Why is my meringue weeping?
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Top best answers to the question «Why is my meringue weeping»
Avoid making meringue on humid days. The sugar in the delicate egg-white mixture readily absorbs moisture from the air, which makes it soft and impossible to achieve thick, stiff peaks. Humidity may also cause some soft meringues to weep or crisp meringues to soften once baked.
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This is called weeping and it happens if there is undissolved sugar in your meringue mix. The undissolved sugar crystals are heavy in the mix and weigh it down and make it weaker and reduce the volume of the meringue. When baked in the oven, the sugar crystals attract moisture and form the sugar syrup that you see beading out of the cooked meringue.
Weeping is caused by an unstable meringue, one that is undercooked or that it simply has too much moisture in it. Many pies are topped with a meringue made by beating sugar and egg whites together, spreading it onto a hot pie and baking it for a few minutes in the oven to brown it.
Weeping is when your meringue leaks small beads of moisture, affecting its look and taste. This usually happens if your meringue is made when it's super humid or if the egg whites and sugar aren't mixed correctly.
The watery layer between the meringue and the filling (weeping) is usually caused by undercooking. This is where it is important to put your meringue onto hot filling so it can begin cooking right away. Once your pie is finished, store it correctly by covering and chilling it so the meringue will be as beautiful as it was right out of the oven.
Weeping occurs as moisture begins to slowly seep out of the meringue layer and ruin both the look and therefore the appeal of this otherwise delightful creation. Weeping is a common problem with meringue that luckily has a pretty basic solution. Below are the details to keep a pie from crying goopy tears of failure.
The steam from the filling will rise up and pass through the meringue, which prevents liquid from pooling underneath. As the pie finishes baking in the oven, remove it when the meringue turns light brown and don’t overcook it, which can also cause weeping.
The meringue pulls back from the crust, moisture beads on the topping, and a clear liquid forms below the crust. It doesn’t hurt the pie but it’s not presentable. Most weeping seems to be caused by one of two conditions, either the sugar isn’t completely dissolved or the egg whites are not fully cooked. Say goodbye to weeping meringues.
Basically, under-baking means there is too much liquid left in the meringue, which causes the foam to collapse and the excess liquid to seep out. This problem is common with recipes such as lemon meringue pie, where the baking time is short and the majority of the moisture in the meringue mixture remains.
If the meringue is swirled onto a cool filling and baked, steam in the reheating filling just reaches the meringue. As the pie cools, the steam condenses to form the sweet weeping (sometimes a pool) under the meringue. And when the pie is cut, the meringue is inclined to slip off the wedges.
But if you notice beads of liquid condensation forming on the surface of the meringue while it bakes, that's a sign that your oven temperature is too low. The solution: crank up the heat and shorten the cooking time. Note also that a fully baked meringue should easily pull away from the baking sheet when you lift it with a spatula.