Sugar powers.

If you've ever worked with sugar you know it can be tricky. Personally, I've not done too much. I think the first and only time I used a candy thermometer was when my mother and I made homemade marshmallows at Christmas time a few years back. Esh. That was a messy project. We made a massive batch that expanded up and out of the mixer like the blob. I got the recipe from City Bakery in New York. They must have had much bigger mixers. But in the end they turned out tasty. Wrapped up cute, they made great gifts. My aunt actually mentioned them again just the other day.

Other than the mess those marshmallows made, I remember boiling the sugar and waiting for for the "soft ball" stage. Not fully understanding what that meant, it seemed like it took forever. I didn't know what to expect. Was the whole pan going to turn into a giant soft ball? Would multiple balls form? I remember feeling disappointed when we watched the thermometer reach the correct temperature for "soft ball" stage and then just moved on to the next step. What does it mean?!?

We performed a little sugar experiment. Chef explained to us how precise we have to be. Even a couple degrees makes a difference to its form and how it can be used. Like the butter exercise, he again employed his hands-on approach to teaching. You want to know the best way to know what the sugar is doing at different boiling points? Feel it. Yes. Put your hand in boiling syrup, then you'll know. And that's what we did.


"Don't be afraid, or you'll get burned," he said.

Um, yeah. We each got a bowl of ice water to numb our thumb and first two fingers, then plunged right in. And Chef was right. You can feel the difference. Once you tune out your mother's voice in your head begging and screaming at you not to do it, it's not so bad. The hotter it gets. Like 124C or 255F, you can feel grainy sugar forming. Even hotter and it starts to clump and you literally form hard candy in an instant, stamped with your fingerprints.

So "soft ball", or "boulé" as it's called en Français, is when an actual soft ball forms between your fingers. Guess it's not that complicated after all.

Your super powers stop at about 145C or 293F, when not even ice will protect you. The sugar will start to yellow and become "sucre d'orge" and just get darker from there. When it's black it's carbon and not fit for consumption. However, it's great for decorations apparently. Just looks like a pool of vampire blood to me.