I'm assuming that the goal is to make peanut
brittle for Christmas.  Therefore, this is
longer than some might like in the interest
of being complete.


But thanks for asking the question - I got
more candy out of the deal!

My wife is a very serious baker/cook, and
I asked her your question. She laughed
her "Glendna, The Good Witch of the North"
laugh, and said:

   Here, watch.  Its not that hard.

From here on, the words are hers, not mine.

 (She took out a copper candy pot, which has a
  pouring spout, and poured in a cup of sugar,
  1/2 cup of honey, and 1/2 cup of water.  She
  set it on low heat, and slid a candy thermomemter
  onto the pan.)

 For candy in general, 293 F is just not hot enough
 for a real "brittle".  "Hard Crack" only just starts
 at 290 F. For a (non-honey) peanut brittle , I'd go
 for at least 300 F.

 Soft Crack is 270 - 290 F
 Hard Crack is 290 - 310 F

 The "soft ball/hard ball/soft crack"/"hard crack" terms
 were used in  candy making before thermometers were
 common.  You drip some of the hot candy into icewater,
 and then compress the cooled candy between your fingers,
 and break the candy with your fingers.  How the candy
 acts is where the terms came from.

 (At this point, the mixture started to foam and headed
  towards boiling over.  She turned down the heat and
  lifted the pan from the burner to cool it a bit.)

 If you are using honey:

 First, you have to go well into the 300-310 F range.
 Only stay there for a minute or so, no more.  A maximum of
 293 F just won't cut it with honey - you will get "sticky,
 soft" candy rather than true hard candy. (In general, if
 you get "sticky" candy, you needed a higher temperature.)

 Second, you will find yourself heating the mixture for a
 loooong time to attain a true hard crack temperature, as
 there is much more water in honey than one would have in
 the usual sugar mixture one would prepare for candy.  (This
 may also explain the need for a temperature over 300 F.)

 Third, you need a low-humidity day or a industrial-strength
 dehumidifier to dry out the kitchen.  Honey will reabsorb
 moisture from the air on a damp day even while you are heating
 it.  If that happens, you will never stop evaporating water
 from the mixture, and you will caramelize some of it before
 you get the water out of all of it.  If you are going to make
 candy often, you really need a good kitchen wall thermometer
 and hygrometer, as "room conditions" can make or break you.

 Last, if you are going to use honey, use 100% honey rather
 than a mix of corn syrup and honey.  You want a consistent
 reaction to the heat, and a mix of corn syrup and honey
 may not react consistently.  The corn syrup gives off water
 faster, and will not try to reabsorb as much water as quickly
 as the honey.

 (She heated the mixture up to 305 or so, and then added a
  tablespoon of butter and about 1/2 cup of toasted seasame
  seeds, stirred, and then poured it out onto a Sil-Pat in
  a half-sheet tray to cool. [A Sil-Pat is a slicone pad made
  in France for bakers, and a "half-sheet tray" is the size of
  the largest cookie tray that fits in a normal home oven.]
  The mix just about covered the tray.)

All of the above took 40 minutes.
When the candy was cool, it was clearly not sticky,
and made loud sounds when broken.  The mouth feel was
much like peanut brittle.

She also said:

 The baking soda is important to peanut brittle to make
 the candy form air holes.  This candy has no air holes,
 and should be thinner than peanut brittle, so I did not
 use and baking soda.

Thus spoke the woman who was only happy with the kitchen
when it was expanded to occupy half the ground floor.
I get to eat what she cooks, so she can have as many
square feet as she wants.


                jim (Who made "The Quiche Of Death" last week)

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