Week 6 - Taffy Pull

5 children, 4 adults, boiling syrup and molasses…sounds like a recipe for fun, right? Well this week we set out to have a real old-fashioned taffy-pull party. The result is that we have our 2nd cracked egg.

We started off full of nostalgic optimism; the kids would run around, having fun until it was time to begin the pulling. We would have some time with our sweethearts, while faithfully (yet easily,) monitoring the simmering candy. The reality is that the boys had a lot of fun making jokes about “pulling taffy” and Ducky and I were overwhelmed with the not so appealing smells of vinegar and molasses mixed together, even if we quietly were snickering at the boys’ jokes. In the end, we were left with a pan full of beautiful bronze stickiness. It never firmed up enough to pull.

What went wrong? We don’t know exactly. It could be that we used rice vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar or plain white vinegar. My recipe didn’t specify which type to use, so I didn’t think it mattered too much. It could be that we were overly cautious with the heating of the candy, and it took too long to get it to the correct temperature. Or maybe it was the fact that it was an extraordinarily humid day, and that set the science of our recipe off just a tad.

I’ve since looked at other recipes for making taffy and have determined to try this again. Additional recipes I have found had better instructions that I think a taffy-pulling novice such as myself needs.

The lesson of the taffy-pull is to laugh while making mistakes, and then order Chinese takeout since you will already have a heap of dishes waiting for you. ;-)

Taffy Recipe

From Let’s Make a Memory by Gloria Gather and Shirley Dobson
2/3 cup molasses
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 ½ cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 ½ Tbsp. vinegar
½ cup water
¼ tsp salt
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1/8 tsp. soda
1.4 cup butter

Combine molasses, syrup, brown sugar, vinegar, water, and salt in a large heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves over low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture reaches 265 degrees on candy thermometer. Remove from heat and stir in soda and butter. Pour into buttered large shallow pan and let cool until it can be handled – about 15 minutes. Turn edges into center as it cools. Butter your fingertips; then cut off pieces of candy and pull and twist until candy changes color, to bronze. Twist in shapes or cut into 1 inch pieces with scissors dipped in cold water. Wrap in plastic paper. Makes 150 pieces.

To see the next taffy recipe I want to try visit Pioneer Thinking. They have great instructions. As a side note some of the recipes I read through suggested once the taffy was cool enough to handle that you roll it into a ball. I can see how this would help and I will do that next time.