Sugars & Sweeteners for Candy Making | Indiana Sugars (2024)

FAQs

What are the sweeteners used in candy? ›

Corn Syrup: Solid sugars aren't the only sweeteners used in candy making. Liquid sweeteners like corn syrup are incredibly common for making hard candies since using corn syrup creates a smooth texture. Invert Sugar: If you're making candy in bulk, consider using invert sugar, a sugar made primarily of sucrose.

Sugar, mainly sucrose from sugar beets or sugarcane, is the major constituent of most candies. Other sweeteners employed in candy manufacture include corn syrup, corn sugar, honey, molasses, maple sugar, and noncaloric sweeteners. Sweeteners may be used in dry or liquid form.

Stevia is a non-alcohol, non-artificial sugar substitute made from the leaf of a sweet plant. Saccharin, aspartame, stevia, and sucralose are calorie-free and carb-free. Sugar alcohols contain some carbohydrates. You're especially likely to encounter sugar alcohols in sugar-free candies, so be sure to check labels.

Overall, allulose is the closest to processed sugar in both taste and texture while holding less calories. Erythritol has a taste very similar to sugar with no aftertaste but can create a cooling sensation in the mouth.

Nerds Candy ranks as the candy with the highest sugar quantity, with a substantial 93g of sugar per 100g.

Fructose is the sweetest naturally occurring sugar, estimated to be twice as sweet as sucrose. Fructose is also derived from the digestion of sucrose, a disaccharide consisting of glucose and fructose that is broken down by glycoside hydrolase enzymes during digestion.

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.

Can we make candy without sugar? ›

However, the great thing about our zero sugar candy recipe is that we use sugar free honey! How do we do it? Well, we use monk fruit extract as the sweetening agent. We also use a no-sugar alcohol, and that way, you won't have tummy issues.

3 min read. Rock sugar, also known as rock candy or sugar candy, is a hard confection made by cooling sugar syrup into large crystals, sometimes around a stick or piece of string. It can be made with different types of sugar, including white granulated sugar, sugar cane, and brown sugar.

Aspartame is an artificial sweetener. It is the methyl ester derivative of the dipeptide formed from aspartic acid and phenylalanine. Aspartame is 100 times sweeter than cane sugar.

Advantame

Advantame is an ultra-intense artificial sweetener. In fact, it's a whopping 20,000 times sweeter than table sugar. It gained FDA approval in 2014 and has since been used in food products, such as baked goods, chewing gum, soft drinks, frozen desserts, syrups, and processed fruit juices.

Sucralose is approved for use in food as a sweetener. Sucralose is sold under the brand name Splenda®. Sucralose is about 600 times sweeter than table sugar.

Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal). Neotame (Newtame). Saccharin (Sweet'N Low). Sucralose (Splenda).

Many sugar-free treats get their sweetness from substances called sugar alcohols. These compounds, including maltitol, isomalt, xylitol, and sorbitol, contain neither sugar nor alcohol (in the traditional sense). Rather, they provide sweetness from compounds that human intestines cannot absorb as readily as sugar.

The most commonly used is a sugar called sucrose, which is derived from sugarcane or sugar beets. Other sweeteners are honey, molasses, maple sugar, corn sugar, and corn syrup. Some candies are made with such artificial, noncaloric sweeteners as saccharin or aspartame.