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Do-It-Yourself Dragon's Beard Candy

Do-It-Yourself Dragon\
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As I was poking around my regular blogs I stumbled upon this YouTube video here http://youtu.be/auRNHI2nkIU which has inspired me and my sister to try the recipe out and to share what we've learned.

The recipe for the candy is in fact dead easy make, it is the technique to magically change a solid puck of sugar into a cotton candy like consistency that is really the tricky bit.

Now where I live it is more likely known as Dragon's Beard candy, but in essence it is a type of pulled candy like taffy. It can also be described as a hand-pulled cotton candy.

Bare in mind that we're amateurs at making this, so the end result is not pretty and if this is your first time making this do not expect it to turn out perfectly until you have made it a few times. 

You can find other names for this candy here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon%27s_beard_candy for educational purposes.

Now onwards to the next step...


 
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Step 1Ingredients and Tools

Ingredients and Tools
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For a basic Dragon's Beard you need,

Ingredients (Syrup):-
* 1000g / 2.2lb of sugar
* 100g / 3.5oz of light corn syrup or maltose
* 1 tsp of white vinegar (careful here, too much or too little might mess up the final product)
* 500ml or 2 cups of water

Ingredients (Dusting):-
* 3 to 4 cups of corn starch or rice flour

Ingredients (Filling):-
* 2 to 3 cups of peanuts

Tools:-
* a saucepan that will comfortably fit the ingredients
* a candy thermometer
* a pastry brush
* round disposable plastic containers or preferably silicone doughnut baking molds
* your hands

Note: We highly HIGHLY recommend you use silicone doughnut baking molds or just silicone baking molds in general. We will cover why a steps down.
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76 comments
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Jan 6, 2011. 3:46 AMCathoHolic says:
just wanna drop by because this reminds me of one of my favorite korean snacks I purchase from the vendors on the streets of Korea

It's called Kkul Tarae a traditional Korean snack for Royalty (back in the ol' days of course)

here's some videos on how to pull them better and to use different ingredients (?)
they taste better too than that sugar concoction

Korean Vendors... where they know how to sell with their performances and multi-language knowledge and humor


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuX_BVMNDY
First video will show a method to stretch and it's humorous to listen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCLYieehzGs
Second video shows a better show on how to properly wrap them into little individual packets while also giving another humorous video :D

Personally I like the Korean Dragon's beard over the Chinese Dragon's Beard due to use of different base solid.
Jan 6, 2011. 3:50 AMCathoHolic says:
“Kkul Tarae (honey skein) is a court cake made of ripened honey and malt which was once presented to the king and valuable guests. It is brewed with artisan spirit to make 16,000 strand suggesting the prayer for longevity, health, god fortune and wish-fulfillment. It is not much sweet, not sticky to teeth, but enjoyable with various tastes according to garnishings. It can taste better with teas as it is cold and frozen.”
Jan 22, 2012. 12:04 PMgengelmann says:
I got a version of this in Korea when I was younger and I've always wondered how to make it.

I live in Colorado, so the altitude is extremely high.. When I tried making this candy, I had it at a medium heat and set the timer for 25 minutes. It got up to about 200 degrees Fahrenheit before it stopped moving, and it stopped moving for about five minutes. I let it sit for a while longer before turning up the heat a little bit, and it still didn't move for another five minutes. At this point, it's been about 30 minutes and it still hadn't moved from 200. Finally, I turned up the heat a bit more and it reached 269 and I killed the heat and took it off. It had probably been cooking about 40 minutes.

When it cooled down, it was hard as a rock, white, and crusty. Is that because I let it cook too long? Should I start with a higher heat so it stays within the 20-25 minute range, or will the candy just not work period because I'm at a high (and very dry) altitude?
May 26, 2012. 6:18 PMbgoldberg1 says:
When any candy recipe *claims* that they want you to cook a sugar/water mix until it reaches some specific temperature, what they *actually* want you to do is to cook it until it reaches some particular ratio of sugar to water.

At sea level, for any desired sugar/water ratio, one can start with a dilute mix of sugar in water, then cook until it reaches some particular temperature -- the higher the ratio of sugar to water, the higher the temperature.

At high altitudes, water boils at lower temperatures. Also, sugar/water mixtures boil at lower temperatures.

Thus, to achieve the proper sugar/water ratio that the recipe actually wants, you need to decrease the temperature to which you cook the candy.

If, at high altitude, you cook your candy to the same temperature called for in a recipe meant to sea level, the results will be very overcooked.

There's probably a formula you can use for adapting candy recipes for high altitudes... I would suggest doing a google search for "high altitude candy making" (without quotes).

Feb 19, 2012. 11:30 PMmybrowning says:
Love this tutorial! Thanks!
Does anyone know the recipe for Kukul Tarae that uses HONEY? I understand that they main ingredients are honey and some sort of liquid malt. I'd love to use honey instead of sugar/corn syrup. Any help appreciated!
Aug 24, 2011. 3:56 PMCinder Dragon says:
How much will this make exactly?
Jan 9, 2011. 3:29 AMneanderthal says:
Turkish "pi_maniye" :)

Oil, flour, sugar, lemon juice made from one type of halva is synonymous with our provinces and Izmit. Although originally from Izmit to a sweet way to ask why everyone falls in with a gift that can be counted, is much loved by the fans, like those Not that I hate where our country has a distinctive flavor.

Time to one of the gyro, the sultan's daughter also had a very nice ... This gyro without seeing the sultan's daughter fell in love ... The sultan had heard this angry and wanted to rest a gyro ... gyro, the sultan's presence, even love, afraid to tell absence, the sultan her daughter's hair, the wire than a thin sweet it can forgive him going, even her marriage would, but fails to kill him said, gyro working for a time after the Pi_maniye you have done ... The hair was thinner than she really wires and the sultan's daughter who agreed to give the gyro ... gyro Sultan's daughter saw the wedding day ... The poor girl was nearly 150 pounds ... gyro, so I have created a sweet regret not to forget that Pi_maniye also wanted to be...

Jul 28, 2011. 1:22 AMspankeerrrrrrr says:
pismaniye :D
where are you from
Jun 7, 2011. 2:26 AMAegian2424 says:
could you use homemade "corn syrup" for that? a corn syrup substitube used for making homemade marshmellows.
or could you use rice syrup?
Jun 7, 2011. 11:56 AMAegian2424 says:
I used barley malt syrup (something like maltose syrup) but that just bubbled over the sides of the sauce pan even at the lovest temperature so I ended that...
Mar 20, 2011. 6:08 PMbrooklynbrownie says:
This is AWESOME! I've seen street vendors make it and I always thought it would be impossible to do myself. You give me hope. Very cool!
Mar 2, 2011. 5:39 PMeulaliaaaa! says:
My candy string dried up and got crumbly. The pucks are fine, though. What could be wrong? They were only out (In a plastic bag and on the counter) for about 2 hours.
Mar 3, 2011. 2:08 PMeulaliaaaa! says:
Okay. Good thing I still have two pucks!
Feb 14, 2011. 6:27 PMfinfan7 says:
If you use the peanut powder in place of or in combination with the cornstarch, you'll get the flavour through the whole thing without the extra step.
Feb 9, 2011. 3:57 AMhuang96632 says:
Nice share!

Actually, we in Indonesia have exactly the same kind of candy but unfortunately I don't know the name of the candy. The last time I ate that candy is when I was 8 years old!. The maker can make it with no mess at all. I envy him :D
Jan 29, 2011. 8:30 PMcorey11 says:
HELP!!!! I used a muffin mold, and the pucks wont come out!!! i even oiled the molds too! Its metal, and they wont come out!!! How do i get them out?????????
Feb 1, 2011. 3:42 PMcorey11 says:
Phew, that was a close one. I got them out, i took a cleaned nail and poked it into one side at a time and pried up, and eventually i got all the pucks out like this, Im glad i oiled the pan, otherwise, i might no have been so fortunate. (Sorry if some spelling is off, i accidentally stuck my finger in a vaccuum motor while it was running. Im lucky i didnt lose it)
Jan 24, 2011. 7:54 AMCirdan says:
What an excellent instructable, Zid! Many thanks for sharing. I've watched videos on Youtube of how the old masters made the candy, and now you've given me a recipe to start with. I can't wait to start making it!
Jan 12, 2011. 5:05 AMDream Dragon says:
That's really interesting.

Now, I know that some sweets are made on an industrial scale by pressing male molds into a tray of cornstarch, the sugary sweet mixture is then pored into the resulting female mold just in the cornstarch, (I think this is for the "gummy" type sweets). I wonder if this technique might work for making the original "puck" if one doesn't have silicone doughnut molds.
Jan 13, 2011. 1:49 PMRayney says:
No, what they mean is like making a pile of cornstarch on the table (or whatever) and pressing a doughnut shaped item into it to make a sort of mold. It is what they use to make things like jelly beans and gummi bears. I haven't tried making this yet but I would assume it would work. Like the rest of the process it would likely just take trial and error to get it to work right. Like on http://www.instructables.com/id/Corn-Starch-Candy-Mold-Lessons-learned/step4/New-mold-type-Lego/

I hope this helps :D
Jan 13, 2011. 2:21 PMDream Dragon says:
That's EXACTLY what I had in mind. Thank you for posting that, and for your own fascinating exploration of this tricky topic.
Jan 23, 2011. 3:36 AMRayney says:
I discussed this with my mom, who has made this type of candy before, and she said no, this won't work. The cornstarch would draw out way too much moisture from the candy. It was an awesome idea though, i thought it would work.
Jan 14, 2011. 3:02 PMhappytobethemoon says:
Just made some. This stuff ranks very high on the "sticks to your fillings" scale.

Make sure you keep the thickness even all the time, and lengthen the donut by squeezing rather than stretching.
Jan 15, 2011. 3:44 PMhappytobethemoon says:
24 hours later the candy had completely crystallized. It's now difficult to pick them out without them exploding into white powder. It's like just eating peanuts mixed with sugar. Their sticking days are over.
Jan 15, 2011. 3:10 PMBJdaWonderKid says:
Just wanted to say good jopb and I will be trying this soon.
Jan 15, 2011. 12:31 PMkibukun says:
it looks like a doughnut made of sugar!
Jan 12, 2011. 5:17 PMgold fish says:
I have a question can a regular cooking thermometer be used instead of the candy thermometer?
Jan 14, 2011. 5:25 PMdaenris says:
I think you probably meant 140 Celsius, since 140 Fahrenheit is much too low to be used for candy making (140 Celsius is actually too low as well for the general case, though should be enough for this recipe).

To gold fish, you really should get a candy thermometer if you plan on trying things like this as they are designed for the purpose and are usually heat safe up to 350+ degrees Fahrenheit, which many standard cooking thermometers are not. You can find them for under $15 for a serviceable analog version. Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Taylor-Classic-Deep-Fry-Analog-Thermometer/dp/B00004XSC9/ref=sr_1_24?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1295054568&sr=1-24 would work fine.
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