I've found such recipe for making candi syrup (not sugar):
Just take a pound of plain corn syrup (make sure it's the kind without vanilla added) and heat it over medium heat in a heavy saucepan with 9 grams of ammonium carbonate (sold as leavening in Middle Eastern markets). I have also gotten good results with diammonium phosphate yeast nutrient. It will boil, and eventually start to darken. Every now and then remove a drop or two and drip it onto aluminum foil to cool, then taste. Stop as soon as the desired color is reached, and carefully add water to mix it back to the original consistency
essentially you are making invert syrup. You can use citric acid as well, either in its pure refined form or as lemon juice some folks have used. You can also use pure sucrose (table sugar) granular form and either add a little water (if you want a light color or clear syrup) or not. If you do not add water back in, it will harden when it cools into the rock form. Just pour it out onto some aluminum foil until it coils then break into pieces. Either way you will get the same results. There are several threads on this forum for making candi sugar if you ant more info.
I usually make all my own sugar products...I intend on making some of the syrups for my Strong Dark. I like the convenience of just buying a sack of sugar and making that way. I have heard the major brand on the market (the one with the lion or whatever it is) is very good, but for the price and the shipping to boot, it's just to costly for me to justify.
The most important thing is recording every step in the process so you can repeat it.
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I read a lot about this; dark candi sugar is made by crystalization of carmelized (table) sugar. What is left after removing candi crystals, it is the candi syrup.
So, when I make candi syrup using the above procedure it is not exactly the same - too much sugar.
Eventualy, I just made very dark carmelized table sugar (~1/2 hour on medium flame), we will see how it turns out in ~6 months.
My understanding is that when you melt sucrose down and add an acid such as lemon juice, you make invert sugar by breaking the sucrose molecule into its individual components, glucose and fructose.
I don't know how the imported Belgian variety is made, but the directions in the first post of this thread involve adding a base (ammonium carbonate and diammonium phosphate yeast nutrient) to a syrup. I'm not a chemist, but I believe that reduces the likelihood of breaking the sugars present down into their individual elements, thereby promoting more caramelization.
If anyone understands this better than I do, or has a better idea of how to recreate that Belgian sugar, I'd love to learn more about this topic.
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About the ammonium addition: I understdand it is for caramel stabilisation, probably normal caramelized sugar is unstable: changes taste in time when put into beer (low pH etc.)
Belgian Candi suger is beet, not cane, sugar which has been inverted (heated with an acid added). cane sugar can increace the production of methanol, green apple flavors and other undesirable things. As for corn syrup, I have no idea why you would want to use it.
Making Belgian Candi Syrup
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