Sugar, Water, Cream of Tartar for Candy Sugar: Understanding the factors?

I think your cream of tartar was trying to do what it is supposed to do, but found itself in a situation where it couldn't do that. . Cream of tartar has multiple uses in food preparation including stabilizing egg whites by increasing their heat tolerance and volume, and preventing sugary syrups, chocolates and candies from crystallizing[blog.fooducate.com/2011/01/11/8-things-​to-know-about... ]. You're trying to make candy crystals, and the cream of tartar was trying to do its job to prevent the crystals from forming.

Read-how's definition below.

Stabilizer

Cream of tartar can act as a stabilizing agent in foods and add thickness to prevent ingredients from losing their shapes. One of the most common uses for cream of tartar as a stabilizing agent is with eggs. Egg proteins contain fluids that prevent the incorporation of air. Without incorporated air, foods are dense and lack volume. When cream of tartar is beaten into eggs, the proteins become lighter and easier to shape. Egg whites beaten with cream of tartar often are used to make meringue dessert toppings.

Texture

Mixtures that contain sugar (such as icing or candy) can have a rough texture without the addition of an acidic ingredient like cream of tartar. Sugar naturally has a rough texture that smooths out when it's heated and the molecules separate. When sugar molecules go back to their natural formation, it's known as crystallization and results in a grainy texture. If cream of tartar is added with sugar, the acid will prevent the sugar molecules from separating and make mixtures smooth and glossy.

Read more: What Does Cream of Tartar Do? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5380504_cream-tartar-do....

so, you were trying to make peanut brittle, and had too much of a good thing, and not enough heat under the candy.

Mom's Peanut brittle from allrecipe.com

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup water

1 cup peanuts

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

1.Grease a large cookie sheet. Set aside.

2.In a heavy 2 quart saucepan, over medium heat, bring to a boil sugar, corn syrup, salt, and water. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Stir in peanuts. Set candy thermometer in place, and continue cooking. Stir frequently until temperature reaches 300 degrees F (150 degrees C), or until a small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water separates into hard and brittle threads.

3.Remove from heat; immediately stir in butter and baking soda; pour at once onto cookie sheet. With 2 forks, lift and pull peanut mixture into rectangle about 14x12 inches; cool. Snap candy into pieces

And a little advice, in case you did not know, cream of tartar, in minute doses like for cooking is harmless to normal people. But in people with kidney disease, a little caution is needed. Cream of tartar has a lot of potassium[K+] in it, and could be harmful to them. Potassium also is a wonderful laxative.

And in high doses, potassium can be fatal. This is not something you put in somebody's brownies to make them sick, you could kill someone with the stuff, and cardiac patients would be at risk. Premeditated murder is not something you wish to be charged with. Cream of tartar has nearly 500 mg of K+ in it per teaspoon, our daily allowance of K+ is 3500mg. Any way, the stuff tastes horrible, it would be easily detected. Using the recommended amount in cooking is fine, and should not be a problem.

The cream of tartar caused it to invert. Invert sugar does not crystallize like cane sugar, as you found out. Note that salt water taffy is made with corn syrup (invert sugar) and it stays pliable.

Ah, you scoff, but many people do have a relationship like this with God. I think Jesus would not drink coffee. It is an unnecessary and harmful beverage. He'd definitely go for the bean burrito, because beans were a staple of the diet back then, and very little meat. I think he'd skip Bill Maher.