notes on boiling sugar
according to the old texts you need three elements to boil proper sugarbase
Sugar, Water and an anti crystallization agent.
the agent
the agent is used to inhibit the crystallization of the sugar into caramel (hard, sticky, stinky mess) we are now mostly using Cream of Tartar, a byproduct of wine making. but the texts mention (glucose) syrup and others as well, like honey and lemon.
we tested
- corn syrup - (fructose) with good results, but it's tricky to get everywhere and not easy to work with
- Glucose syrup - similar to corn syrup, you can make it yourself
Texts
The production and processing of sugar (NPers. šekar, from Skt. ṡárkarā-, “ground or candied sugar,”[…]) was already known in Sasanian Persia around 460 CE, and the Chinese ascribed the invention of the process of the refining of sugar syrup into hard sugar to the Sasanians (Laufer, Sino-Iranica, p. 376). The 9th-century Zoroastrian text […] mention that at Nowruz, in the morning before speaking, one ate white sugar.src
