Meringue Weeping

Meringue weeping is characterized by small droplets of water that accumulate on the surface of the meringue. Weeping is caused by over- or under-whipping the egg whites and by the sugar not having been completely dissolved into the egg whites. This weeping is seen only when baking plain meringues of any kind (French, Italian, Swiss), and it can be triggered by high oven temperatures. For this reason weeping will not be evident in a meringue that will not be baked. Weeping will also make the meringue crack while it bakes (or dries) in an oven.