Will O. Rigby

“ Use your own judgment, and if you are bright, originate new goods, call them some pretty name, and place them so as to look well in the store. That is half of the battle won towards becoming a successful candy maker. Of course it is necessary to first know the principles of making candy. When you learn that, have confidence in yourself and go ahead, and it won’t be long before you will be able to prepare a great many pretty candies out of a small quantity of raw material. ”

“ Now fill one with plain opera cream, lightly flavored with vanilla, with some color—a delicate pink—and flavor strawberry, and the other color with chocolate; now you will have eight kinds of operas. Let stand a few hours, turn box cover upside down, tear off the wax paper and mark with a caramel cutter, but don’t cut them up in pieces, only as they are sold; put them in nice clean pans and when the people see eight kinds of operas it will sell them quicker than gazing at those three chestnuts—vanilla, strawberry and chocolate. ”

“ In all my recipes for making ice creams I tell you to strain your cream and sugar through a fine sieve. I do this as a precaution, thus avoiding flies and other small foreign particles being in your cream after it is frozen. Care should be exercised in turning your freezer. Start slowly and at the finish turn very rapidly. By turning slowly at the start it avoids the producing of butter on the dasher, and by turning rapidly at the finish it swells your cream. I think it a good idea after you are through freezing to wash the top of your freezer off good before removing ”

“ During the summer, if your windows are not closed, think it is a good idea not to trim them, as the goods get dirty, and covered with flies, giving one the impression that your goods are all like the ones displayed in your windows. ”

“ Never allow your flavors and colors to become mixed on one shelf. Lumber is cheap, so have lots of shelf room to spare, so when you start after a certain flavor you will not have to overhaul your whole stock of bottles to find it. It might be well to arrange them in alphabetical order. Have a separate shelf for your raw material, such as shelled nuts, chocolate, cocoa butter, paraffin, etc.
In dipping chocolate, provide yourself with oilcloth covered boards of a convenient size, about twelve by eighteen inches, as the oilcloth is superior to wax paper, and cheaper. ”

“ Roast 5 pounds almonds and set them to one side; now put 5 pounds sugar, and water to dissolve same, in kettle and cook to 238°; flavor it vanilla after it is set off on the barrel, then pour in one pile on a hot slab the 5 pounds of almonds, and while your helper pours a little of the batch at a time on the nuts, you have half of a pail cover in each hand and keep the nuts stirred up by moving them continually from right to left; continue this until they are coated thick enough to suit. They can be made all flavors. ”

“ Take the stones out of two dozen good and ripe plums, and lay them in a fine sieve and squeeze them through; now place the pulp in the kettle and add 7 pounds of sugar and 1 pint of water; cook to 240° and add quickly 21⁄2 ounces of dissolved gelatin and stir and cook to 248° or 250°; set off on barrel and run the batch into starch prints, oval shape; when they set and are ready, dip in chocolate.
In winter when there are no plums, you can use any kind of can preserves if you are unable to obtain plums. ”

“ Glaces are made by shaving ice in an ice shaver into small glass mugs. After you have filled your glass mug with crushed ice, use a long soda spoon to make a hole in the middle of the ice; fill this with crushed fruit, or any flavor that you like, shave a little more ice on top, and it is ready for the customer.
This is a very profitable drink and the most popular flavors are cherry, strawberry, orange, peach, raspberry, pineapple, plum, apricot and claret. ”

“ Place 4 pounds sugar and 3 pounds glucose in a clean copper kettle and add water enough to dissolve the batch; cook over a good, hot fire; cover the kettle and let it come to a good, hard boil, then take off the cover and add peanuts to suit, and cook until the peanuts pop and start to smoke and smell good, then pour on a greased slab; spread out smooth with a rolling-pin; just before the batch gets cold cut in bars or in size of the pan you expect to put it in. Bars are the neatest and are the easiest handled when selling. ”

“ Grind 3 pounds almonds, pecans, English walnuts, black walnuts, filberts, or any kind of nuts you may happen to have in the shop, and spread them out thin on the table or slab, and then press them down smooth with a little board or pan; now proceed to dissolve bon bon cream as for Peppermint Patties; when melted don’t flavor, but color to suit yourself. Drop the cream through the funnel on the nuts the size of other patties; when dry turn them over and stack in dishes, nut side up. ”

“ Add a small amount of common soda or some of the well-known washing powders to a bucket of water and keep under your counter to wash your ice cream soda glasses in, afterwards rinsing them.
Don’t hire a cheap boy to run your fountain; a boy may be cheaper than a man, but people have confidence in a man that a boy cannot inspire. ”

“ Melt cream fondants as for bon bons, and then stir in all the long strip cocoanut it will stand; then set it off on one corner of your slab; now flavor it with extract of vanilla, then have a glass of water and a teaspoon, and with the spoon dip in and take out just half a spoonful at a time, and with the thumb slip it off on the slab; drop the spoon in the water every third or fourth time that you dip them; they will slip off more readily. Continue this until the batch is finished; let them remain on slab five minutes and they are ready to pick up, put in pans or dishes for the store. ”

“ For Chocolate Drops and Bon Bons.
First make whatever impression you wish to run, by filling your starch boards and taking a stick that has a straight edge and scraping it from the top to make a level surface, then make your impression with your molds that have been previously stuck on a stick, say 11⁄2 by 18 inches long, and the molds put half an inch apart; when you have all the impressions made then put in your kettle whatever fondant you may want to run and set it over a very slow fire, and stir until it gets just hot enough so as when you put your finger in it feels uncomfortable ”

“ Open very large raisins, take out the seeds and stuff them with dipping cream, then crystalize them. They look well and are nice to top off a box of candy with. Color some of the dipping cream violet, pink, yellow, and leave some white. I always make them in assorted colors, as they look better and sell better.
BUTTER-SCOTCH CHOCOLATES.
Make a batch of butter-scotch patties; run them small—a little larger than a nickel—then dip them in chocolate.
They are leaders wherever they are made. ”

“ Cook batch as for peppermint, only color the one pound yellow and pull it on hook, and knead into the main piece 11⁄2 ounces of tartaric acid, and leave it clear; form it as for peppermint and top off with lemon stripes, and finish as the peppermint batch.
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In making stick candy canes, cut off the lengths you want on an angle, and see that one end is a little smaller than the other; have helper roll them until he sees they are getting cold, if he bends them too soon the canes look flat and it affects the sale of them. ”

“ Place the sugar and coffee and half the cream on a slow fire and stir until it comes to a boil, then mix the yolks with the remaining cream; stir all together and bring to a boiling point. Then strain through a fine sieve. When cool freeze.
CARAMEL ICE CREAM.
Place 11⁄2 pounds of granulated sugar in copper kettle and melt slowly without water. When a good brown, slowly stir in one gallon of sweet [177] cream, set off and add 4 pounds of granulated sugar and 2 gallons of cream. Flavor with 2 ounces of vanilla. When cool freeze. ”

“ Don’t allow yourself to get in the habit of pouring water in your dipping cream while dipping bon bons, as ninety-nine out of every hundred do, and still know that it will only add to making the bon bons get dry and hard and spotted much sooner. Always dip as quickly as possible and only melt as much cream at a time as you think you will be able to use. ”

“ A man working in a poorly arranged shop will walk many extra miles during a day’s work. Place your furnace in a well-lighted place; it will save gas bills and enable you to always see the condition of your batch, providing the draft is not cut off to any extent. Sugar, glucose and water are used in almost all candies, therefore have them side by side; you cannot easily move the sink, so move your sugar, glucose and scales as near it as possible. ”

“ Every candy maker has his own way of making centers for buttercups, but I find the above good enough, as they sell as good as any I know of. In fact, buttercups and Boston chips are back numbers and out of date in most parts of the country. ”

“ Have it placed in one corner of your room when not in use for candy. It can be used to advantage for a great many purposes. Also hang a good, strong dipper over the glucose barrel, for use, and do not get into the filthy habit of taking it out with your hands. By pouring at least two quarts of cold water into the glucose barrel when first opened, the glucose will run out so much easier and will not adhere to the dipper in the least. Also have a good, strong barrel near your furnace, to set your kettle on when stirring your batch ”

“ While you are working on the above batch have your helper get the center ready, so as when you take it from hook it is ready for you; make the center of warm No. 1 fondant, by placing the fondant in front of table furnace and adding a little XXXX sugar in it; get it good and warm, as a cold center will cause the outside to crack when pulling or cutting.
You can cook 2 pounds of glucose just to a boil, then set off on a barrel, stir in ground nuts of any kind or ground figs to a stiff paste. This is a good center and quickly made. ”

“ Don’t let them roast too long, as they turn black and are unfit to eat if they are allowed to roast too much.
HOREHOUND ROLLS.
This piece of goods, when nicely made and put up in ten-cent rolls, can be made a leader of in cold weather, as the public at large have great confidence in the merits of horehound. Make a batch of horehound candy as per recipe given in another part of this book, and after it has been poured on slab divide it in two pieces; one piece pull on the hook until it turns light brown color, then form it in a round piece ”

“ The one thing that should be first in your mind is the service used. Your champagne glasses, or your Sundae cups should be either silver, glass or china, but always thin and dainty in design. A special spoon smaller in size than your soda spoons and a small silver tray should be used. ”

“ In preparing chocolate for dipping, a great deal depends on the grade of chocolate you use. Cheap chocolate is dear at any price as the profits in chocolate goods are as great, if not greater, than many other candies. ”

“ Get your chocolate ready for dipping, then pour a good handful of the molasses brittle in a pan and then a handful of chocolate; mix them well, then pick up all you can get in a tablespoon at a time and drop on wax paper; when cold they are ready for use. ”

“ You can also dip the above in dipping cream; they make a nice piece of goods. In my mind, anything that tastes well in our line sells well, no matter if anyone else ever made the same piece of goods before or not.
CHOCOLATE-DIPPED CARAMELS.
It is not necessary to make chocolate caramels for dipping in chocolate, as it is only a waste of chocolate. Make a plain vanilla caramel, and when they are coated the coating itself will be all the chocolate flavor needed. ”

“ In cooking hard candies, such as tablets, buttercups, ocean waves, stick candy, or in fact any kind of candy that is cooked over 280° and is to be pulled on the hook or handled, you must use while doing so a pair of buckskin gloves or mittens, as they not only protect the hands but also give the goods a fine gloss. ”

“ Hot soda has not been as thoroughly advertised by the soda fountain people throughout the United States as it should have been. I find hot soda business very profitable if properly conducted. Use small, thin china cups and saucers. ”

“ Roast 2 pounds of pignolia nuts and chop them up fine; now get 5 pounds dipping cream, and with XXXX sugar work into the cream the nuts and 1⁄4 pound of Heide’s Almond Paste, and flavor strong with vanilla extract; work all into stiff paste and form them in shape and size of pecans; now chop up 2 or 3 pounds of raw pignolia nuts and dip the creams in chocolate and then roll them in the chopped nuts. ”