Different candies are made at different temperatures and it is important to know what stage of liquefying your sugar syrup mixture is in. The easiest way for this to be done is, of couse, with a thermometer, but there is another method for testing sugar to make sure see what stage it is at and it is called the cold-water method. The tools needed are a spoon and a bowl of very cold water. To begin, remove the pan from the heat and scoop a small piece of the sugar mixture out of the pan and drop it into the bowl of cold water.
Once the dollop of sugar hardens, one can tell by the texture what temperature the rest of the sugar is at. For example, a sugar that easily forms a soft ball when still submerged in the water but flattens out when removed is at the soft ball stage. This stage is ideal for fudge and fondant recipes. If the syrup cracks when you try to mold it, this is called the hard crack stage and it is ideal for lollipops. This method does take a little bit of trial and error before it is perfected, but it can be an interesting way to learn about the nature of the sugar syrup without using a thermometer.