Silk sugar
Silk sugar is a particularly elegant form of processing cane or beet sugar .
It is not only used to make very artistic showpieces, any flowers or their blossoms can also be made from this material in a very natural way. The normal consumer is familiar with silk sugar because of its use for silk sugar (crackling almonds and similar). In addition, industrially produced lollipops made from this mass are increasingly being sold in the trade today .
Manufacturing
The designation of pulled sugar as an alternative to silk sugar is due to the manufacturing process.
There are two fundamentally different manufacturing processes:
The physical method
Cane or beet sugar is dissolved in water and brought to a boil. During the cooking process, potato starch syrup is added to the sugar solution . The water content is greatly reduced by further heating. When the target temperature is reached (severe fracture), the mass is quenched and applied to oiled marble or modern silicone mats. The added potato syrup now ensures that the mass does not crystallize out, as is usual for sugar solutions. The syrup delays this crystallization very much. Adding citric acid can increase this effect even further, but it has a negative effect on the hygroscopic properties of the sugar.
The chemical method
Cane or beet sugar is dissolved in water and brought to a boil with the addition of tartar . During the cooking process, the double sugar is inverted (sugar splitting). This production process is very similar to the production of synthetic honey . The water content is greatly reduced by further heating - the reduction ensures that the mass also solidifies when it cools. When the target temperature is reached, which is much higher than that of the physical process, the mass is quenched and applied to oiled marble or even more modern silicone mats.
cooling down
In a viscous to plastic state, the mass is now pulled. This means that air bubbles are incorporated and elongated by pulling the mass. This process is repeated a few times and then gives the sugar mass its characteristic silky shine.
Further processing
Pulled sugar can be drawn or blown while it is still hot, and the sugar mass described can also be used for pouring sugar directly from the kettle.
The processing is very similar to that of glass processing , only the fingers are mainly used as molding tools in sugar processing. A small single or double bellows is normally used for blowing - the air you breathe would contain too much moisture and thus destroy the inside of the blown figures.