Saltwater Taffy

I love saltwater taffy. When I was in elementary school, I remember my class making batches of the sticky treat each year. This activity was definitely one of the highlights of the school year. Since school is closed right now, I decided to make a batch of saltwater taffy at home. This experiment will definitely give you an arm work out, but it is worth it for the delicious candy in the end.

What you need (for a batch of 15-20 candies):

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Optional: 1/4 teaspoon flavored extract
• Optional: 2 drops food coloring, coloring of your choice

Steps:

• Add the sugar to a large pot and sift in the cornstarch. Whisk until well-combined.

• Add the butter, corn syrup, salt, water, vanilla, and optional flavor extract to the pot. Whisk to combine.

• Turn the heat to medium and cook until the mixture reaches 250°F (120°C).

• Remove the pot from the heat. Add optional food coloring and stir to combine.

• Pour the candy into a greased heatproof dish and cool until you are able to handle it, around 3 minutes.

• Stretch the mixture out about a foot and fold it over itself repeatedly for 10-15 minutes. The taffy will turn from translucent to opaque.

• When the taffy becomes too hard to pull, roll it to about a 30-inch (76-cm) long and 1-inch (2-cm) thick log on a greased surface. Slice the taffy into bite-size chunks.

• Wrap each piece of taffy in a square of parchment paper and twist the ends to seal.

How is science involved with this recipe?

Science is involved in the process of making saltwater taffy in multiple ways! First, if we boiled and then cooled plain sugar, it would become hard and would break our teeth to eat. The corn syrup and butter in this recipe act as interfering agents, which means they keep the sugar molecules from crystallizing. Additionally, when we knead the saltwater taffy, it turns from translucent to opaque. This is because we are aerating, or incorporating air into, the taffy. These tiny bubbles of air make the taffy lighter and chewier. If we didn’t knead the taffy, it would become tough.