Storing candy: What kind and how much for LTS

[Guest]

Thought about doing some peppermint hard candy, butter scotch, etc. What is the shelf life, and what do you store?

Thanks

[DennisH]

boltgun,

Suprised there haven't been any responses yet. I haven't stored any candy yet, but I've considered it for the future. Guess other things are more important right now. I know peppermint gets old just in the wrappers, but have no idea about packaged in mylar with o2 absorbers. Hopefully someone has tried it and has the answer.

Dennis

[YosemiteSam]

My wife just loves the cinnamon Fireballs. We bought a case of around 1700 wrapped pieces. Put them in vacuum bags and stuffed them into a 5 gallon pail. Tossed in about 6 O2 absorbers. Left a couple of the vacuum packs out of the pail to eat, maybe a 2 year supply before we open the pail and see how they are.

sam

[MustangGal]

We aren't big candy eaters. In fact, the only type of candy the Man Cub will eat is chocolate - and then only if it is plain. So, it really hadn't even occured to me to store candy. As a family, we would rather have baked goods, and I think the Man and the Man Cub would both rather have my homemade honey wheat bread to most any type of baked good.... of course, those of us of the female pursuasion NEED chocolate. :D

[brokedownbiker]

Most sugar candy will store reasonably well but chocolate candies will eventually go bad as the fats andd oils go rancid. I'd suggest learning to make candy at home. Old fashioned candies aren't that hard to make and it is another skill to add to the score card.

Here is a (kinda generic) site with some recipes but it is just the tip of the iceberg, a web search will give you tons more

http://candy.about.com/od/sugarcandy/u/sugar_candy.htm

[Jerry D Young]

I kept plain Hershey bars in an un-heated/un-cooled storage unit for 8 years. The oldest bars had turned to powder, but I ate them with a spoon and they tasted fine. A few drops of oil would have turned them into fudge.

The 6 year old ones were a bit white, but solid and tasted fine.

The big Tootsie Rolls were rather hard, but when broken into pieces and in the mouth they softened right up.

Plain M&M.s kept just fine

I've kept butterscotch disks, peppermint disks, root beer barrels, and horehound candy for 10 years and they were fine.

Just my experience.

[DennisH]

I kept plain Hershey bars in an un-heated/un-cooled storage unit for 8 years. The oldest bars had turned to powder, but I ate them with a spoon and they tasted fine. A few drops of oil would have turned them into fudge.

The 6 year old ones were a bit white, but solid and tasted fine.

The big Tootsie Rolls were rather hard, but when broken into pieces and in the mouth they softened right up.

Plain M&M.s kept just fine

I've kept butterscotch disks, peppermint disks, root beer barrels, and horehound candy for 10 years and they were fine.

Just my experience.

Very interesting info Jerry. Don't eat a lot of candy but would hate to not be able to get it if wanted.

Dennis

[DennisH]

Most sugar candy will store reasonably well but chocolate candies will eventually go bad as the fats andd oils go rancid. I'd suggest learning to make candy at home. Old fashioned candies aren't that hard to make and it is another skill to add to the score card.

Here is a (kinda generic) site with some recipes but it is just the tip of the iceberg, a web search will give you tons more

http://candy.about.com/od/sugarcandy/u/sugar_candy.htm

Thanks for the link. I'm kinda partial to cinnamon candy myself.

Dennis

[georgia]

What about gum? I know it gets very dry and brittle if not used in a couple of years, but how about in that candy bucket with O2 packets? It keeps the mouth moist when working- especially outside.

[Preppergirl]

cocoa+sugar+fat= frosting, or fudge, or chocolate syrup, or chocolate caramel depending upon ratio and heat- I'm storing the basics for that.

I've stored "smarties" for 4-5 years in the pantry in cellophane wrappers as they come without problems. Candy is something I've thought a lot about and smarties have never let me down.

[1Admin]

Smarties are good and probably just straight sugar with some food coloring- no reason they wouldn't store for the long term. I'm guessing the thin plastic wrapper would give out before the candy would.

M and M's do NOT store well packed in #10 cans and oxygen absorbers if their is any temp variation.

We canned a bunch of "treat" type items in 06 and 07 in #10 cans with absorbers, we'll be reporting here and there on how they fared over the long haul.

[Preppergirl]

ever try twizzlers? my hubby and kids like them. I'm more into chocolate, but fear that I'll have to just make fudge when the time comes. My mother in law is from cajun country SW louisiana and she recently taught me how to make "pull candy" from cane syrup, which is kinda like a chewy praline. Speaking of cane syrup, I don't know the storage life, but it does come in cans.

[ANVIL]

The Doc just informed me I have a mild case of Diabetes. This week I was unloading a truck of citrus. My sugar levels dropped and I learned how important it is to carry some hard candy with me at all times. Since I do not like the candy I have seen sold wrapped separately I will have to wrap my own, Just something else I need to deal with. Long term storage should not be a problem.

[Tinman]

How about taffy? Or making taffy. It is an older style candyour great grandparents ate. Don't forget the P.A.W. toothbrushes!!