Making Fudge - temperature/humidity calculation?
About 15 years ago as a student I used to work at a fudge making store. I remember it was not quite as straight forward as boil, cool, sell.
There was a certain calculation to determine the correct temperature to stop boiling the fudge mixture. I know the general idea is 234°F or 112°C, but I can remember we had a humidity sensor reading, and that had to be used in a calculation to get to the correct or precise temperature to pour out the fudge mixture onto the huge marble table to start cooling and shaping the logs of fudge.
Is there someone out there who knows how this calculation works?
Best Answer
I think you have it backwards. They weren't measuring humidity to calculate temperature. Rather, for home cooks, temperature is used to determine humidity.
In fudge making, the goal of cooking is simply to reduce the water in the sugar syrup to a specific concentration. Sugar syrups produce different hardness of candy at different concentrations.
When cooking other things- such as meat- the temperature is important because bad bugs are killed or meat proteins denatured at specific temperatures. Sugar, on the other hand, isn't changed at the temperatures used in candy making. Water is just boiling away. It's usually a bad thing when the temps get hot enough to start changing the sugar, ie caramelization.
Sugar syrups happen to boil at higher temperatures as they become more concentrated. Therefore the temperature can be used to determine the concentration. Temperature is much easier to measure than water concentration. Unfortunately, the boiling temperature of water changes dramatically depending on elevation. I moved from sea level to the mountains and the boiling point of water changed by 9 degrees F. That is a significant difference in candy concentration and I have to reduce the cooking time for my recipes.
In a commercial setting, it is worth the cost and effort to measure the syrup humidity directly. It's more foolproof. However, for home cooks, thermometers are cheap and easy to use. Therefore, most recipes are written in terms of temperature and not sugar concentration.
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What should humidity be when making fudge?
Humidity is the enemy of candy makers. The perfect candy-making climate has a relative humidity of less than 35 percent.Does humidity affect making fudge?
Absolutely! Weather greatly affects our fudge. Cold weather and/or low humidity makes the harder outer shell more pronounced and the fudge less moist. Hot and/or humid weather makes the shell less effective and the interior of the fudge more creamy.What temperature should homemade fudge be?
You have to control two temperatures to make successful fudge: the cooking temperature AND the temperature at which the mixture cools before stirring to make it crystallize. Confectionery experiments have shown that the ideal cooking temperature for fudge is around 114 to 115 \xb0C (237 to 239 \xb0F).What temperature should you beat fudge?
The fudge is ready when a candy thermometer reads between 112 to 114 \xb0C (234 to 237 \xb0F) or the mixture forms a soft ball in cold water. Let the mixture cool before beating. The temperature at this point should be between 43 to 45 \xb0C (110 to 113 \xb0F). The fudge should be warm but not burning hot.English Fudge Candy Made by Hand. London Greenwich Market. Street Food
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Answer 2
When making any old fashion candies the humidity controls if the candy sets up. No MATTER how long you cook. Humidity has to be fairly low when making old fashion candy. I just don't know exactly how low. I wait until it's down to 45% . And I have no problem.
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