Our cooking experiment: the study on using sugar and corn syrup to make sugar glass

Title: Study on using sugar and corn syrup to make sugar glass
Labor Division:
Material preparation: Wu Siqi
Measurement: Wang Jiayi & Wu Siqi & Dai Xiyang
Experimental operation: Ding Xinying & Wang Jiayi
Recording: Dai Xiyang
Experiment designer: all group members

Project title: Study on sugar glass
Introduction:
Being transparent and brittle, sugar glass is categorized as a kind of non-crystalline candy comprising mostly sucrose and slightly monosaccharide. It is made by mixing the original ingredients and heating to the hard crack stage (140-154 Celsius degree), resulting in 99% concentration of sugar. It has always been an excellent substitute for real glass in probably most action movie shooting, depicting remarkable combat scenes for hundreds of audiences. We wonder what influence that monosaccharide exerts on sucrose base. This project will present our research process on the question mentioned above, following the order of hypothesis, variables, experiment setup, results, observations as well as analysis and explanation. 


Explanation:
Serving as doctoring agents, glucose is capable of inhibiting the crystallization of sucrose in sucrose-based confectionery by the following ways. To begin with, it plays an active part in reducing the excessive amount of sucrose available in terms of the formation of sucrose crystal. Its characteristic as an monosaccharide enables it to interfere with aggregation of sucrose molecules and the development of sucrose crystal by decreasing the kinetics of sucrose as well as physical obstacle, especially at a great level of viscosity. Moreover, it may alter part of the chemical interaction relationship, for instance, hydrogen bonding. In the confectionary industry, graining, which is a term referring to sucrose crystallization in glassy candies, will possess an adverse impact on the physical characteristics to a massive extent, especially hardness of the candy, rendering the candy softer and easier to penetrate.

Hypothesis:


Given the condition that sucrose is taking up the largest proportion, the higher ratio of corn syrup to sugar is, the harder the sugar glass is.

Variables:
Independent variable:      
ratio of corn syrup to sugar
Controlled variables:        
weight of water (g)
weight of butter (g)

temperature of boiling (celsius degree)
contact area of sugar glass and supporting table
source of sugar, corn syrup, water and butter
contact point of plastic bottle
heating power (1600W)
stirring direction (clockwise)
stirring frequency (70 times per minute)
Dependent variable:
The hardness of sugar glass.

Experimental setup:


Materials:


Sugar
Corn Syrup (Ingredients: corn syrup, water, cellulose gum, sodium hexametaphosphate, salt, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate, citric acid, sucralose vanilla extract)
Water
Butter (easy to remove sugar glass out of the mould)
                           

Detailed information of corn syrup:
Corn syrup, also known as glucose syrup to confectioners, is used in foods to soften texture, add volume, prevent crystallization of sugar, and enhance flavor. 

Glucose syrup containing over 90% glucose is used in industrial fermentation, but syrups used in confectionery contain varying amounts of glucose, maltose and higher oligosaccharides, depending on the grade, and can typically contain 10% to 43% glucose.

Tools
A milk pan,
A ruler (range from 0 to 30 centimeters)
An empty plastic bottle (which can be added more weight in it)
Candy thermometer (range from -50 to 300 celsius degrees)
Mould (21cm*15cm*4.8cm)
An electronic balance (highest range: 5kg)
Four supporting cups
A marker (ensure the position of the supporting cups and the height of the sugar glass)
Steps:
  1. Put the ingredients in the pan based on the ratio below.
    Group
    Sugar
    Corn Syrup
    Water
    Proportion (Sugar/Mixture of sugar and corn syrup)
    Ratio (Corn syrup: sugar)
    Cooling time (min)
    1
    200
    0
    100
     100%
    0:200
       15
    2
    180
    20
    100
     90%
    1:9 (28:252)
       20
    3
    160
    40
    100
     80%
    1:4 (63:252)
       30
    4
    140
    60
    100
     70%
    3:7 (108:252)
       30
    5
    120
    80
    100
     60%
    2:3 (168:252)
       40
    6
    100
    100
    100
     50%
    1:1 (252:252)
       40
     7
    80
    120
    100
    40%
    3:2
    (378:252)
    90
     8
    60
    140
    100
    30%
    7:3
    (588:252)
    N/A
     9
    40
    160
    100
    20%
    4:1
    (1008:252)
    N/A
     10
    20
    180
    100
    20%
    9:1
    (2268:252)
    N/A
     11
    0
    200
    100
    0%
    200:0
    N/A


 
  1. Heat the mixture using 1600 W. Keep stirring the mixture clockwise until it reaches 150 celsius degrees.


  2. Butter the mould (21cm*15cm*4.8cm). Pour the mixture into the mould to make a 21cm*15cm*0.4cm sugar class, and put it in the refrigerator to accelerate the solidification.



  3. Take out the sugar glass from the mould carefully.


  4. Measure the hardness of sugar glass. Put four corners of sugar glass on four supporting cups. Mark the position of the sugar glass and supporting cups. Put a plastic bottle on the sugar glass. Keep adding water into the bottle until the sugar glass brokes. Measure the total weight of the bottle and the water added in it.


     

     

     

     
       







Observation and Results
Group
Weight of bottle and water added /g
(experiment 1)
Weight of bottle and water added /g
(experiment 2)
Weight of bottle and water added /g
(experiment 3)
Mean weight of bottle and water added /g
1
1450
1500
1475
1475
2
1675
1650
1650
1658
3
1875
1625
1725
1741
4
1900
1850
1900
1833
5
2050
1950
2000
2000
6
1975
2025
2025
2008




Identification of shortcomings
  1. When we pour the measured sugar, water and corn syrup into the pan, there is still some remaining in the measuring cups, and this will lead to unavoidable errors.
  2. Because of the reaction time of human, the time for us to pour the mixture from the pan to the mould may not be very precise, which will lead to the overheat of the mixture.
Areas of improvement
  1. Instead of using normal measuring cups, we can use the ex-quantity style, such as the pipette and burette.
  2. Instead of waiting for 150 celsius degrees, we can wait for 140 celsius degrees. Therefore, the mixture will not be overheated within the reaction time.

Reference：
Hartel, Richard W., Ergun, Roja.,& Vogel, Sarah. (2011). Phase/State Transitions of Confectionery Sweeteners: Thermodynamic and Kinetic Aspects. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety. 10(1), pp.17-32.
Hartel, R., von Elbe, J.,& Hofberger R.(2017). Confectionery Science and Technology. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
Vaclavik, V.,& Christian, E. (2008). Essentials of Food Science. New York: Springer New York.

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