Hardball stage is the name given to the part of the sugar/water boiling process when the sugar reaches about 260 degrees F and can be dropped in tiny amounts into a container of ice-cold water and instantly ball up in shape. It usually takes about 10-12 minutes to get to this point while boiling the mixture and it’s very helpful to have a candy thermometer on hand for tracking the heat of the mixture as we want to go past this point and bring our mix closer to that 300 degrees F point.