How to cook sugar? How to cook cockerels from sugar or caramel?

Petushki red and gold leaf, mint green candies on sticks, caramel in the form of the Kremlin - how many wonderful sweets from childhood are remembered when you are going to cook something from burnt sugar! From such a caramel at home, you can make sweets of any shape, as well as decorations for desserts, cakes and other confectionery delights.

Types of sugar syrup

How to cook sugar for candies and other sweets of this type? To ensure that your delicacy has turned out as it should, you need to know some important technological subtleties. Firstly, the syrup during the preparation passes several stages, each of which has its own parameters. At home, the sample is made according to color, consistency and taste. Therefore, if you only learned how to cook sugar, and learn this, you need to pay attention to the thickness of the resulting thread, the hardness of the sweet ball, and also the color - caramel or burnt.

Stages of melting sugar: "wrapping"

To make caramel with your own hands, you should clearly follow the stages of melting sugar. The first is called "enveloping". Water and sand are brought to the boiling point (100 degrees) and are maintained in this state for a while, until a syrup is formed. Fire should not be strong, otherwise the syrup will thicken quickly. If you lower the spoon into the syrup and immediately remove it, its sweetness will be wrapped in a thin film. Here's how to cook sugar for fruit in a caramel shell or savory.

Thin caramel string

If the pan is not removed from the plate, the second stage will begin soon - the crystallization of the syrup. The boiling point should be brought up to 105 degrees. The liquid in the pan begins to thicken. If you lower the spoon into it and carefully pull it out, the syrup will be pulled with thin threads, completely fragile. Here it is necessary to stop those who want to learn how to cook sugar to make candied fruit.

Frosting

The next stage is the formation of glaze. The boiling point reaches 110 degrees. Sugar strings become thicker, stronger. If you lower the spoon in the syrup, it will be evenly covered with a light sweet substance. Here's how to properly cook sugar until the stage when the product is suitable for glazing baking or fruit.

"Sweet pearls"

To get even more dense delicacies, continue to increase the boiling point. Now it should be + 112 ° С. In addition to hard, thick, sparkling threads, the surface of the syrup is covered with small bubbles. Do not miss this moment if you are interested in how to cook homemade sugar for pastille. And if the fire is made stronger, the temperature is raised to + 115 ° C, the bubbles become more voluminous and harder. Dropping chestnuts into such a liquid, you get the famous French dessert. Sipping the same syrup to + 125 ° C, you can cook on its basis creamy cream, nougat and many other delicious things!

Caramelization

And so we came to an important point, namely to the description of how to cook caramel from sugar. The temperature should be about 135 ° C. To check if the syrup has reached the desired degree of density, dial a droplet into the spoon and drip into cold water. If the ball has kept its shape, then the workpiece is correct and everything is ready for caramel. It also suits to make a sweet "gimp" and other sugar ornaments. In caramel syrup turns, when there is practically no water left in it (from + 155 ° С).

Color of sugar products

All sugar products described above have a pronounced silvery color and a rich sparkling. Starting from + 145 ° C and above, the shade of the syrup varies - from straw-yellow to golden and further to brown of varying degrees of saturation. Being already more like a tin, this sugar is not used as a dessert, but as an additive to ice cream, cream, etc.

Dishes and appliances

Now you know how to cook caramel from sugar for candy. The next question is: "What should I do?" To prepare the syrup, you need a thick-walled saucepan so that sugar does not burn quickly. The dishes should have comfortable handles. Stir the product with a wooden or silicone spoon or spatula, without diligent stirring. To measure the temperature, use a special culinary thermometer.

Lollipops from childhood

And now, in fact, how to cook lollipops from sugar - "cockerels". First of all, for making delicacies you will need special molds. They consist of two halves, which need to be tightly connected and fixed. Pre-lubricate both parts thoroughly with vegetable oil from the inside. Sugar syrup is respected at a temperature of + 155 ° C, and then gently, so as not to burn yourself, pour caramel through the holes for it in the molds. Insert the chopsticks and leave the sweets to cool. After half an hour open the containers - your candy is ready. This in general terms is a description of the process of how to cook "cockerels" from sugar. A detailed step-by-step instruction looks like this: take about 700 grams of sugar, 250 ml of water, about 200 g of glucose, a little lemon juice. If you plan to use the dye, then you also store it. In a saucepan, combine all the ingredients and put it on the fire. Let the contents boil. Add the dye and boil the syrup to the desired consistency and temperature. Pick up a small brush: by it you can remove the syrup from the walls. When the process of caramelization comes, grasp the molds and cast wonderful candies! So you know how to cook "cockerels" of sugar!

And a few more delicacies

Having various forms, you can cook a wide variety of sweets, experimenting with food colors. And to get more interesting flavor and aromatic properties in the syrup, add not only lemon, but also other saturated juice - citrus fruit or fruit, as well as vanillin, ground cinnamon, etc. If you do not have molds, but homemade sweets Really want to, then just take small pialas or other dishes in the form of a hemisphere. Lubricate them with oil and pour a thin trickle with syrup, then allow to cool. As a result, you have received a roller coaster, which you can simply eat, or you can turn into the original elements of the table decor - bowls, if you turn them downside down.

Caramel nuts

This wonderful dessert will please sweet tooth of any age. It is original to the taste and pleasantly diversifies your sweet table. Nuts will suit any - peeled almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts, walnuts. At the last nucleoli neatly divide into halves. When caramel (the layout of products can be taken the same as for "cockerels") boiled to 155 ° C, each nut planted on a spoke and dip into hot syrup. Quickly pull out and put on a greasy plate, and remove the needle. When the caramel coating stiffens, you can take the sweets and eat with pleasure.

Candy multicolored

Very delicious will be just a piece of burnt sugar. Take the sugar 300 grams, 100 grams of water, 70 - glucose. Cook the syrup at a temperature of 155 degrees. Spread out sheets of well-oiled paper on a table and pour out on them a puddle of syrup of arbitrary shape. Wait until it freezes. Then gently pat and gnaw on your health!

Safety precautions

Working with sugar syrup, you need to take precautions. When heated, it can strongly boil and splash, so take care of your hands. While stirring, hold the saucepan by the handle, especially tilting it to your side. Also pour out carefully on the forms.