Best Sugar to Substitute for Candy - also regular orange vs. curacao orange

So tomorrow I'm planning to brew a Belgian Blonde Affligem clone and it calls for an lb of candy sugar, which i wasn't able to get. So i'm wondering whether to use table sugar or use some Golden Sugar which I have on the shelf.
I've seen things about how to make candy sugar, but i've also heard that it doesn't make that big a difference...thoughts?


Also it calls for an oz of sweet orange peel, which i assume means dried curacao. Anyone think I can use regular orange for this or would that be terrible.

Thanks in advance.

messler said:

So tomorrow I'm planning to brew a Belgian Blonde Affligem clone and it calls for an lb of candy sugar, which i wasn't able to get. So i'm wondering whether to use table sugar or use some Golden Sugar which I have on the shelf.
I've seen things about how to make candy sugar, but i've also heard that it doesn't make that big a difference...thoughts?


Also it calls for an oz of sweet orange peel, which i assume means dried curacao. Anyone think I can use regular orange for this or would that be terrible.

Thanks in advance.

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Easy.

Take one pound of basic table sugar and put it in a sauce pot.
Add 2-3 tbps of water and 1 tbsp of lemon juice.

Stir over medium heat until sugar dissovles and begins to cook. It will eventually begin a slow boil. Watch carefully.

Once the sugar is fully boiling and beginning to turn syrupy...turn off the heat. You don't want the sugar darkening since this is a blonde.

The sugar will remain syrupy while you do your brewing...just pour in to the boil at the appropriate time.

Be careful because boiling sugar is like napalm. And do not try to add water to the mix once it's boiling or you'll be wearing molten sugar.

As for sugar, I think that all kinds of candy sugar you can safely replace with regular table sugar; they don' impart much flavour. If you want flavour from sugar, you have to use one of those really dark sugars, partially refined.

For dubbel I recommend Candi Syrup (not sugar!), it is a kind of molasses. Or make your own caramel from regular sugar - make a very dark one.

As for orange peel, fresh orange zest is way better than those dried curacao crap.

Sweet orange peel is regular orange peel. Curacao are bitter oranges.

You can't substitute regular oranges for bitter oranges and get a great result (recipes formulated for the latter rely on them for part of their bittering), but it sounds like you're okay since it calls for sweet.