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Saving Money: Making Candi Sugar

Beet sugar waiting to invert.
I love Belgian Candi Sugar. So much so, that since I started this blog, it's shown up in my Belgian Strong Pale Ale, Tripel-Dubbel, Enkel and Tripel recipes. Unfortunately, the stuff is rather expensive. Upwards of $5.00 a pound expensive. This led me to wonder if I could make it myself.

How hard can it be?

Checking the temp at 15 min.
After a bit of research, it turns out to be a pretty simple and inexpensive process. In addition to a pot and spoon, all it takes is sugar, water, cream of tartar, a candy thermometer, a cookie sheet, aluminum foil or parchment paper, plus a little time. More importantly, the finished product will cost less than a $1.00 a pound.

The syrup is darkening at 30 min.
If you want to be true to the Belgian original, you'll want to use beet sugar. Here in Colorado, we have a local producer of it, but it can be hard to find in some other markets. No worries though, as cane sugar works just as well.

Here it is after 60 min.
Rather than bore you with details about chemical reactions, I'll keep things simple. What you're basically doing is mixing sugar with water to make a syrup, then heating the syrup at a set temperature long enough to achieve the desired color and aroma. The cream of tartar is there to break the sugar down into glucose and fructose, which makes your yeast's job of converting the sugar to alcohol easier.

Here's the basic procedure for making one pound of Candi Sugar:
  1. Mix one pound of sugar with approximately 1 cup of water to make a thick syrup.
  2. Over Medium heat, gently stir the liquid until the sugar is dissolved and then add 1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar
  3. Maintain Medium heat and slowly bring the mixture to a boil. 
  4. Hold your temperature between 260-275F, without going over. The water will evaporate as you go, so add small amounts of cold water as needed to maintain your temp. I end up adding 1-2 Tbsp every couple of minutes.
  5. Keep cooking the sugar until the desired color and aroma is achieved. Clear Candi Sugar (it will actually be a touch yellow) will be ready in as few as 15 minutes and have little to no aroma. As the sugar darkens, caramel and dark fruit aromas will develop with increasing intensity.
  6. When you've reached the color and aroma you want, increase the heat until the sugar reaches 300F and then remove the pot from the stove.
  7. Pour the sugar onto a foil or parchment paper covered cookie-sheet in a thin layer and allow to cool.
The finished sugar ready to pour and cool.
The cooled sugar will be rock hard and ready to store for later use.

One word of caution. Whatever you do, don't let the sugar cool in the pot. If you do, you will have a major-league mess on your hands. Once you've poured the sugar out, rinse the pot immediately.

That's it. Candi Sugar made nice and cheap. The first beer I've used it in will be up in a future blog.
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