On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1288

inCold-Water
Boiling
Confection
Test
Point*ºF/ºC
Thread 215–235/102–113 Syrups,preserves
Softball 235–240/113–116 Fondant,fudge
Firmball 245–250/118–121 Caramelcandies
Hard
240–265/121–
Marshmallows,
ball
130
nougat
Softcrack 270–290/132–143 Taffy
Hard
300–310/149–
Butterscotch,
crack
154
brittle
320–335/160–168 Hardcandies,toffee
Lightcaramelforsyrups,color,
340/170
andflavor
355–
Spunsugar,sugarcages;
360/180–182
mediumcaramel
375–380/188–190 Darkcaramel
410/205 Blackcaramel

*Above 330ºF/165ºC, the sugar syrup is
morethan99%sucrose.Itnolongerboils,


but begins to break down and caramelize.
Boiling points depend on elevation. For
each1,000feet/305metersabovesealevel,
subtract 2ºF/1ºC from every boiling point
listed.
HowSugarCrystalsFormSugarmolecules
haveanaturaltendencytobondtoeachother
inorderlyarraysandformdensesolidmasses,
orcrystals.Whensugarcrystalsaredissolved
inwatertomakeasyrup,thewatermolecules
overcomethattendencybyformingtheirown
bondswiththesugarmolecules,surrounding
andseparatingthemfromeachother.Ifthe
dissolvedsugarmoleculesinasyrupgettoo
crowdedforthewatermoleculestokeepthe
sugarsapartfromeachother,thesugarswill
begintobondtoeachotheragainandform
crystals.Whenthetendencyofadissolved
substancetobondtoitselfisexactlybalanced
bythewater’sabilitytopreventthisbonding,
thesolutioniscalledsaturated.
Thesaturationpointdependson