Hi Gscot,
It looks a bit like my first attempt last year, not very inspiring, is it?
Given that you are using the recipe given earlier, 1kg sugar, 200g glucose and 150ml water, it looks like you might have brought it to a boil, but the object is actually to slowly dissolve the sugar.
When making 2:1 syrup, we are just about on the edge of how much sugar can be reliably dissolved in warm/cold water, after which it quickly reaches saturation. Raising the temperature of the solution allows more sugar to be dissolved. If brought to a rapid boil then the game is lost as you will lose water and the crystals will remain as large as they are.
Keep the solution hot and below boiling while stirring to dissolve the crystals. The glucose is there to seed the crystal growth in the syrup as it cools. I use a wooden spatula that allows me to scrape the bottom of the pot reliably, in a way that your metal spoon cannot, due to the shape and it's a good heat sink, so probably not quite as efficient as it might be.
I know from the batch that I made last night that the amount of water at 150ml seemed to be exceedingly low, but I persevered and I think that my result was about 95% good.
So, knowing the target, I fell short, but only because I too still had sugar crystals in the solution when I took the heat off. How would I change things? I will tonight add another 50ml of water, bringing it to 200ml and make sure that I get to a syrup stage, without boiling before taking it off the heat.
Why? Well, to make it slightly easier for the sugar crystals to dissolve fully in the first place. I am confident that even with the slight increase in water content, that the sugar will not be able to remain in solution without crystalising. I expect that the fondant might be slightly more mobile, but I'll still have room in the tetra-pack carton
Interestingly if you take a 1 litre-tetra pack that fruit juice and some milk comes in, and open up one side (top, side, bottom) to make a box for the fondant. I found that it all fitted nicely, with about 1/4 inch to spare. I placed it on a kitchen towel with the open side against a wall or batten of wood, so that it is supported and sets straight, rather than bulging. A neat disposable storage solution.
You can stack it up for storage and open the flap and pop it on the bees in 1kg portions.
In the past I think that I have followed recipes to the best of my ability without thinking through the mechanics of the process. Also, thinking about it, this cold weather is probably the best time for making fondant.
Liquid glucose 150g from the supermarket baking section £1.19? Glucose powder 450g packet (with added vitamin C (wow)) £1.39. You do the sums, the powder also mixes more easily with the dry sugar than the liquid glucose.
Confession, I only used 150g of liquid glucose, because that was the size of the tube available; nothing to get too anal about in the greater scheme of things.
Any one else got any insights into the actual process and tips for those that still have to be confident about getting a good result every time?
Gscot, don't try to reprocess your current batch as you will be coming from an indeterminate starting point. Make it into syrup and start again with a fresh bag of sugar. If the bees don't take it over the winter, consider some peppermint essence and feeding it to the kids/grandkids in the spring
