to make it was considered a luxury and was only attainable by the rich. However in contrast to this since 1979 the world has produced more sugar that can be sold making it easily accessible and cheap.

When the invention of the candy press came along in 1847, it meant that people could produce different shapes and sizes of candy at once, because production was happening so fast confectioners used a revolving steam pan to assist in boiling water. The introduction of this revolving steam pan meant that candy makers were no longer needed to continuously stir the boiling sugar. Also, the use of this machine cut down the probability of the sugar burning as it was much more evenly distributed.

Chemically speaking, sugar sweets are broken down into two groups

1. Crystalline Candies – they are named this because of the texture the sweets have and from there microscopic organised sugar structure which is formed through the process of crystallisation. Crystalline candies include; fudge creams and fondants. Browse a range of chewy sweets here - http://www.theonlinesweetcompany.com/soft-chewy

2. Amorphous Candies – these types of sweets have a disorganised crystalline structure making them chewy, hard or brittle. They also tend to have a higher sugar concentration. Amorphous candies include; caramels, nut brittles and toffees

All types of candy are made the same way by dissolving sugar in water or milk to form a syrup which is then boiled until it starts to crystallise. However the type of candy is determined by the ingredients that are added and how long the mixture is boiled for. Once you have got the mixture fitted to your preference you then take it off the heat and pour it into certain moulds that you want your sweets to look like. The sweet mouldings are easily accessible however you need to make sure that they have been sterilised properly to prevent contamination.

Besides the making of hard boiled sweets, sour sweets are made / flavoured using food acids, they are naturally found in foods such as lemons, oranges, apples, berries and more. They are inexpensive and indispensible. They are found in many different types of acid you can add to make a sweet sour; the most common types of acid used are malic acid and citric acid. Acids which are less commonly used included tartaric acid and fumaric acid. All of these acids used in making sweets sour are listed on the FDA’s safe additives list. However, safe does not mean harmless, people who like sour foods should swill their mouth with water and brush their teeth. When adding acid to a heated mixture such as hard gummy candy, it is important to add them late into the process; this will ensure that the heat won’t weaken the sour flavour.

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