Candi sugar syrup is mostly used for Belgian craft beer brewing and also in bread making or in making the marinade for making char siu pork. While it is commercially available from mostly Belgian suppliers, it is also not difficult to make yourself. There is no need for special equipment such as a thermometer. The trick is that you make in-situ invert sugar and caramelize this. You control the temperature with your energy supply of the stove and with the addition of small amounts of cold water.
The art of making candi sugar syrup
While the process of making candi sugar syrup is very simple, the chemistry behind it is not. We start with normal crystal sugar (sucrose), which we mix with a quart of its weight of water. We do this in a pan, with a slightly thicker bottom. At room temperature the sugar will not be able to dissolve, but at 100 C, the sugar will all dissolve. However, in order to make a syrup, we do not like the mixture to crystallize easily again. Therefore the sucrose under the influence of 0.5% of lemon juice will change into a equal parts of fructose and glucose.
While continue to heat the mixture, water will evaporate. The temperature of the transparent sugar/water mixture will increase and an interesting caramelization process will start. Fructose already starts this pyrolysis reaction at 110 C. The caramelization you can smell and also you will observe a color change: yellow to red to deep brown. Do this process slowly and stay with it. If sugar is heated without any water present, it will spontaneously ignite. Be warned! When the caramelization level is sufficient, add a small amount of water to ensure that the mixture cools down to a syrup. Without the water it will cool down to hard glass like substance.
Special equipment
a heavy bottomed pan that contain all the sugar and water and then is half-full
Ingredients
Method
- Mix the sugar, the water and the lemon juice in a heavy bottomed pan
- Heat up at medium fire on the stove, stirring now and then
- When the mixture is close to the boiling point, it will suddenly become transparent.
- Put the heat on low or very low. The bubbling mixture will slowly colorize. When more water is evaporated, the temperature will increase and the caramelization reaction will become faster. Regulate the temperature with the energy of the stove and adding now and then a teaspoon of water.
Notes
Food allergy & intolerance information: none
Remarks
The transition of the sucrose into equal parts of fructose and glucose, has the advantage that this mixture not easily crystallizes upon cooling. This is essential for making a syrup that is viscous, but flows at room temperature.
The added water at the end ensures that the mixture will not become hard. Use 50 ml water to add at the end, and then with closed lid let cool down
The darkness of the color is related to the degree of caramelization. Longer time at higher temperatures causes more caramelization
