Adding a little corn syrup or an acid such as citrus juice will help to prevent this. Selecting a syrup recipe that includes a little brown sugar gives pancake syrup a warm color and the acid in brown sugar helps to prevent crystallization.

Why is my hard candy grainy and not smooth? The problem is that crystals of sugar were re-introduced into the liquid candy. This will cause your candy to crystallize and become grainy. Another tip is to not add too much citric acid, as this can cause the candy to break down (and become grainy).

Simple syrup crystallizes when enough of the sugar molecules stick to one another that they become insoluble in the water. In a syrup prepared with a high 2:1 ratio of sugar to water (often referred to as a rich syrup), the chance of sugar molecules clustering and crystallizing is high.

There’s nothing more disappointing than having your caramel turn out cloudy and grainy (or crystallized) instead of smooth and glossy. Here’s why that can happen: The sucrose molecules in table sugar have a strong tendency to cling together in dense, orderly crystals.

Editor’s Tip: After incorporating the sugar into the water, it’s important not to stir or the sugars can crystallize and cause the caramel to seize up. Instead, swirl the pan from time to time to ensure the sugar melts evenly.

The easiest way to solve the crystallization (and the most effective) is to add more water. In other words, start over again. By adding the water, the sugar crystals can again dissolve. Simply re-heat the sugar, evaporate the water and try again!

The best way to resolve this issue of crystallization or grainy caramel sauce is to add more water. This means you should start over so the gritty sugar crystals dissolve once again. Immediately remove the pan from the stovetop. Put it back on medium-low heat, and very gently, stir the syrup to dissolve the crystals.

While stirring your toffee mixture, stir steady and gently, trying not to splash the mixture up the sides of the pan. If some does get up there (it usually happens), just take a pastry brush and dip it in hot water, washing the sugar back down into the rest of the mixture.

If the toffee or caramel is not handled properly during the cooking process, the butter sometimes separates from the sugar and forms an oily layer on top of the candy. This often happens during the cooking stage, but sometimes it separates as it is being poured out onto a baking sheet to cool.

Why Is My Toffee Sauce Grainy? When sugar crystals form on the sides of the pan before they’re completely dissolved they can crystalize and fall back into the toffee mixture causing it to be grainy.

Crystallization: One of the greatest frustrations in toffee making comes when a smooth syrup turns quickly into a grainy mass. This is caused by sugar crystals that have formed on the sides of the pan in the process of being stirred down into the syrup.

To prevent crystallization, take care to completely dissolve all the sugar before you bring the mixture to a boil. If there is sugar adhered to side of the pan before the mixture has come to a boil, you can tightly cover the pan and let it cook for 2-3 minutes.

To check your sugar syrup has reached the correct stage without using a sugar thermometer, place a bowl of very cold water next to the hob. Using a clean spoon, carefully take a little of the syrup and drop it into the bowl of cold water. Leave to cool for a moment then pick up the ball of syrup.

As nouns the difference between toffee and taffy is that toffee is (uncountable) a type of confectionery made by boiling sugar (or treacle, etc) with butter or milk, then cooling the mixture so that it becomes hard while taffy is (us) a soft, chewy candy made from boiled molasses or brown sugar.

“Taffy” is called “Toffee” here.