Cooking For Engineers

[Guest]

Hi,

I’m trying to make fudge using the raw sugar known as Panela, Jaggery, Piloncillo (depending on what country you’re from). It’s that hard brown cake you see in many “bodegas”. I highly recommend it as it has a great taste (better than regular brown sugar) and is as nutritious as honey. But the problem is that it burns at 237 F (the softball stage for making fudge). If I stop before 237 F I get a delicious very thick sauce but not fudge. Does anybody have a suggestion to make my delicious sauce into a solid bar?

Thanks for any info,
Steve

PS: The ingredients are real simple--just traditional fudge: 2 cups condensed milk, 2 cups sugar (panela), 1 bar of butter.

[Dilbert]

It would seem you are between the proverbial rock-and-a-hard place.

being unrefined it has lots of stuff other than "pure sugar" - primary being molasses. taking molasses to the higher temperature will cause it to "burn" -

short of "not putting it in the fudge" the only option that comes to mind is to use a refined sugar, make the fudge, take it off the heat, stir in some molasses. stirring in the "raw sugar" at the end will likely make the fudge grainy / gritty as the sugar crystals may not dissolve. a liquid molasses should add the flavor and duck the non-melted crystals.

the approach will take some experimenting . . .

[smith73]

Thanks!!