Candy making

The technology for candy making has generally kept pace with the technology of the times. For example, when steam power became common in textile and engineering factories, steam power was also used in candy factories.

Candy making and consumption increased greatly during the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. Candy had previously been made by hand, either occasionally at home or by specialists in small, local businesses. Increased mechanization caused prices to drop and production to increase.

In the late 19th century and especially the early 20th century, industrial candy making was almost exclusively a masculine affair, and home-based candy making was a feminine affair.[1] Candy was considered sweet and dainty, so making it at home, giving it away to friends, and perhaps selling small amounts in the local area, conformed with the Western gender roles for women of the time.[1] Most women making and selling candy did so only seasonally or for a little extra money; they rarely earned enough to support themselves or their families. Despite several large brands being named after women or otherwise capitalizing on wholesome, feminine, and maternal images, very few were owned or operated by women.

Gender segregation also affected candy workers in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.[1] Men and boys were employed for cooking or operating machinery, putting them at higher risk of injury or death.[2] Women were mostly employed for wrapping and putting candies in packages or for hand-dipping candies in chocolate. The best-paid women were chocolate dippers, yet the wages of these skilled and experienced female workers were almost always lower than that of the worst-paid male machine operators.[1]

Fruit-shaped hard candy

Hard candy, also referred to as boiled sweet, is a candy prepared from one or more syrups boiled to a temperature of 160 °C (320 °F). After a syrup boiled to this temperature cools, it is called hard candy, since it becomes stiff and brittle as it approaches room temperature. Hard candy recipes variously call for syrups of sucrose, glucose, or fructose. To add color, food coloring is sometimes used.[3]

Chocolatiering, the preparing of confections from chocolate, involves the techniques of tempering, molding and sculpting. Tempering is a heat treatment method performed on chocolate involving heating and cooling the chocolate to result in desired characteristics like shininess of the chocolate or 'snap', the way it breaks.[9] Molding is a design technique used in making chocolate pieces that are of a certain shape by taking liquid chocolate and pouring it into a mold and letting it harden.[10] Sculpting is a type of three-dimensional artwork that may involve using molds and pieces of chocolate, and decorating the piece with designs in chocolate.

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  A chocolatier making chocolate eggs
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  A chocolatier making a chocolate tower

Making candy can be hazardous due to the use of boiled sugar and melted chocolate.[2] Boiling sugar often exceeds 150 °C (302 °F)—hotter than most cooked foods—and the sugar tends to stick to the skin, causing burns and blisters upon skin contact.[2] Worker safety programs focus on reducing contact between workers and hot food or hot equipment, and reducing splashing, because even small splashes can cause burns.[2]

Some ingredients can also irritate the eyes and lungs, if, for example, powdered ingredients are accidentally inhaled, so worker protection involves reducing exposure to potentially irritating ingredients.[2] Occupational dust exposure reduction measures can reduce health problems among workers.

Dust control measures can reduce risk of catastrophic dust explosions from sugar and other ingredients in candy.[11] Dust explosions have caused the destruction of factories and killed candy makers. Some dust explosions include the 1948 explosion of a Brach's candy factory in Chicago, in which 17 employees died,[12] and as recently as the three sugar silo fires at Perfetti Van Melle's candy factory in Kentucky, in 2003, 2015, and 2017.[13][14]

A variety of tools and machines are used in making candy, ranging from simple kitchen tools like bowls and spoons to elaborate factory machinery.

Because exact temperature control is critical for some candies, a common tool is the candy thermometer. Inexpensive candy thermometers measure food temperatures up to about 160 °C, and those designed for commercial candy production may run even higher.[4]

A starch mogul is used in candy factories to shape soft candies or candy centers from syrups or gels. These centers may then be sent through a chocolate enrober to coat them in chocolate.

Although they are often skilled workers, candy makers are not generally highly paid. A chocolatier in the US, for example, usually earns about US $21,000 per year.[15]

• Candy Making Basics - Evelyn Howe Fryatt
• Candymaking - Ruth A. Kendrick, Pauline H. Atkinson
• Truffles, Candies, and Confections: Techniques and Recipes for Candymaking - Carole Bloom
• The Art of Candy Making: Fully Explained, with 105 Recipes for the Home.... 1915.