Any general cookbook which has a section on candy will give you a table of
temperatures required for the results you want.  The "stages" are
dependent on temperature.  "Crack" or "Hard Crack" are brittle.  Time
isn't a reliable gauge - it's dependent on altitude, the amount of water
in the batch to begin with, etc.  But boiling point temperature is an
accurate indication of water content.

"Joy of Cooking" (Rombauer/Becker) list the following:

"Hard Ball" begins at 270F - rigid but pliable
"Soft Crack" begins at 270F - cold threads will bend
"Hard Crack" begins at 300F - threads break
"Caramelized" begins at 310F.  Anything above 338F is toast.

Once you get close to these temps, stir constantly and keep the
thermometer in the solution.  Temperature rises very quickly and margins
are slender.

On Sat, 4 Dec 1999, Scott Moser wrote:

>      Spent several evenings making bee candy for candy trays.  The basic
> recipe I followed was 1 qt. water, 15 pounds sugar, bring to a boil, and
> boil a few minutes.  The cream of tartar in the recipe I used was optional.
> Problem I had with a few of the batches was that they didn't completely
> harden, and oozed sugar syrup.  Did I not boil it long enough, or boil it
> too long?

---------------
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