20+ Homemade Candy Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What are people doing with leftover Halloween candy? ›

Organizations that accept candy donations include: Operation Gratitude, Soldiers' Angels, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Operation Stars and Stripes, Operation Shoebox and Any Soldier. 3. Switch it. If you need a clever way to convince younger kids to give up some of their loot, tell them about the Switch Witch.

The Sweet Foundation: Sugar and Syrup

At the heart of almost every candy recipe lies sucrose crystals, making sugar the main ingredient. Complementing sugar is syrup, often derived from starch sources like corn or tapioca. This combination of sugars provides a stable and flavourful base for a variety of candies.

Stir white sugar, corn syrup, and water together in a medium saucepan. Cook, stirring, over medium heat until sugar dissolves, then bring to a boil. Without stirring, heat to 300 to 310 degrees F (149 to 154 degrees C), or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms hard, brittle threads.

Candy is made by dissolving sugar in water or milk to form a syrup, which is boiled until it reaches the desired concentration or starts to caramelize. The type of candy depends on the ingredients and how long the mixture is boiled. Candy comes in a wide variety of textures, from soft and chewy to hard and brittle.

Right after the holiday they will have sales to try to get some profit out of the leftover candy after a month or so those stores will either donate it to food pantries or sell it to discount grocery stores.

Yes, eating too much candy will give kids cavities, but that does not mean that the candy that they walked around for hours for should be thrown away without another thought. Candy is still food. It is still something that was bought with money. Throwing it away would be throwing out everyone's money and time.

1: Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. This perennial favorite easily finished first in the candy derby, earning the title of most popular Halloween candy in 18 states, including densely populated ones like California, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts.

Butter is added in the final stages to add flavor and smoothness and inhibit large crystal formation. Use unsalted butter so you can add a small amount of salt (¼ teaspoon per stick of butter) to the sugar/liquid mixture. Salt tends to stabilize the mixture and keep it from foaming as much.

Next is soft-crack stage, this happens between 270-290oF, sugar concentration is 95%, and forms solid, flexible threads. Hard-crack stage occurs between 300-310oF, sugar concentration is around 99%, and makes hard, brittle threads when dropped in water.

The idea of candy began by the caveman who ate honey. The first candy was used by the Ancient Egyptians for cult purposes. In ancient times, Egyptians, Arabs, and Chinese made candies with fruits and nuts that caramelized with honey. The two oldest candy types are licorice and ginger.

How did Egyptians make candy? ›

Most historians say the first 'candies' originated in the time of the Ancient Egyptians, as early as 1500 - 2000 BC. The Egyptians would use honey mixed with fruit or nuts to curb their sweet tooth. Honey was also used in Ancient China, the Middle East, Egypt, Greece and the Roman Empire as a form of confection.

: one that makes candy : confectioner.

Combine your sugar and water off the heat, and stir it just until the sugar is evenly moistened. Avoid stirring the sugar if at all possible once you put it on the stove. Agitation can cause the sugar to crystallize.

Most candies will keep 2 to 3 weeks (if not longer) if stored tightly covered in a cool, dry place or in the refrigerator. It's best to avoid storing different types of candy together in the same container because hard candies will become soft and sticky, and soft candies will dry out.

While you are boiling your syrup, you can stir it until the sugar melts and the mixture comes to a boil. Then, you should stop stirring and take the syrup off the heat in about 1-2 minutes.

Local organizations, like schools, churches, homeless shelters, police and fire stations will also often accept leftover candy.

"Generally, stores really do sell through most of their inventory by lowering prices," said Michael Allured, publisher of candy trade magazine The Manufacturing Confectioner. "All but a very small portion is sold, the rest may go to a food pantry like Second Harvest.

"Every year, Americans throw away about $400 million worth of uneaten sweets from trick-or-treating. That's a lot of food waste. But the fix is simple: stop giving away candies that kids don't like (candy corn, anyone?) and give away treats that they do enjoy.