Hop Candy recipe

I'm sure many of us know there are commercial hop flavored candy available, but I think we can come up with a recipe to make our own. I tried to make one recently, that came out nice. It wasn't a hop bomb like the commercial counterpart, but I think its a good start to build upon. Hoping there are others out there that would like to run with the idea, and we can come up with a great recipe.

Here is what I did, based on this standard hard candy recipe

1.75 C Sugar
.75 C light corn syrup
.5 C water
Green food coloring
Hops of your choosing.

I used a French press, and steeped .5oz of cascade in 1 cup of 180 degree water for about 15 minutes.

In a medium saucepan, stir together the white sugar, corn syrup, and water. Cook, stirring, over medium heat until sugar dissolves, then bring to a boil. Without stirring, heat to 300 to 310 degrees F (149 to 154 degrees C), or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms hard, brittle threads.

Remove from heat and stir in the hop water (SLOWLY) and food coloring. I ended up with it being too watery, so I cooked it down more, so it was thicker. I poured it onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, and dust the top with confectioners' sugar. Let cool, and break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

Please feel free to try and modify this recipe, and post your thoughts!

This is a cool idea. I will probabbally attempt to make some this weekend??? we will see...

i tried it a couple times, i could never get the candy to be "hard" candy, came out as a gooey texture both times

NJstout said:

i tried it a couple times, i could never get the candy to be "hard" candy, came out as a gooey texture both times

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you need to cook it to the hard ball stage, and not the soft ball stage.
Cook the sugar and corn syrup until it strings when you pull the spoon out of the syrup mix.

The easiest way is to use a good thermometer and cook to about 310F or slightly higher. If you go any higher there's a good chance the solution will begin to caramelize and detract from the flavor of the candy. Not all thermometers seem to be calibrated equally.

I was planning in brewing an IPA as my next need I will definately try this but add more hops since yours didn't have that flavor of the commercial version. I bought some the other day in Houston and loved them

TimothyChurch,

Did you get them at Defalco's?

B-Hoppy said:

The easiest way is to use a good thermometer and cook to about 310F or slightly higher. If you go any higher there's a good chance the solution will begin to caramelize and detract from the flavor of the candy. Not all thermometers seem to be calibrated equally.

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Get a candy thermometer, they go to higher temps.

DeutscheMaster said:

Get a candy thermometer, they go to higher temps.

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A candy thermometer was what I meant but when I get up past about 312F I notice that the candy begins to color up which is a sign of caramelization. At this point, if you didn't flavor the candy you can actually taste the caramel. There's a fine line to how far you can cook it without it scorching. You try to cook as much water out of it as you can so it won't stick together but a degree or two too much, and you start to add other undesirable flavors. Just an observation.

B-Hoppy said:

TimothyChurch,

Did you get them at Defalco's?

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Ya I stopped by while I was in town

Good to hear he got the order and thanks for liking the candy. Hop ON!

Has anyone tried using hops in making fudge or chocolate/toffee?

Hop candy would be a cool, albeit novelty, way to prime bottles of hoppy beers.

I just might have to do this... I don't have a French press though

Damn this forum!!!! I see this recipe, realize I have left over .1oz amarillo and .4oz Simcoe in my freezer, check the kitchen for the rest of the ingredients and I have it all too....my pan's cooling on the deck right now

Would there be a problem using the hop water from the start instead of adding late and having to reheat?

B-Hoppy said:

Good to hear he got the order and thanks for liking the candy. Hop ON!

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Hmmmmm...... sounds like you know something.....

?????? Merry Christmas All!

Would there be a problem using the hop water from the start instead of adding late and having to reheat?

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I think its worth the shot. It would interesting to hear if it affects the bitterness and/or hop flavor levels.

Please post results and pictures. I actually just got Cascade hop candies from Williams yesterday. I didnt try them yet but was thinking ahead that it would be cool to see how to make them. You can customize them to your own hop flavor. Falconers Flight hop candy?

I just tried a piece of this. I decided to use dark corn syrup rather than light to achieve a more "beer" color. I also used the hop water for the original liquid rather than doing a late addition with additional boil time. I have never tasted a commercial hop candy so I have nothing to compare it to, but if you like IPA I think you would like this method. It definitely has a touch of bitterness, but as soon as the candy hits your tongue your entire head fills with the flavor and aroma and the bitterness tends to continue to build while the candy is dissolving. The great thing about this is you cam take a piece to work with you and possibly be able to trick yourself into thinking you're having a delicious homebrew while shaving away!

phillyeld - thanks for giving it a shot! What temps and how much hops did you steep?

I used 1 oz. Centennial 8.1 in just over 2/3 cup of180' for 10 min then strained through fine mesh strainer and ended up with almost exactly 2/3 cup liquid. Recipe reads like this:

2/3 c prepared hop water
2 1/2 c granulated sugar
1 c dark corn syrup

Boil until hard ball stage (310' F)
Pour onto greased cookie sheet.
Cool until hardened, break into pieces. Cover, store, enjoy!

BTW its my pleasure trying something new. One of the reasons I enjoy this hobby so much is cause I've got a little mad scientist streak in me and SWMBO says I have less chance of blowing up the house while making beer than if I was doing "other things."

Might try a different hop with a bit lower AA, bitterness of aftertaste is a little much, but still the effect and outcome is what I was expecting.

Steeped the hops first, then used that water to dissolve the sugar. Notice a more pronounced bitterness than first batch, but that may be the difference in Chinook and Nugget hops. Chinook batch has more flavor, Nugget batch has more bite. Still great though.

Recipe I used:

hop tea
2.5c granulated sugar
1/2c dark corn syrup
1/2c light corn syrup

To create hop tea:
.4oz (11g) CTZ, steeped in 1 cup water in a french press for 15 minutes, strain out hops.

To create candy:
Combine all ingredients and boil until mixture reduces so it is hard ball stage. It should ribbon off a spoon when stirred and lifted out of the pot.
Pour onto a greased cookie sheet and cool until hard.
Break into pieces and enjoy!

I went with the previous recipe; great result using .5oz Chinook!

B-Hoppy said:

The easiest way is to use a good thermometer and cook to about 310F or slightly higher. If you go any higher there's a good chance the solution will begin to caramelize and detract from the flavor of the candy. Not all thermometers seem to be calibrated equally.

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We usually just buy yours B-Hoppy. It's a nicely refined recipe and priced reasonably. My favorite is the Cascade. Very creative and well done!

Hahaha . . . Thanks a lot man! Hop flavored candi syrup on the horizon? Keep up the good work and have a great labor day~

B-Hoppy said:

Hahaha . . . Thanks a lot man! Hop flavored candi syrup on the horizon? Keep up the good work and have a great labor day~

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My pleasure. No hop flavored adjuncts on the horizon

I tried this a while ago and decided hop extract was the way to go. First batch I put the whole 5ml syringe in. I have never tasted anything so bitter! Batch 2 I used 1ml extract. Much better, but I still wasn't a big fan. Maybe I'll try again at some other point.

I'm not sure hop extract would be the right choice. I think hop extract is just the bittering alpha acids with as little other components as possible. When making the candy, you're trying to get the hop flavor with either just a bit or none of bitterness, but there are none of the aroma/flavor compounds in the extract to be able to taste/smell it in the candy besides the straight bitterness.

I'm gonna try making some on the same day I try making Belgian Candi Sugar for a Tripel, once I find a cheap candy thermometer.

tlazaroff said:

Has anyone tried using hops in making fudge or chocolate/toffee?

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I don't know if this answers your question completely but check it out: http://www.hopcandyinc.com/.

An acquaintance in the hop industry told me that the Brits used to do this years ago. I've never tried so I can't really say how it tastes.

Has anyone tried this with LME in place of corn syrup? Or Brown Rice Syrup for those Gluten Free brewers? The chemistry says it should work. If I can find a candy Thermometer maybe I'll give this a whirl this Weekend.

Apparently when I tried this the first time I didn't have enough "candy" to keep the thermometer off the bottom of the pan so I got false readings. It wouldn't harden completely. So I brought the oven to 310 and threw it in there for 3-6 mins and it worked like that in stages eventually cooking it all to the correct temp. But I had it near the temp prior to using the oven.

My mom makes hard candy all the time and here's a tip if you don't have a candy thermometer.

As you are cooking your hard candy get a glass of cool water. When you think the candy is almost done, drip a spoonful into the cool water. If it crackles, it's done. If you don't hear anything, keep cooking.

I know the topic is a little old, but I just messed with this today with my own process.

Basically, I did a mini mash with half a pound of grain to test my efficiency with my new Barley Crusher. I ended up with .33 gln of 1.050 wort from US 2-row. I was looking for something to use it for, so I decided to try to make candy. I refrigerated it for about 5 hours due to my son's track meet, so all the cold break settled out before I used it.

I boiled the wort with 2 cups of sugar and .05 oz of Nugget hop pellets for 20 minutes. Then I added .05 oz of Cascade hop pellets for 10 minutes. I strained it, then cooked it to 300 deg, then poured out on wax paper.

It hasn't hardened like I wanted. It's more like a fudge right now, but it tastes really great. I think having the malt in there makes it taste so good. Also, it may have hardened up more if I had added 1/4 tsp cream of tartar, but I wanted to see if the wort was enough acid for the process.

Try it with malt next time. I think you'll like it.

Gonna have to try this! i have tasted the ones from the home brew shop and yep it was awesome!

DerrangedPOJO said:

Gonna have to try this! i have tasted the ones from the home brew shop and yep it was awesome!

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Thanks man, some new ones to be available soon:

B-Hoppy said:

Thanks man, some new ones to be available soon:

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Will you be selling a sample pack like the pic above? BTW everybody here at Candi Syrup, Inc. loves your products! You guys are doing a fantastic job.

I'd really like to because that's the way I'd like to see it happen, but it's just me and I don't have the resources/capabilities to make it happen at this point. The new ones are only going to be offered on a trial basis and I'm hoping to keep one or maybe two as full-time offerings, depending on feedback. I'm working with a few of my customers who sell on Amazon/eBay to see if they'll want to put together 'variety packs' or give some sort of price break when ordering more than 'x' bags and will let you know. Thanks for the support~

Where can I buy these, BHoppy?