Candy Ingredients
Some Favorite Candy Ingredients
There are as many different types of candy ingredients as there are brands of candy, but the number one ingredient is undoubtedly sugar, because nearly every candy possesses it, in one form or another. If you make candies, it's good to know the various forms of sugar used in them.
Granulated sugar comes from sugarcane or beets. It also comes in a finer texture that's called superfine sugar. Powdered sugar is sometimes called confectioner's sugar, and it is usually sifted before use.
One of the most used of candy ingredients is corn syrup. It is used a lot in candy because it keeps other sugars in the candy from crystallizing. Invert sugar is used to give the candy a longer shelf life. Most candy recipes don't call for inverted sugar.
Brown sugar is simply granulated sugar with added molasses. It comes in dark and light, and the light is used more, because its flavor is milder. Honey is also used in candies, especially home-made candies. It should be a liquid formula, not that type of honey spread we buy for toast. Molasses is actually syrup that is produced when sugar is refined. It has a very distinctive taste.
Chocolate is one of the more popular of candy ingredients, and there are many different types of the delicacy. Chocolate is the product of the refining process that starts with the cacao beans. They are fermented, roasted, dried and ground, and this results in many types of cocoa-flavored products.
The type of chocolate used in a candy depends on the various amounts of cocoa and other ingredients in the mixture. Cocoa powder is not sweetened, and has a very intense chocolate taste. Some varieties of the powder are made that are less intense, and milder in flavor.
Unsweetened chocolate is also called baking chocolate, and it is made directly from cocoa beans. This is used in baking, and is not generally eaten in this form, because of the bitter taste.
Dark chocolate contains lecithin, vanilla, cocoa butter, sugar and chocolate liquor. Some dark chocolate bars are marketed by the amount of cocoa contained in them – 30% or 60%, for example.
Semi-sweet chocolate is one of the more often-used of candy ingredients, and this type was popularized by Nestles when they started making Toll House semi-sweet chocolate chips. This chocolate is usually sweeter than bittersweet chocolate, and it usually contains at least 35% solids from cocoa.
Milk chocolate contains condensed milk in addition to chocolate liquor and cocoa butter. This type of chocolate is sweeter than dark chocolate, and it usually has a milder taste.
White chocolate contains cocoa butter, but NO chocolate liquor or any other products from cocoa. It usually tastes more like vanilla than chocolate, and makes a nice alternative.
All of these types of candy ingredients, and many others, are combined to make some of our favorite snack foods.