I happen to have this in my inbox. I've never mede either myself.
RECIPES!!
Stovetop Candy Recipe
1. Heat one pint (1/2 liter) of water to boiling in a large
pot on stove.
2. Stir in as much sugar as can be dissolved. This will be
about 5 pounds (2 Kg). More sugar is better.
3. Boil, uncovered, stirring almost constantly until the
mixture reaches 234 degrees F. It takes awhile.
4. Pour into molds made of cardboard or a container lined
with waxed paper or butcher paper. The candy will harden as it cools.
Basically, any peanut brittle recipe can be adapted to make bee candy.
DO NOT USE BUTTER IN THE RECIPE IF YOU USE A BRITTLE RECIPE THAT YOU ARE
ADAPTING!
Something a bit more Fudgy Like in the consistency!!
Having printed and studied all the bee candy references in the archives,
we decided to attempt to take a fudgy or fondant-like candy. We did not
wish to use corn syrup as we have some question about all corn syrup
processes being good for bees. We did not wish to include cream of
tartar for similar reasons. We began with the "12345" formula, using a
small amount of vinegar (volatilized in process) to break down the
sugar. We found the 1:5 water to sugar ratio too quick for the response
of our thermometer in small batches, and backed off to 1:4, which
doesn't change the end result, but slows the process. Our first pour, on
a greased metal sheet, yielded a suitably friable cake but one too
brittle for easy handling. Cooling the sheet with snow worsened the
brittleness. Pouring onto wax paper on a towel gave a nice cake, but too
thin. Cooling to 200F prior to pouring increased cake thickness.
In conclusion, to obtain satisfactory cakes we:
1. Use 1 part water to 4 parts granulated sugar.
2. Add 1/4 tsp. per vinegar per pound of sugar.
3. Bring to boil, stirring constantly until boiling commences.
4. Boil without stirring for 3 minutes, covered.
5. Insert thermometer, and boil uncovered until 234F is reached.
6. Remove from heat, and allow to cool to 200F.
7. Whip with whisk until whiteness occurs.
8. Pour (QUICKLY!) onto waxed paper having a towel beneath.
9. Allow to cool undisturbed.
10. Remove waxed paper, and store each cake in a plastic bag.
The cakes thus made can be handled as plates, but are fudgy. They are
totally white with whiter areas inside. Tiny crystals shine from a
broken edge of a cake. The waxed paper is readily removed before
storage. If the towel is fluffy the wax paper depresses limiting the
width of the cake.
We did try to make the candy without stirring which yielded a
transparent gel that was extremely sticky. We did try to recycle our
earlier failures, but they were crumbly until we added vinegar again,
after which they behaved as new sugar.
The bees seem to like these cakes.
*******************************************************
* Search the BEE-L archives at: *
* http://listserv.albany.edu:8080/cgi-bin/wa?S1=bee-l *
*******************************************************
|