What causes the sugar to turn grainy after I have cooked it for a glaze or cooking it with butter for carmelizing?
I tried several times to cook the glaze for a strawberry glaze pie and the sugar, water, and cornstarch would thicken but then the sugar would turn grainy. I have also tried to boil water, sugar, and butter to make a carmel type sauce to pour over corn curls and it thickens and seems to be fine but then turns grainy right after I take it off the stove.
Best Answer
It sounds like your syrups are crystallizing on you.
For a smooth glaze or caramel, you want tiny little sugar crystals. When you heat your sugar and water mixture, after a certain temperature the water becomes super-saturated with the sugar.
After this super-saturation point, things get dicey. If the solution is disturbed--say by stirring, or an undissolved sugar crystal or other foreign particle getting into the solution--the sugar can rapidly come out of solution and form big crystals. This could be why your confections are grainy.
There are a lot of resources online that have the science behind it and suggestions on preventing it (example, example, example). To summarize a few:
- Always use a clean pot or pan.
- Make sure the sugar is completely dissolved before it comes to a boil
- Dip a pastry brush in water to wash away any sugar that sticks to the side of the pot or pan as the sugar heats.
- Combine the sugar with a little water (it should have the consistency of wet sand) before cooking.
- Avoid stirring the sugar when it comes to a simmer.
- Cover the pan loosely with a lid or baking sheet.
- Add a little acid (such as a touch of lemon juice) or corn syrup to the sugar-water mixture before cooking
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Quick Answer about "What causes the sugar to turn grainy after I have cooked it for a glaze or cooking it with butter for carmelizing?"
For a smooth glaze or caramel, you want tiny little sugar crystals. When you heat your sugar and water mixture, after a certain temperature the water becomes super-saturated with the sugar. After this super-saturation point, things get dicey.How can you prevent sugar from crystallizing?
Any sugar crystals remaining in the syrup can cause others to crystallize. Adding a little corn syrup or an acid such as citrus juice will help to prevent this. Selecting a syrup recipe that includes a little brown sugar gives pancake syrup a warm color and the acid in brown sugar helps to prevent crystallization.Why does my sugar keep crystallizing?
Why is my sugar crystallizing? Unclean pots and pans, hard water, excessive stirring, and impure sugar can all cause sugar to crystallize. Sugar will latch onto particulates like minerals in the water or even foreign objects like your stirring spoon.Why is my sugar not dissolving in butter?
Why Won'T My Sugar Dissolve In Butter? It is more difficult to dissolve sugar when there is less water in your ingredients (or if there is more sugar). It's difficult to tell how much water is present in butter and mascarpone. You can either add more butter or less sugar, but first you need to liquefy the sugar.Why is my homemade caramel sauce grainy?
Grainy caramel is caused by crystallization, which is easy to avoid (and can also be fixed). Caramel becomes grainy when the sugars crystallize, a process that happens when the melted sugar splashes up onto the cold sides of the pan. It loses its moisture and turns back into a sugar crystal.How to Caramelize sugar- Easiest way from start to finish
More answers regarding what causes the sugar to turn grainy after I have cooked it for a glaze or cooking it with butter for carmelizing?
Answer 2
When you add milk to the cooked brown sugar and butter mixture, add SLOWLY while stirring constantly. Adding cold milk too suddenly causes the sugar to crystallize. A simple solution. This is what works for me always!
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