SUGAR RUSH

Join the candy craze as Claire Karwowski studies the sugary science of sweets.

Imagine you’re walking down the sweet aisle at your local grocery store. You see flying saucers, sour gummies, Maltesers, Mars bars and so much more. Sure, at first glance – and bite – these sweets may taste, look, smell and feel different, but if you boil them all down (literally) they all have the same base ingredient: sugar. It is only when sugar mixes with science that it shapeshifts into your favourite sweets. So how are different candies made? Why do you crave them? Who is hard at work making the world taste so good? Let’s dive into the wild world of sweets to find out.

Candy chemistry

Candy-making is a lesson in chemistry – a type of science that studies how substances change when they react with each other. To make different sweets, candy makers (also known as “food engineers”) combine sugar, water and other ingredients – flavourings and gelatins (substances that form a stiff jelly) – and then bring them to a boil. Boiling the mixture causes a chemical reaction that changes the structure of sugar. Once that happens, the sugar mixture is ready to be cooled. It is the cooling process that determines what form the sugar will take. All candy can be sorted into two categories: crystalline or non-crystalline. Crystalline candies are continuously stirred as they cool, which makes smooth, easy-to chew sweets like fudge. Non-crystalline candies are usually more brittle-like sticks of rock and lollipops. The mixture is boiled at a much higher temperature, which gives it a hard glassy texture.

Sweet school