5 Best Candy Thermometers for Your Next Sweet Treat posted by Taylor Munsell Pin Share Tweet Email SomethingSwanky is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. Out of all the cooking tools in a fully-stocked kitchen, the candy thermometer may very well be the most underrated. That’s because it can be used in such a wide range of recipes (not just candy) and it’s virtually impossible to get those recipes just right without one. To help spread some much-needed candy thermometer awareness, I’ve put together this brief overview of the often-overlooked kitchen essential. I discuss how to best use a candy thermometer, why you need one, and some of the best candy thermometers on the market. Table of ContentsDo You Need A Candy Thermometer?What is a Candy Thermometer?What Are Candy Thermometers Used For?Types of Candy ThermometersCommon Complaints About Candy ThermometerWhat to Look for When Buying a Candy ThermometerDisplayHandlingFeaturesTemperature Range5 Best Candy Thermometers1. Overall: Thermopro Digital Instant Read2. Budget: Escali Candy Thermometer3. Deep-Frying: Polder Candy/Jelly/Deep-Fry Thermometer4. Long Probe: Taylor Precision5. High Tech: Lightbeam Digital Thermometer SpatulaRecipes For Your New Candy ThermometerCandy Thermometer FAQ Do You Need A Candy Thermometer? The short answer: if you want to get your sweet and savory cooking right, then yes. What is a Candy Thermometer? A candy thermometer is a long skinny tool that can be inserted into a mixture during cooking to read the temperature. The thermometer senses heat and relays that information to either an LCD screen or an analog dial on the device that displays a temperature readout. Candy thermometers differ from other kitchen thermometers in three main ways. First of all, they can read much higher temperatures – usually up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Second, they are generally much longer than other kitchen thermometers. Third, their end are not usually point enough to piece harder foods like meats. A candy thermometer is also sometimes called a sugar thermometer, a confection thermometer, or an oil thermometer. What Are Candy Thermometers Used For? Candy thermometers are traditionally used in preparation of soft candies like fudge, peanut brittle, caramel sauce, or toffee. It’s important to be able to measure the exact temperature of the candies during cooking, because moving on to the next step when the candy is even a few degrees too hot or too cool could ruin the final product. Candy thermometers can also be used for a lot of other recipes, such as: Yogurt Jelly/jam Anything deep-fried (to test the oil temperature) Soups/stews Egg- or cream-based sauces Cakes Meat, if you have a candy thermometer with a pointed end Types of Candy Thermometers A classic candy thermometer design is a long metal rod with one rounded end and one end that sports a temperature reading. Mercury inside the rod senses the temperature and feeds it to the display (whether it’s analog or digital). However, many different types of designs have cropped up over time. For instance: Foldable thermometers to save space Candy thermometers built into a long spoon so you can stir while monitoring the temperature Wider thermometers that display the temperature reading as a mercury level on the rod itself like a weather thermometer Common Complaints About Candy Thermometer People often buy the cheapest candy thermometer they can find and complain about issues like: The thermometer is hard to read because of unclear numbering or a dim readout. The thermometer is slow to read the temperature and display it accurately. The glass over the temperature readout fogs up easily. The thermometer takes up too much space and is hard to store. The device is hard to clean. The thermometer uses low-quality glass that can break and totally ruin the recipe. In my recommendations below, I’ve attempted to pick models that dodge all of these common pitfalls. What to Look for When Buying a Candy Thermometer If you’re going to look through candy thermometer models yourself, keep these key considerations in mind: Display Again, you want a display that’s easy to read and will not steam up quickly, even when the thermometer is vertical like it will be while you are cooking. Handling The candy thermometer should be easy to unclip and move around the kitchen. Bonus points if you don’t need to use an oven mitt to do so. Features Look for miscellaneous features like being able to set the thermometer to notify you when the food gets to a certain temperature, being able to clip the thermometer onto the edge of a pot, or being able to read the thermometer from afar via a mobile app. Temperature Range One of the key reasons candy thermometers are so useful is because they can read really high temperatures, so you should make sure any model you get can read 300 degrees or more. 5 Best Candy Thermometers Instead of sifting through candy thermometer options, you could just go with one of the five recommendations in the table below! I’ve classified each of my five picks into a category, so you can choose one based on exactly what you’re looking for. Below the table, I’ve even included a paragraph or two about why each of my picks made the cut. CategoryNamePrice Range ($-$$$$$)Overall[amazon link=”B01IHHLB3W” link_icon=”none” title=”ThermoPro Digital Instant Read” /]$$Budget[amazon link=”B01CI50FJU” link_icon=”none” title=”Escali Candy Thermometer” /]$Deep-Frying[amazon link=”B001FB6IFY” link_icon=”none” title=”Polder Candy/Jelly/Deep-Fry Thermometer” /]$Long Probe[amazon link=”B09GWDT66H” link_icon=”none” title=”Taylor Precision Products” /]$$$High Tech[amazon link=”B08PVZGM4F” link_icon=”none” title=”Lightbeam Digital Thermometer Spatula” /]$$ 1. Overall: Thermopro Digital Instant Read by [amazon link=”B01IHHLB3W” link_icon=”none” title=”ThermoPro” /] [amazon fields=”B01IHHLB3W” value=”thumb” image_size=”large” image_align=”center” image_alt=”ThermoPro TP03 Digital Instant Read”] This thermometer is my favorite because of how versatile it is. The probe is certainly long enough to test candy, but it also has a pointed end so you can easily stick it into harder foods like cake or meat to test their temperatures. What’s more, the thermometer takes and displays the internal temperature more quickly than any other model on this list – it only takes 3-5 seconds to show you what you’re working with. The digital readout on the thermometer is large and easy to read and has an auto-shutoff after 10 minutes of non-use. The thermometer is also foldable, which makes storage more convenient. The one downside of this model is that it can only measure temps up to 300 degrees. Still, I’d highly recommend it to any beginner chef who wants to save on space but still wants an accurate and versatile kitchen thermometer. 2. Budget: Escali Candy Thermometer by [amazon link=”B01CI50FJU” link_icon=”none” title=”Escali” /] [amazon fields=”B01CI50FJU” value=”thumb” image_size=”large” image_align=”center” image_alt=”Escali AHC1 NSF Certified Candy Thermometer”] This candy thermometer has a classic design and the low price to match, but it still gets all the basic features right. The large analog temperature reading that sits atop the 5.5” probe is very accurate and easy to read, with labels demarcating all of the most commonly called-for target temperatures. The adjustable target temperature marker that you can slide around the dial is a nice touch, too, as is the clip on the rod that allows you to secure the thermometer to the edge of the cooking pot. Another standout feature of this model is that it can read temperatures up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit, which makes it great for testing boiling oil. 3. Deep-Frying: Polder Candy/Jelly/Deep-Fry Thermometer by [amazon link=”B001FB6IFY” link_icon=”none” title=”Polder” /] [amazon fields=”B001FB6IFY” value=”thumb” image_size=”large” image_align=”center” image_alt=”Polder Candy/Jelly/Deep-Fry Thermometer”] Even though this model can only test temperatures up to 400 degrees, it’s my favorite oil thermometer for deep frying for three reasons: It has a heat-proof handle, which is important when the thermometer is sitting in boiling oil. It’s dishwasher-safe, which is nice since oil is a pain to clean off by hand. It has six temperature zones demarcated on the thermometer, which helps you make sure things don’t get too hot. It’s also a great price and has a pot clip that lets you do other things while your recipe is heating up. 4. Long Probe: Taylor Precision by [amazon link=”B09GWDT66H” link_icon=”none” title=”Taylor Precision Products” /] [amazon fields=”B09GWDT66H” value=”thumb” image_size=”large” image_align=”center” image_alt=”Taylor Precision Products Thermometer”] The rod on this candy thermometer is nine inches long, so it’s good for use with large batches in deep pots. It also has a nice rounded tip so you won’t scrape the bottom of the pot, although you honestly shouldn’t let the thermometer touch the bottom of the pot anyway if you want an accurate reading. The rod has an adjustable pan clip on it so that it can also be used with shallower pots. The digital display at one end of the rod has clear lettering and is angled upwards just enough so you don’t have to worry about condensation fogging it up. It’s also programmable, so you can tell it to start flashing a green light when it reaches a target temperature. 5. High Tech: Lightbeam Digital Thermometer Spatula by [amazon link=”B08PVZGM4F” link_icon=”none” title=”Lightbeam” /] [amazon fields=”B08PVZGM4F” value=”thumb” image_size=”large” image_align=”center” image_alt=”Lightbeam Digital Thermometer Spatula”] I love the 2-in-1 design of this model; the candy thermometer itself is housed inside a high tech-looking silicone spatula. You can stir your recipe with the spatula and the heat will travel through the material to give you a temperature reading. The thermometer is also removable so that you can use it without the spatula if you want. Note that this model can read temperatures up to an impressive 572 degrees. Recipes For Your New Candy Thermometer Once you get ahold of a shiny new candy thermometer, you’ll want to test it out! You can do so in these excellent recipes from Something Swanky’s archives: Black Candy Apples White Chocolate Candy Cane Fudge Pralines and Cream Fudge Candy Thermometer FAQ Now to address a few of the most commonly-asked questions related to candy thermometers. Can you use any thermometer as a candy thermometer? No. First and foremost, most thermometers cannot withstand the 300+ degree temperatures of candies, boiling oil, or other exceedingly hot recipes that candy thermometers are used in. If you try using a regular thermometer or even a meat thermometer at such a high temperature, it might break and ruin your entire recipe or, at very least, stop working.Secondly, a candy thermometer’s extremely long and skinny shape increases safety when testing the temperature of red hot recipes since they prevent burns from heat conduction and lessen drippage. Should a candy thermometer touch the bottom of the pan? No! If you allow the tip of the thermometer to scrape the bottom of the pan, it can damage both the pan and the thermometer. Besides, the temperature reading is not as accurate if the thermometer is touching the pan’s bottom. Instead, try to position the thermometer’s tip about 80% of the way down in the pan. How do I know if my candy thermometer is accurate? You can test your candy thermometer for accuracy by boiling some water and submerging the tip of the thermometer. Leave it in the boiling water for at least five minutes before checking the temperature reading. It should say about 212 degrees Fahrenheit. How often should I test my candy thermometer? I’d recommend testing the thermometer once every six months to make sure it stays accurate. It’s a good idea to test it before any heavy use, like a baking marathon or preparation of a big dinner for which you’ll be using it a lot. Can you clean a candy thermometer in the dishwasher? Most candy thermometers are not dishwasher-safe since they usually have non-detachable electronic parts nowadays. The old-school analog models, however, are usually dishwasher-safe. Whatever type of model you have, you should check the box to make sure one way or another. What are the different candy-making stages? Most confectioners divide the candy-making process into seven stages, each of them referring to the time period when the sugar in the candy is in a certain temperature range. The stages are:• Thread: When the sugar is between 230 degrees and 234 degrees.• Soft Ball: When the sugar is between 234 degrees and 240 degrees.• Firm Ball: When the sugar is between 244 degrees and 248 degrees.• Hard Ball: When the sugar is between 250 degrees and 265 degrees.• Soft Crack: When the sugar is between 270 degrees and 290 degrees.• Hard Crack: When the sugar is between 300 degrees and 310 degrees.• Caramel: When the sugar is between 320 degrees and 338 degrees.To make different kinds of candy, candy-makers manipulate or add to the candies in different ways during each of these stages. A candy thermometer is an essential part of this process to make sure everything is done at the right time. Rising Temps I’ve only recently become interested in making my own candy, and, since then, I’ve learned that a candy thermometer is pretty much necessary in the confectioner’s process. I’ve also been pleasantly surprised, though, by how many other types of recipe I’ve been using the thermometer in! I hope this post encourages you to do the same.
