Divinity Tips?

I know that you have gotten a lot of really good advice. Another thing is I have always been told not to use plastic or Tupperware.

Good Luck!!

S.

I was told by someone once that the secret to good candy is in buying good quality cane sugar. I didn't know there was any other kind of sugar til it was told to me.

1) You MUST make sure that you cook the syrup long enough. I always use the "water test" along with my candy thermometer. Candy thermometers can be off, make sure you check yours before each candy session. Cooking the syrup too long will make the Divinity too crumbly. Not long enough, and you get white silly putty.

2) Divinity is very moisture sensitive. Don't try to make it on a rainy day or any day when there is a lot of moisture in the air. Your divinity will not set up.

Either of the two most common mistakes listed above will cause your Divinity to turn out like white silly putty.

If you have any more questions you can email me directly through MAMASOURCE.

D.
SAHM of three: 19,18,and 5 . Home Baker and Candy Maker(See Member Perks). Married to the same wonderful man for almost 12 years.

Hello,

My Mother was the divinity Queen. He sisters would come over and with her she would make divinity all day for Christmas. I do know that it has to be a pretty day and NOT humid outside at all. NEVER double your batch of candy. I burnt up a mixer one time trying to do that. We always put ours by the spoonful onto waxpaper raking it off with another spoon into a nice little dollup and then topped each piece with a whole pecan. You have to work fast when the dipping process comes time and have wax paper and pecans ready.(If you like nuts in yours - you might not) Would be better to have 2 people dipping dollups and placing pecans on top - it starts setting fast. You can pour into a pan and cut, but I think other way is prettier. At the end when divinity is almost ready, you hand stir it till it starts to loose it's gloss and it is almost ready - and then work fast. Good luck - it might take a several tries, but be sure to remember the weather it really does play a factor, and my Mom would never even try on humid days... Thanks you brought back good memories with this question... I have been around and helped with hundrends of divinity makings and don't make it often at all, now I think I will put this on my list of things to do.
Happy News Years..

Hi T., divinity is tricky, lol, now you know. Yes one of the secrets is a dry weather day and the other is to cook your syrup to the hard crack stage. You probably know how but drop a small amount off of you spoon into cold water and it should stand up and be hard and crystal like glass. I ussually boil the mixture about 2 full min then test it. Then be sure you beat it in with the egg whites until it looses its gloss. The first few times I made it it was either not glossy at all and got hard fast or like you said a big glob. Just make sure you wait for the hard crack stage & you'll do fine.
Take care and good luck.

Candy making needs to be done on cold, dry days. I made peanut brittle for the first time in years because we had a couple of cold, dry days. If it's not cold, then you need to turn the air conditioner on about 60 degrees. Good Luck!

You need to make sure that you get it cooked to the right temperature. After that you need to whip it in your mixer for a long time. It is tricky to make but you can do it. You can do a test to also see if it is ready. Have cup of cold water ready and drop a little in the cup to see if it hardens up. Good luck.

Glossy white glop usually means it didn't get beaten long enough...it needs to lose it's "shine" and that takes a long time. A stand mixer is a must, unless you have extremely strong arms! Cooking to the correct temperature is essential as well. Finally, if the humidity is greater than 50-60%, better pick another day.

Hi there. It sounds like you have some great tips. My mom has been making candy at Christmas ever since I can remember, and now the tradition is being passed down to my sister, brothers, and me. When we make divinity, we cook it to the soft ball stage, slowly pour half of the syrup into the egg white mixture, and start beating. The other half is returned to the stove to heated to the next level (hard crack?) and then mixed in. You can't be afraid to beat it a while. Like someone else said, it has to lose it's gloss. It takes a while (sometimes we beat in a Kitchenaid up to 10 minutes or more), but once it starts turning from glossy to not glossy, it happens very quickly. I totally know what you mean about the glossy white plop (we call it bird poo divinity - haha). Good luck!

The only thing I know is that you aren't supposed to make it in humid weather. That's what my grandma has always said. Good luck!!

I made this for Christmas this year and it was yummy. One thing to remember is not to beat it too long. It makes it dry and it falls apart. Follow the directions and do not use any shortcuts. The other replies are right on with the weather. And a candy thermometer is the most accurate rate of measurment. Also a very clean bowl for mixing and make sure your beaters on your mixer are very clean.

I assume you have the recipe so when you cook the sugar, karo, water, salt you stir until dissolved then don't stir again. You cook until soft ball stage which is 250 F on a candy thermometer. Then you pour into already beaten egg whites, add your vanilla, beat about 7 to 9 min until stiff, almost until it's seems to thick to beat anymore. Spoon onto wax paper. Hope this helps. Also candy recipes do better on dry days instead of moist. I know sounds wierd but it really is true.

I was taught to make divinity using a large glass bowl for the egg whites. Plastics can hold "grease" from butter and other things so glass is the best to use when making any recipes that call for egg whites only. I flavour ours with almond but any flavour will do. I also cut up marachino cherries into fourths and put a piece on each piece of divinty. The cherries look festive and taste great with the almond flavouring. I butter my wax paper so the divinity is easy to remove once it hardens.

It has to be beaten for a looooong time and a candy thermometer is a must! I have a stand mixer, which makes it much easier. If you have only a hand mixer, it helps if one person holds the mixer while someone else slowly streams in the sugar syrup. I set the timer for 5 minutes, and start it as soon as the last of the syrup is in. Your mixer will strain as the mixture thickens. Beware - the motor of cheaper hand mixers will burn out sometimes from the strain. Have either a silicone mat or wax paper laid out and ready on the counter before you begin. And like brittle, you won't have good results on a humid day.

Make sure that the weather is good not rainy or humid must bee dry clear day My Grandmother and Mother both made it so did I and it turned out great.

A candy thermometer is a must and not on a humid day.
V. B.

I just read your post and the responses - -
I'm so glad you asked this question. I gave up on making this 10 yrs ago. I also have my grandmother's recipe, and wonderful memories to go along with it. I tried to make it 4-5 yrs in a row, each time trying improvement tips, but it never came out, and I burned up a mixer one year. I had given up, but after reading all the advice, I'm motivated to give it another try :)

Hi T.,
I have 2 recipes, one is with using white syrup. But I don't think that is your problem. I used to have that white blob with tat one too. Let your egg white come to room temp. before whipping it and get it very stiff. Hope that helps. I love divinity especially if it has flavoring in it. And can use food coloring. I like coconut for flavor, but anything you like.

The quality of ingredients will make a difference. Most recipes call for large eggs. I personally like EB cage free eggs for my "special baking." I just learned that not all sugars are made from cane, but the cheaper ones are made from beet sugar. Beet sugar is suppose to be gritty. Good luck.

J.

Yes, you could be armed and dangerous with divinity as it gets very hot! =)
Anyway, lots of great tips, I agree with the weather and all.

I don't know if there is a divinity recipe on this website but I wanted to share a website that has all different recipes and you can put them in a recipe box, print them, etc.
It's called allrecipes.com, they even have ratings and comments on them.

Take care,
K.