Sugar candy

“ Little white houses soon appeared; and here lived the dainty candy-people, all made of the best sugar, and painted to look like real people. Dear little men and women, looking as if they had stepped off of wedding cakes and bonbons, went about in their gay sugar clothes, laughing and talking in the sweetest voices. Bits of babies rocked in open-work cradles, and sugar boys and girls played with sugar toys in the most natural way. Carriages rolled along the jujube streets, drawn by the red and yellow barley horses we all love so well ”

“ Creamy, velvety candy is produced by long, slow boiling; the addition of an acid such as cream of tartar, molasses, brown sugar, vinegar, etc., cooling before handling; or the addition of a simple sugar such as glucose, caramel sugar or honey.
As crystals spread from one to another, never scrape a kettle where a non-crystalline candy such as taffy, butter-scotch, etc., is desired. Milk is often used by the home candy maker, but excellent candy is made with water and it is much easier to handle. ”

“ Candy making is one of the keenest pleasures to all concerned, but it requires for its success accuracy, and some knowledge of the materials with which one works. The following suggestions are offered the amateur so that he may better understand what he is trying to produce and how best to get the desired results.
White granulated sugar is the basis for almost all candy. When heated slowly without water it gradually changes to a colorless syrup, but as the heat increases this changes to a light brown and then a dark brown syrup. ”

“ There is a great bowl a foot across, and over an inch thick made wholly of sugar candy, which has taken the shape of the basin in which it crystallised, and in the middle of which three long sticks of sugar candy stand up high above the top. Such a bowl a kind Persian friend sent to a missionary’s little boy, when he was a few days old, to provide him with “sugar-candy water,” which is considered particularly good for young babies. These are only a few of the sweets, there are too many to mention all. Some kinds are [38] only made in the fast month of Ramazān, and others only at the New Year. ”

“ We get our word "candy," not from the Cingalese city of that name, but from the Arabian quand, meaning sugar. Now, sugar is the crystallized juice of one of the gigantic grasses; candy, therefore, is only boiled grass-juice. As the bee collects from its two and a half million plants the nectar for its pound of honey, so man—a kind of giant bee—extracts from various plants their delicious liquors, which he afterward turns by his art into that sweet and shining sand called sugar. ”

“ It must be remembered that the flavor is the very life of the candy. Color may please the eye, but excellence in that alone is not all that is required. A buyer may be attracted by the eye, but he does not eat with it. Neither old or young would knowingly eat only colored sugar. A sweet taste may be satisfied with sugar alone. ”

“ When a thin skin has formed on the top, remove it carefully with a skimmer, and pour the sugar into the mold; place it in the closet at 90 degrees of heat, and let it remain for twelve hours, then drain off the syrup into a pan from the tube at bottom, and let it remain in the closet until quite dry; then turn them out by striking the box hard upon the table, separate them carefully, and put them in boxes with paper between each layer. When different fruits, paste, knots, etc., are mixed together indiscriminately, it is termed mile-fruit candy. ”

“ LESSON III CHRISTMAS SWEETS THE USE OF CANDY IN DIET.—Candy is an energy-giving food, but, unfortunately perhaps, it is not (at all times) a most desirable energy- giving food. Sugar exists in candy in concentrated form. As stated previously, such sugar is irritating to the organs of digestion. Sugar is contained in large quantity in some fruits, especially in dried fruits, figs, dates, prunes, etc. These fruits are a much better source of sweets for children than is candy, because they do not contain as much sugar, and have, in addition, valuable food materials in the form of ash. ”

“ All kinds of sugar for candy, are boiled as above directed. When boiling loaf sugar, add a tablespoonful of rum or vinegar, to prevent its becoming too brittle whilst making.
Loaf sugar when boiled, by pulling and making into small rolls, and twisting a little, will make what is called little rock, or snow. By pulling loaf sugar after it is boiled, you can make it as white as snow.
Common Twist Candy.—Boil three pounds of common sugar and one pint of water over a slow fire for half an hour, without skimming. When boiled enough take it off; rub the hands over with butter ”

“ To make the candy itself, put, say, a pint of water into a suitable pan or kettle, heat to boiling, and add gradually to it 2 pounds or more of sugar, stirring well so as to avoid the risk of burning the sugar. Continue boiling the syrup so formed until a little of it poured on a cold slab forms a mass of the required hardness. If the candy is to be of orange flavor, a little fresh oil of orange is added just before the mass is ready to set and the taste is improved according to the general view at least by adding, also, say, 2 drachms of citric acid dissolved in a very little water. ”

“ Candy Fruit.—Take 1 pound of the best loaf sugar; dip each lump into a bowl of water, and put the sugar into your preserving kettle. Boil it down and skim it until perfectly clear, and in a candying state. When sufficiently boiled, have ready the fruits you wish to preserve. Large white grapes, oranges separated into small pieces, or preserved fruits, taken out of their syrup and dried, are very nice. Dip the fruits into the prepared sugar while it is hot; put them in a cold place; they will soon become hard.
Popped Corn.—Dipped in boiling molasses and stuck together forms an excellent candy. ”

“ Have about a pint of clarified sugar boiling on the fire; when it comes to the blow, put in the pieces of peel, and let them boil until the sugar attains the small ball; take them off, and stir them with the spatula until the sugar grains and hangs about them; sift off the loose sugar; when cold, separate and keep them in a dry place.
Peppermint, Lemon and Rose Candy are made after the same manner as Ginger Candy, coloring the lemon with saffron, and the rose with cochineal. ”

“ But remember that too much acid will also grain it; neither can it be boiled to caramel if there is too much. A little butter, added when it first commences boiling, will keep it from rising over the pan, and also prevent its graining. About as much cream of tartar as may be laid on a sixpence, and added to seven pounds of sugar, with the water, or equal quantities of cream of tartar and alum in powder, added when it boils, will also keep it from candying. If sugar is poured on a slab that is too hot, it is very apt to grain ”

“ Use more home salted nuts this Christmas than in previous years. Peanuts, pecans or almonds, if prepared in olive oil, will not go begging.
To candy orange or grape-fruit peel means the use of some sugar, it is true, but less than for its equivalent in candy, and you are using up what would otherwise be thrown away.
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A wider use of maple sugar as a sweet this fall and winter will be a helpful conservation measure. Every one with even one maple tree in his yard should tap it and boil his own syrup. Every little bit helps. ”

“ While a platter can be used instead of a marble slab in making fondant and some other candies, yet, since the marble is naturally cool, the candy syrups will cool much more quickly on it and for this reason is desirable.
In making taffies or any candy that requires pulling a hook is very useful. One can handle more at a time with a hook and pulling makes it lighter and nicer.
A sugar scraper proves very useful when it comes to scraping down maple sugar and chocolate; and a food chopper is very convenient when chopping nuts and fruits used in candy-making. ”

“ If the mixture does not then dry readily, stir in more confectioner's sugar.
To fashion the violets, dip the fingers into cold water, take up a quantity of the preparation about the size of a violet, and model into the shape of the flower. A little practice will enable the candy-maker to form objects that look more like violets than do the flowers themselves after they have been put through the candying process. Sift granulated sugar over each flower, shaking off surplus sugar. ”

“ Place in a saucepan two cupfuls of granulated sugar, half a cupful of water and a fourth teaspoonful of cream of tartar. Boil until it forms a hard ball. Just before taking the syrup from the fire stir in a cupful of preserved cherries—the clear, transparent kinds are best. Pour the mixture over the stiffly beaten whites of two eggs and beat until light and foamy. Lay whole candied [85] cherries two inches apart on waxed or greased paper and drop the foam by spoonfuls on these, pressing candied cherries on top of each. This candy is not only delicious but pretty to the eye as well. ”

“ Well, this is good news, at any rate, but it does not follow that manufacturers and merchants have the right to mix it with cane sugar or sell it to us for genuine cane sirups, or real honey, or pure sugar candy, or in any of the other ways in which we are made to pay two or three times what it is really worth. It does not do away with the great need of a rigorous food adulteration act, though there is great satisfaction in knowing that when we eat it we are not taking in a mild death-dealing potion. ”

“ Crystallization enables the candy-cook to put ordinary cream and sugar mixtures into good society dress and make them a pleasure [28] to the people who are not devoted to chocolate. Although the crystal coated confection may not stand some of the harder tests that the chocolate coated candy will withstand, it will be found sufficiently reliable to mark a very great advance in candy-making, particularly in home candy-making. And after all, the basic mixtures in home-made candy are not so very different from those in the candy of the professional manufacturer. ”

“ Ingredients.—11⁄2 lb. of Demerara sugar, 1⁄2 a pint of water, caramel colouring, almond essence.
Method.—Dissolve the sugar in the water, boil to the "crack" degree, then colour and flavour to taste. Pour the syrup on to an oiled slab, and as the edges cool fold them over. When the whole is cool enough to handle pull it over the candy-hook, cut it into 6-inch lengths, and twist them into a spiral form. If preferred, white granulated sugar may be substituted, and the candy flavoured with vanilla, or it may be coloured red and flavoured with raspberry. ”

“ STRINGS OF COMFORT, OR STRAWS. 6 pounds sugar,
1⁄2 pound glucose,
Water enough to dissolve same.
Cook to 300° or 320° over a hot fire; pour on slab, fold up and color to suit, and pull on hook; then twist the batch on the hook until all the air is out of it, then put it on the table in front of table furnace and form it in shape as for stick candy. Take hold of one end and form as a bottle, small at one end; have some one help you and [66] as you pull the batch out long and about the size of straws, have your helper keep them off of each other and move them around until they become cold. ”

“ We likewise know, as was conceded, that chocolate in a great variety of forms is an important ingredient of what is commonly known as candy, and that pieces of sweet chocolate of the type described by the findings are often included in packages of confectionery commonly sold as candy. These considerations at least suggest that the form and use of sugar compounds, intended for taste gratifying consumption, are quite as important in determining whether they are candy, as their particular composition. ”

“ These form almost as important a part of the trade as the sugar itself, and it should be the chief object of every workman to try and excel in these two important features; if you do not use good flavors, it is a moral certainty you cannot produce good candies. ”

“ In former days the making of sweetmeats was part of a druggist’s business, but in the earlier half of the 19th century it developed into a separate industry in England, and the International Exhibition of 1851 resulted in its spreading to other countries. At the present day France and Germany are prominent in all sorts of confectionery and bon-bons; and the “candy” industry in America has developed enormously.
The simplest form in which sugar is prepared as a sweet for eating is that of lozenges, which consist of finely ground sugar mixed with dissolved gum to form a stiff dough. ”

“ Four cups sugar (white) , two cups milk, one pound butter, one cup grated chocolate, vanilla to taste. Nuts may be added. Boil and beat thoroughly (as for sucre à la crême) pour on buttered plates and cut into squares.
NUT CANDY.
Two cups white granulated sugar, one half cup sweet milk. Boil for about ten minutes, and add three quarters cup cut up walnuts. Remove from stove and beat thoroughly and when it thickens pour out on buttered plates. Cocoanut candy may be made same way. If the candy does not thicken after being beaten, it is not boiled sufficiently and can be put back on stove. ”

“ One cannot make candy sitting in a rocking-chair with a fan. One doesn't calculate to, as Great-aunt Jessamine always says.
The way to test it when you think it is done is to drop a portion in cold water. If brittle enough to break, it is done. Pour into square buttered pans, and mark off while soft into little squares with a knife.
Some people like cream candy. It is made in this way: three large cupfuls of loaf-sugar, six tablespoonfuls of water. Boil, without stirring, in a bright tin pan until it will crisp in water like molasses candy. Flavor it with essence of lemon or vanilla ”