The Chemistry of Candy Making with Goat Milk Stuff

What could be better than an interesting science lesson?  How about one with a delicious, sweet candy treat at the end, am I right…?   For many of us that sure would have made high school science much more interesting too!  For one Scott County teen, he’s spent half of his life breaking down the science behind candy making and the surprising complexity involved when using fresh goats’ milk with your favorite candy recipes and the added immersed chemistry.

Meet Emery, an 18-year-old, homeschooled, teenager working for the family business at Goat Milk Stuff in Scottsburg, Indiana (located just off I-65 at exit 29; 80 miles south of Indianapolis and just 30 minutes north of Louisville).  Emery started making candy using goat milk for his family during the holidays at age nine and began to take his confectionary talents seriously by the time he was a fifth grader/age 11.  By the time Emery was age 14 he had perfected many recipes and was working in the family business making delicious candies to sell to consumers, like us, in the family business Goat Milk Stuff. 

Emery has been experimenting with numerous recipes over the years but explained that working with a product such as fresh Alpine dairy goat milk is not a simple process.  Throughout the year, the changes in the weather, the pastures, and what the goats eat affect the fat and protein levels in the milk.  This requires constant tweaking of his recipes.  Fortunately for Emery his family business Goat Milk Stuff has a herd of over 100 active dairy goats each producing nearly two gallons of fresh goats’ milk per day. 

Did you know that goats milk does not separate like traditional dairy cows’ milk, so working the candy is critical to the final product whether it’s clusters, creams or truffles?  Emery finds that with each batch of fresh goat milk he finds himself adjusting the recipe to meet or match the goat milk consistency daily.  To help get that creamy texture Emery uses white chocolate, chocolate and peanut butter as many of his candy’s bases instead of butter. Working the candies by hand gives Emery the “feel” keeping his candies smooth and luscious instead of becoming grainy or mushy.  Even minor temperature changes can impact candy making with fudge being the finickiest of all the various candies Emery makes for us to enjoy.  In his growth as a confectioner, Emery works and reworks each recipe from very small batch and experimental quantities to large batches converting them to over 100 pieces to sell to consumers. 

When I asked him why an 18 year old a young man has chosen to become a candy maker, his response, filled with maturity and passion, was, “Its working with my family and their support that means the most in my growth as a candy maker; but it’s the reinforcement I get from our customers, their reaction and enjoyment while they are in the store and the positive comments we receive on our social media pages that tells me I’m doing good!”