Soft-crack stage

The Exploratorium puts soft-crack stage at 270 to 290 degrees Fahrenheit, when the syrup is about 95 percent sugar. Dropped into cold water, it forms threads that are flexible, not brittle, and bend before they break.

Almost all the water has boiled off by this point, so candies cooked here are firm but still have some give. The museum names saltwater taffy and butterscotch as the sweets made at this stage.

Cooks judge the stage with a candy thermometer or by testing a bit of syrup in cold water. The listed temperatures are for sea level, and the page says to subtract 1 degree Fahrenheit for every 500 feet above sea level.

Soft crack follows hard ball and comes before hard crack, the hottest of the stages used for candy such as toffee, nut brittles and lollipops.