For Homemade Candy Corn, The Temperature Of Your Corn Syrup Matters

Whether you love it or hate it, there's no denying that candy corn is an iconic part of the Halloween season. The divisive candy can often be found in the aisles of grocery stores as the holiday approaches. But if you aren't a fan of store-bought candies, or you just want to try your hand at making your own, you can recreate it in your kitchen.

When you're making your homemade candy corn, you'll need to use corn syrup — an appropriate ingredient, considering the name of the sweet. One step in the process involves cooking that corn syrup, and the exact temperature that it's cooked to makes a huge difference in the resulting texture of the candy, as slight variations could cause major changes in the candy's consistency. The ideal range is between 245 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

While candy corn does solidly hold its shape, it is slightly soft and chewy once it's bitten into. As you cook your corn syrup on the stovetop, make sure to use a candy thermometer to keep track of exactly how hot the syrup is getting so that you wind up with that ideal texture.

As you cook your corn syrup, you'll want to keep in mind that you will need to shape the candy once all the ingredients are mixed together. The ideal temperature for a workable candy is around 245 degrees Fahrenheit, though it can range up to 250. Within this small temperature window, the resulting candy will be easy to form into shape, but it will eventually solidify to hold its shape.

Cooking the syrup at a cooler temperature could leave you with candy that's easy to work with, but will have a harder time staying stiff. Even after it's completely cooled, the candy could still be malleable, and the pieces could wind up sticking together. The opposite is true if the syrup is cooked at higher temperatures — you could wind up with something too hard to work with, and it may be difficult to try to form the sweet into that classic candy kernel.

Once your corn syrup has hit the correct temperature, you'll want to take it off the heat immediately in order to prevent it from overheating.

After your corn syrup has cooked to the correct temperature, you can continue making your homemade candy corn in accordance with the rest of the recipe. The flavor of the candy is supposed to taste similar to fondant, with hints of marshmallow or vanilla.

Of course, the tri-color triangular candy corn shape is the most commonly created when working with this flavor of candy. But if you want to get creative, you can combine that candy mix with food coloring to create other festively shaped sweets, like tiny candy pumpkins or ghosts.

If you plan on making some homemade candy corn to celebrate the fall season, be sure to invest in a candy thermometer, and keep a close eye on your corn syrup as it heats up on the stovetop. You'll need to make sure you cook your candy to just the right temperature to ensure the consistency comes out correctly.