Today I had a major breakthrough with my hard candy line. Natural flavors and colors are usually less forgiving than their artificial counterparts. When making hard candy with natural ingredients, it often requires patience and skill. This is especially true of colors. If color is added at the wrong time or temperature, it can burn off or turn color. In addition, too much stirring to incorporate into a batch can cause crystallization –a fudge like consistency as opposed to that of clear glass. Artificial colors and flavors are far more heat resistant and require less work when folding into a batch.
I have found that green is especially tough to work into hard candy. The colors we experimented with tended to burn off or turn to a strange looking teal or a murky sea-blue. Although, many natural flavors are heat resistant, they do not work well at a heat in excess of 200 degrees. I was able to overcome this obstacle by creating a method of bringing down the temperature while still incorporating the color. The result was a consistent, pretty green piece that retained its clarity. The first green batch I made into sour apple, which I consider to be my second best flavor to date (second to cinnamon-ancho). Tomorrow, I will test a kiwi with a pretty lime green color. Wish me luck!
There are a lot of great flavors that can be used in a green lollipop, make sure to comment if you have any ideas.
