Some may have had the pleasure of watching the processes involved in making salt-water taffy by hand. However, the Confiserie CandyLabs shop in Montreal, Quebec, recently demonstrated the time-consuming process and the steps involved in making customized hard candies using methods confectioners implemented centuries ago.
No doubt for one beloved teen’s sweet 16 celebration, the two employees work with a gel-like cherry-colored and flavored mixture combined with an opaque taffy-like concoction to create small candies bearing a little red heart in the center graced by the number 16. The hearts are then covered with layers of the white taffy, more red candy and finally pinstripes of the two.
The entire process requires a painstaking three hours, as each layer undergoes rolling, stretching, shaping and cutting. Each mixture begins as a warm goo having a jelly-like consistency. From the pans, the candy is poured directly onto granite where the stone cools the candy on contact. Using steel blades, each is stretched and folded onto itself time and again.
The taffy-like layer is pulled, stretched and pulled more using a large steel hook. Finally, the layering process begins. With the layers completed, the roll now looks like a large, thick log. Working from one end, the candy is stretched into pencil thin ropes and cut. Once completely cooled. Each rope is cut into bite-sized pieces that each amazingly reveal the customized design inside.