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Candy is “Always a treat”, this is what the National Confectioners Association tells us, and they couldn’t be more correct.
Candy is always a treat.
For me, candy is not only a treat to eat, but also a treat to formulate and make. Lets delve into the world of all things Confectionery and see what it takes to create thse sweet products - and a little about the sweet treats we all love.
In the French sense of the word, confections include sugar-based sweets, chocolate products, and even some sweet baked goods. These products have been adding joy to our lives for centuries.
Making confections is both an art and a science. Years of trial and error led to the categories we know today, and with new processes and ingredients, innovation continues.
If you want to make candy, these are the two things you must understand and embrace: ingredients and process.
A vital understanding of the ingredients used to make candy is the first step is making delicious product.
Since we are focusing on confections, sugar is the first ingredient to consider. The whole confections industry was based on the functionality and taste of sugar, it is truly an amazing ingredient. There have been books and papers written about its unique functionality.
...but first a small rabbit trail...
SUGAR, this word we use all the time, it is used on labels and you can find it on the grocery store shelf, but what is it? The word sugar can be confusing because it has two meanings:
- Table sugar (sucrose): the disaccharide we buy at the grocery store
- Sugars (general term): any mono- or disaccharide (like glucose, fructose, lactose)
I don’t want to get too deep into sugar or carbohydrate chemistry here – saccharides are basically carbohydrate, or carbohydrate units. When we look at nutritional labels, it has total sugars and added sugars, and this term sugars means any mono or disaccharide.
Ok, back to how amazing sugar (or sucrose) is and why an entire industry is based on it.
1. Unique solubility – All sugars become more soluble as temperature increases, but sucrose behaves differently. Its solubility is less temperature-dependent than other sugars. This allows us to cook to high solids without premature crystallization and then control crystallization during cooling—giving us a wide range of textures. It wouldn’t work with another sugar, trust me I have tried.
2. Amazing Crystallization – Sucrose can crystallize in many ways, from large crystals (like rock candy) to very fine crystals (like fondant). Controlling crystal size and formation is key to texture in many confections.
3. Great taste – sugar is the gold standard for sweetness. It has a strong bold sweetness that lingers for a few seconds and then disappears with no off flavors. Every sweetener is compared to sugar, and our taste buds love it. This sweetness gives us the broad bold flavor profile we love in so many confections
We all know sugar is the base of confections and that sugar adds sweetness but the other important property of sugar is as a bulking agent, this means it takes up space and contribute to structure.
Other notable bulking agents in confections are glucose syrup (corn syrup, rice syrup, tapioca syrup). Their main function in a confection may be:
- Take up space - 30-80% of the formula
- Control texture (Crystallization, chewiness, etc)
- Help with moisture and Shelf life.
- Reduce water activity and therefore microbial control.
Be mindful of what you are using, and the quality and functionality of the ingredients. Understanding the functionality and characteristics of the bulking agents you select is key to the final formulation. I will give an example, fructose is a great humectant, and it can extend shelf life and keep a product moist over time, but it can also bring water into the product creating stickiness. There are other bulking agents you can use including sorbitol, fibers, FOS, inulin, allulose or other sugars. At the end of the day, you have to fill the formula of your confection with something, bulking agents and water take up a majority of the space.
Water often is overlooked, but it is a critical ingredient, even if it sometimes is only passing through, and what I mean by that is that many times in candy we are evaporating it away. Water is used to dissolve ingredients, hydrate stabilizers, provide the proper texture (we don’t want things too hard, unless we are making hard candy).
Using a good clean source of water and understanding where it is and when and where it leaves is important to a good quality product.
The term stabilizer is a broad term to cover many ingredients. It can refer to the gelatin in marshmallows, the wheat flour in licorice or the pectin in a gummy product. In many confections it is the key to the bite and chew, to the aeration and finished product texture. In a product like a gummy, the stabilizer is key to make sure the product stays together. Each stabilizer has unique hydration needs, setting conditions, and textures. Taking the time to learn about these will help guide you to the product you desire.
A few sugar based confections contain fats and oils, as a processing aid or to modify the texture, but in chocolate based confections fats reign supreme, specifically cocoa butter. As amazing as sucrose is to sugar confections, cocoa butter is to chocolate products. If you want to make a chocolate type product you have to embrace and understand the unique product of cocoa butter, especially its crystallization, which is critical to texture, snap and appearance. Even more whem you want to substitute it, so you can work in the limitations.
There are two main reasons to add acids and buffers to your confection, and we don’t add them to every confection. Flavoring is the first reason for acids in confections. For example, chocolate does have added acids, but many naturally occurring organic acids that contribute to the complex flavor profile. Fruit flavored candy need acid as a component to make the product taste like the fruit we are mimicking. The second reason we add acids to confections is for shelf-life stability; adding acid decrease the pH, which prevents microbial growth. You must ensure that your finished pH is low enough (usually below 4) to have a product that won’t grow yeast, mold, or bacteria. Remember the other prevention of micro growth is to have sufficient bulking agents. These two work together to make a stable product. There are other things acids and buffers do including enabling certain stabilizers to gel.
The last ingredient set to consider is the colors and flavors – the color and flavor of the finished product allows us to taste and enjoy, starting with our eyes, then our nose and finally our taste buds, all together giving the complete experience. The selection of colors and flavors are key as we try to design and enjoy our end confectionery product.
Making delicious confections isn’t just about selecting and understanding the ingredients you put together to make a product - the process is equally important. All the best ingredients in a bad process will make bad candy.
When you decide how you will make candy, there are many things to consider:
1. Will you make the candy yourself or work with a co-manufacturer? Making it yourself gives you full control over the formula and quality, but it comes with real costs — equipment investment, certifications (FDA, SQF, etc.), and time that could otherwise go toward marketing and sales. The key question is whether you have the capital and bandwidth to run your own plant.
2. If you work with a co-manufacturer, does their equipment match your product? Truly innovative concepts can be hard to place because the right equipment simply may not exist at scale yet. It's worth asking yourself whether your idea can be adapted to run on existing co-man equipment without losing what makes it special.
3. If you are a co-manufacturer, what kind of business do you want to build? Will you focus on smaller volume, higher margin work — or higher volume at thinner margins? And critically, can your plant handle the unique challenges that innovative products bring to the line?
There are two main objectives in the cooking process,
1. Making sure everything is dissolved
2. Evaporating excess water.
Cooking systems can range from the simplest process an open kettle to a more sophicasted system where we use direct or indirect steam. Some cooking methods are more complex using pressure+heat in order to activate the stabilizer (ie. a jet cooker for starch). The end of the process usually involves adding colors, acids and flavors. Choosing the correct cooking process requires the understanding of the stabilizer to be used and the moisture you want to achieve in the product at this stage of the process.
After the cooking process the candy has to be formed into the sellable shape. In the case of hard candy the candy mass could be rolled down into the correct diameter and cut. Some products are deposited into molds and allowed to set or cure. Extruders can be used to size and form the pieces into the correct shape and weight. This step impacts both appearance and texture.
Packaging determines how your product reaches the consumer and how well it holds up over time. What size package will you sell your product? Will it be resealable? How are similar products on the market packaged? Where will it be sold in the store, and what does that mean for packaging (bottle, peg board, stand up pouch)? What shelf life do you need for your packaging? What will be the loss of quality factor and how will your package protect your product?
Making confectionery is a journey of both science and creativity.
From understanding ingredients to process, every decision impacts the final product. Take the time to learn, experiment, and refine your approach.
And most importantly—enjoy the journey. 🍬
See You soon!
Michelle Schwenk, Ph.D.
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