Meringues gone wrong

[dragnlaw]

Lately I've been having problems with my meringue cookies. This time seems especially bad. The sugar didn't dissolve at all! Even while whipping I could see the granules.

I have a feeling the last sugar I bought might have been large granules - although it said nothing but I had already thrown the bag out. I'm pretty sure it was the regular type I always buy. It would have been either Redpath or Lantic, two of our major suppliers here in Canada.

If it was larger granules it is something I've never heard of. I've only ever thought there was 'regular' sugar known as fine sugar, icing and instant dissolving aka fruit sugar. I'm not talking about brown sugars.

Although it whipped fairly well (not as much volume as I would have expected) and reached stiff peaks, it softened very quickly while I was piping it.

Any suggestions as to what I did wrong?
I've use Anna Olson recipe for her Meringue Mushrooms quite a few times without any problems before... why now?

[ScottinPollock]

Cream of tartar?

[PrincessFiona60]

Too humid?

[taxlady]

Was it beet sugar, rather than cane sugar? I have read about people having issues with beet sugar. I don't understand why, since they are both highly refined and the result is nearly 100% pure sucrose.

[dragnlaw]

Cream of Tartar was in.
No, not too humid - have made them on wetter days. (never found that to be a problem anyhow)
I'll not know about the type, whether beet or cane. As I said, once I got home I put the sugar in my canister right away and tossed out the bag.

I did use pasteurized egg whites from the store, wonder if that was the problem. Had bought it for another purpose and was using up the left overs but it's not that old. I do admit I more often use fresh from my own chickens but can't believe this would be the cause. A lot of recipes use pasteurized egg whites - especially for meringues.

But even then why would the sugar not dissolve?

[ScottinPollock]

The fresher the eggs the less watery the whites. I've never used pasteurized eggs before... maybe they were on the shelf too long.

[dragnlaw]

Well, maybe I'll add the balance to some fresh eggs tomorrow for breakfast...

and go back to using my own eggs for meringue!

[MostlyWater]

You need to add the sugar slowly .....

[dragnlaw]

yup, I add only 1 Tbsp at a time. Trouble is should the sugar never melt, as in this case... you go ahead and hope it eventually dissolves... which it never did no matter how slow or how long I beat.

A friend looked at the sugar and she too thinks the granules look sort of big.

[msmofet]

Originally Posted by dragnlaw

yup, I add only 1 Tbsp at a time. Trouble is should the sugar never melt, as in this case... you go ahead and hope it eventually dissolves... which it never did no matter how slow or how long I beat.

A friend looked at the sugar and she too thinks the granules look sort of big.

Try putting the sugar in a food processor or blender and grind it finer.

[dragnlaw]

Originally Posted by msmofet

Try putting the sugar in a food processor or blender and grind it finer.

Did that too. At first I was going to use icing sugar but wasn't sure how the corn starch would affect it. Probably would have been for the better as you see in the picture, these were done with a star tip.

This is from the second batch with the finely ground sugar. Meringues split open and the sugar crystalized and bubbled out. These are not the worse samples... it seems the worst ones got "tested". still tasty!