Friday, January 18, 2013

We Made Taffy! (Or "The Blob Has Invaded")

This week our homeschool cooking project was something that I have wanted to make for my entire life (or at least since I read the "Little House" and "Grandma's Attic" books)....

Homemade Pulled Taffy!

So much fun! It was easy to put together, cooled quickly, and was fun to pull.

There was only one problem... The stuff absolutely refused to stiffen up! It is supposed to stiffen as it cools and is pulled, but after 40+ minutes of pulling (and pulling... and pulling...) I finally gave up and admitted defeat.

However, they tell me it still tasted good, and it has stiffened up a bit over time. I figure that I either added too much butter during the pulling, or I didn't get the temp high enough (though I used a candy thermometer to ensure proper temps).

But it was fun nonetheless, and I hope to try it again sometime!

This is what it looked like when we started... and what it looked like at the end when I gave up. 

2 comments:

  1. Did you test your candy thermometer before using it, or just assume it was correct? When I used my candy thermometer, it was off by about 12 degrees; part of that is that I'm at high altitude, so water boils at a lower temperature, so I know that was part of the problem, but I don't think it should have been that far off. I've seen several people say to test the thermometer **every** time you use it, just to make sure it hasn't gotten mis-calibrated somehow.

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  2. Kathy - You are quite right! I did use a candy thermometer, but I didn't test it (have never done so!). Next time I'll try the ball test that some people were recommending in the comments - it's supposed to be fail-safe. It was fun anyway! (Though no one around here is actually eating it, so it may go to waste anyway.) Ah well, it was fun!

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