Wilton 14.7-Inch Candy Thermometer with Side Clamp - Perfect for Melting Chocolate, Making Hard Candy, Sugar Syrup, and Caramel - Essential for Home Baking, Candy Making, and DIY Desserts

I recently decided to resurrect the old family tradition of making Rosettes for the holidays. This is a type of Scandinavian cookie that is deep fried and requires the temperature of the oil to be kept fairly consistent. Being that I do not have a deep fryer I needed a way to determine what the temperature was and help me keep it there. Hence my purchase of this thermometer.This thermometer has a very solid metal body surrounding the actual thermometer element which protects it from the back, bottom and top. However the face of the thermometer is protected only by being recessed as compared to the ridges on the sides, bottom, and top. This means as with all glass thermometers that you need to be careful. The body itself is solid enough that I feel pretty safe about putting it into a tub with my other Rosette making items, as long as this is on top and I don't jostle the tub too much. I may wind up packing this away by wrapping it in a towel.The back of the thermometer has a metal clip that can be slid up and down the body of the thermometer to position it on the edge of whatever container you need it in. The clip is pretty snug to the body and depending on your needs you may need to bend it out a bit. The pot I was using this in the first time had a very pronounced curve at the bottom edge which pushed the thermometer out from the edge and made the hold of the clip to the body somewhat tenuous until I adjusted it.Temperatures are presented in both Fahrenheit and Celsius and are easily readable. The thermometer element is red and is easily viewable from several angles, though if you try and read from a wrong angle you will not be able to see the temperature at all.Since this is my first candy thermometer I cannot speak as to its accuracy, but in using it I did find that it helped me maintain a fairly constant temperature for my Rosettes that allowed them to crisp up very nicely.In my opinion this thermometer is a worthwhile purchase for the kitchen. I sense many baking adventures with it in my future.