FoodTimeline library
What is candy?
While we Americans tend to think of candy in terms of supermarket and convenience stores displays, this sweet culinary family
offers a much broader and complicated lineage. Food historians propose the first sweets were consumed as a sort of
medical treatment for digestive troubles. Today's cough drops and peppermint sticks descend from this tradition. As time and technology progressed,
so did the art of confectionery. The English word "candy" derives from Arabic "qandi," meaning something made with sugar.
Indeed, the first candies were sugar coated nuts, seeds and fruits. Jujubes, licorice and
marshmallows are a prime examples of
ancient medicine becoming modern candy. Conserves and preserves (fruit preserved in sugar) eventually
became their own type of food; typically paired toast or spread between cookies and cakes.
"All of the peoples of antiquity made sweetmeats of honey before they had sugar: the Chinese, the
Indians, the people of the Middle East, the Egyptians and then the Greeks and Romas used it coat
fruits, flowers, and the seeds or stems of plants, to preserve them for use as an ingredient in the
kind of confectionery still made in those countries today. Confectioner and preserves featured in
the most sumptuous of Athenian banquets, and were an ornament to Roman feasts at the time of
the Satyricon, but it seems that after that the barbarian invasions Europe forgot them for a while,
except at certain wealthy courts were Eastern products were eaten...At the height of the Middle
Ages sweetmeats reappeared, on the tables of the wealthy at first...In fact the confectionery of the
time began as a marriage of spices and sugar, and was intended to have a therapeutic or at least
preventative function, as an aid to digestive troubles due to the excessive intake of food which
was neither very fresh nor very well balanced...guests were in the habit of carrying these
sweetmeats to their rooms to be taken at night. They were contained in little comfit-boxes or
drageoirs...."
---History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat [Barnes & Noble Books:New York]
1992 (p. 565-6)
[NOTE: This book has an excellent chapter on the history of confectionery and preserves. Ask
your librarian to help you find a copy.]
"Candy...The ancient Egyptians preserved nuts and fruits with honey, and by the Middle Ages
physicians had learned how to mask the bad taste of their medicines with sweetness, a practice
still widespread. Boiled "sugar plums were
known in the seventeenth-century England and soon were to appear in the American colonies
where maple-syrup candy was popular in the North and benne-seed [sesame seed] confections
were just as tempting in the South. In New Amersterdam one could enjoy "marchpane," or
"marzipan," which is very old decorative candy made from almonds ground into a sweet paste.
While the British called such confections, "sweetmeats," Americans came to call "candy," from
the Arabic qandi, "made of sugar," although one finds "candy" in English as early as the fifteenth
century...Caramels were known in the early eighteenth century and lollipops by the 1780s..."Hard candies" made from lemon or peppermint
flavors were popular in the early nineteenth century...A significant moment in candy history occured
at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, where "French-style" candies with rich cream centers
were first displayed...But it was the discovery of milk chocolate in Switzerland in 1875 that made
the American candy bar such a phenomenon of the late nineteenth century."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 54-5)
[NOTE: This source has much more information than can be paraphrased. Ask your librarian to
help you find a copy. It also contains separate entries for specific types of candies.]
Recommended reading
Buffalo Sponge Candy/
Barry Popik
Sponge Candy FAQs
There are plenty of recipes for sponge candy on the Internet. This is the only one we found with "fairy" in the title. It is similar.
"Fairy Candy
Light, airy chocolate-covered candy.
1 c. sugar
1 c. dark corn syrup
1 T. vinegar
1 T. baking soda
1 T. vanilla
Sweet chocolate for dipping.
Mix sugar, syrup, and vinegar in a large saucepan. Cover tightly and bring to a boil. Uncover and place thermometer in pan. Without stirring, cook over medium heat to 300 degrees F. Gradually lower heat as mixture thickens to prevent scorching. Remove from heat and quickly stir in baking soda and vanilla. Turn into a buttered 9 X 13-inch pan. Do not spread as candy will spread itself. Cool. Break into pieces. Dip pieces into prepared sweet chocolate. Place on waxed paper to harden. Makes about 35 pieces."
---Ideals Candy Cookbook, Mildred Brand [Ideals Publishing:Nashville TN] 1979 (p. 44)
Definitions, please. A thorough study of this topic requires comparing/contrasting dictionary definitions, literary references and cooking texts through time. Martha Washington's Booke of Sweetmeats, circa mid 18th century, is an excellent middle ground/starting point for studies in time. This comprehensive catalog with instructions exemplifies the time when British and American confectionery were one in the same. This book is readily available; published as Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery, transcribed by Karen Hess, Columbia University Press ISBN 0231049315. Your local public librarian can help you obtain a copy.
The Oxford English Dictionary dates first the print reference to sweetmeats to the 16th century and defines it thusly:
"1. collect. pl. (and sing.) Sweet food, as sugared cakes or pastry, confectionary (obs.); preserved or candied fruits,
sugared nuts, etc.; also, globules, lozenges, drops, or sticks made of sugar with fruit or other flavouring or filling;
sing. one of these.
a1500 Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.) I. 143, I knowe that in thy childehoode Thou wylte for sweete meate loke.
1584 J. Lyly Sapho & Phao v. ii. 9 Giue him some sweete meates.
1593 (1505) R. Henryson Test. Cresseid (Charteris) 420 in Poems (1981) 124 The sweit meitis seruit in plaittis clene With saipheron sals of ane gude sessoun.
1597 Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet i. iv. 76 Their breathes with sweet meats tainted are."
(2nd edition, accessed online 15 April 2011)
American English definitions generally mirror the British:
"Sweetmeat. 1. a sweet delicacy, prepared with sugar honey or the like, as preserves, candy, or , formerly, cakes or pastry. 2. Usually, sweetmeats, any sweet delicacy
of the confectionery or candy kind, as candied fruit, sugar-covered nuts, sugarplums, bonbons, or balls or sticks of candy."
---Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, fully revised and updated [Barnes & Noble Books:New York] 1996 (p. 1922)
"Sweetmeat. 1. a food rich in sugar as a: candied or crystallized fruit b. candy, confection."
---Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary [Merriam-Webster:New York] 1988 (p. 1192)
Related confections: Sugarplums & Comfits.
We also find references to "Candy Butcher" shops. These are less common. Some confectioners crafted cheap novel candies shaped in meat forms (bologna and sauerkraut) in the Philadelphia area during the early 1920s. We have no details regarding how these shops operated or what they looked like. Were they, in fact, set up to emulate traditional butcher shops selling novel "meat" shaped confections? Or were "Candy Butcher" shops simply capitalizing on a popular phrase, selling penny candy of all sorts?
About the candy butcher profession
"263. Concessioner, butcher, September 19, 2004 - I have a question as to why a concessioner is
called a butcher, at the circus. Is there a historic reason or story?...
Reply: September 19, 2004 - Here's what Joe McKennon has to say about it in Circus Lingo -
"Candy Butcher: Concession salesman who sells concession items on the circus seats before and
during a performance. The story is that the first person to do this was the animal meat butcher on the
Old John Robinson Show sometime before the Civil War. He was so successful, he was able to quit
his job as meat butcher. When others started selling items on the seats they were called butchers also.
When the new railroads allowed men to sell confections and newspapers on their trains they were
also called butchers, 'news butchers.'" J. Griffin.
Reply: September 19, 2004 - Joe McKennon's definition of "Candy Butcher" in Circus Lingo about a
concession salesman who sells to the crowd is exact. The Webster's New World Dictionary of the
American Language defines "Candy Butcher" as selling confections and newspapers on trains. As for
being attributed to a butcher hired between 1856 and 1860 on the John Robinson Circus, it is a
matter of conjecture. Hawking merchandise such as candies, peanuts, drinks, etc., is like butchering
meat. Cutting a carcass into pieces and putting it on a tray. We must consider that before the advent
of pink lemonade and cotton candy they did sell sausages at the circus. The etymology for salesman
in the 19th Century was "Drummer" which gave us the expression "To drum-up business."
Appropriating a word to give it a different meaning is part of the American tradition in the use of
slang. Giovanni Iuliani."
SOURCE: Circus Historical Society message board.
Candy packaging through time
Food historians confirm confectionery packaging through time is a complicated issue. Not only is packaging period-dependent (technologically possible options),
but venue (penny-candy street vendors vs shops catering to wealthy clients), occasion (Valentines gift, everyday candy bar) and product (chocolate bars are
packaged quite differently from gumdrops) factor in as well Laura Mason, confectionery history expert, offers these notes:
"Containers are essential; they help maintain low humidity, hold sweets together, and protect them during transport. Before the nineteenth century, options were
limited. Fruit in syrup was mostly stored in earthenware gallipots, and small sugar confections and pastes in oblong or round boxes made of thin sheets of
matchwood...'Jar glasses' (small, cylindrical glass containers) were in use by the seventeeenth century but they are rarely mentioned. They were expensive,
limited to wealthy households or enterprises. Glass jars probably did not become common until the late eighteenth century when, though used as storage containers,
their emphasis had switched to a means of display. They include straight jars presumably for conserves or jams, small, stemmed glasses for jellies and larger ones
with lids for sweets and comfits. Tall straight-sided and later ones with lids are also shown. Glass was used more and more to show off the bright colours and
clarity of newly fashionable, transparent acid and fruit drops to brilliant advantage in the 1830s and '40s...Another imporant innovation, from the 1850s onwards,
was the airtight tin--especially for toffee. Functional yet decorative, these became coveted in their own right. Commemorative versions were produced for national
events, or the patterns designed so that a set of tins with themed pictures was avaialble. Transparent wrapping is a product of our own age. Cellophane was
introduced in the 1920s and plastics followed later."
---Sugarplums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect Books:Devon] 2004 (p. 202-3)
"Wrappers, although treated as so much waste paper, account for much of the colour perceived in confectionery by the modern observer. This is a phenonemnon of
the last hundred years. Before, a scrap of paper wrapped round a sugar stick or twisted into a cone (the origin of the triangular paper bag) was the most one could
expect when buying sweets in the street. These wrappers were themselves waste paper. Henry Mayhew recorded how one street-seller of sweet stuff bought
paper from stationers or secondhand book shops, including the Acts of Parliament, 'a pile of these a foot or more deep, lay on the shelf. They are used to wrap
rock &c. sold.' Smarter confectioners used paper wrappers with cut or fringed ends twisted around sweets. A French custom of making these up as packets of
bonbons for presents at New Year is metioned by Jarrin. The London confectionery Tom Smith is said to have commercialized the idea in Britain. His bonbons
consisted of several sweets wrapped together in tissue paper, with mottoes enclosed. They were first introduced as a Christmas novelty in the late 1840s. Shortly
afterwards, Smith added a 'bang', evolving the modern Christmas Cracker. The theory is that the idea was provided by a spark leaping out of the fire one night.
However, exploding 'cracker bonbons' were apparently known some years earlier."
---ibid (p. 205)
"Initially, chocolate was packed as unwrapped bars in wooden boxes with paper labels, displayed on the shop counter. Individual paper wrappers developed soon
afterwards. Gold printing and metal foils repeated this luxury message which gold leaf had given to sweets in earlier centuries. Designs used the latest images, and
graphics publicized the desirability of chocolate. Even more status was attached to special boxes, decroated with pcitures, lined with tissue and paper lace. As the
package, not the contents, occupied more and more of the foreground, so advertising has shifted almost entirely from the taste of confectioenry towards style by
association."
---ibid (p. 207-8)
"Most companies concentrated on indivudally wrapped toffees as opposed to bulk tray toffee sold by weight. They were popular, kept well, and sold at a lower
price than chocolate while maintaining a luxurious image. This was done partly by advertising and packaging. Robert Opie examined the role of packaging,
especially tins, in marketing confectionery, and commented on toffee: 'splendid and glamorous tins abounded with bright colours and decorative patterns. The use of
a tin also enhanced the status of the toffees, making them a more acceptable gift in comparison with the prestigious box of chocolates'."
---ibid (p. 191)
[1937]
"Mayor La Guardia has ordered the police to put an end to the penny candy 'racket' it was announced yesterday. This 'racket,'
it was explained, is the practice of selling penny candy or gum to children through the lure of prizes to lucky purchasers. The prizes range
from pennies to pennants. The Mayor, upon learning of the candy gambling, said to be specially prevalent in the vicinity of public schools,
wrote to Police Commissioner Valentine, instructing him to put an end to it. The police, by the Mayor's direction, will issue warnings for
a week. After that, shopkeepers found to be selling candy and gum of the gambling variety, will be arrested...In his letter the Mayor charged that this
method of candy selling especially 'exploits children who are unable to protect themselves.'...'It is clear that the practice is of
a reprehensible sort which the commmon law and criminal statutes have long deemed to be contrary to public policy.' One method of
candy gambling...consisted of the display of a number of pieces of candy, a few of which have a penny concealed inside their wrapping.
Another gives prizes for pieces of candy with colored centers, white centers bringing no return. Lucky purchasers of colored gum balls also
receive prizes, usually pennants... Another type of candy has its purchase price, ranging from 1 to 3 cents, inside the wrapper. Candy
sold in this way, the Mayor charged, is either smaller than that sold legitimately or is of inferior quality. 'I have conferred with educational
and social welfare authorities on this subject,' said the Mayor, 'and they are in agreement that this practice encourages and engenders
gambling in children."
---"Mayor Orders End of Penny Candy 'Racket'; Encourages Gambling in Children, He says," New York Times, April 4, 1937 (p. 1)
"...the Chinese claim to have been the first to make cane sugar, among their many other
inventions. The craft may have been practised from very ancient times in the region of
Ku-ouang-tong (Canton), but it seems more likely and more logical that they learned it from the
Indians. In
fact there is a clear statement to that effect in the Natural History of Su-king, of the
seventh century AD...Sugar cane, a giant grass, is native to India and in particular the Ganges
delta...Indian tradition--and tradition often bears out scientific theories--places the origin of sugar
cane a very long way back. According to legend, the ancestors of Buddha came from the land of
sugar, or Gur, a name then given to Bengal. The Sanskrit epic of Ramanyana (c. 1200BC)
describes a banquet with tables laid with sweet things, syrup, canes to chew'...Seven centuries
later, when Darius made his foray in to the valley of the Indus, the Persians in their turn
discovered a reed that gives honey without the aid of bees' and brought it home with
them...Eventually invasions, conquests and trading caravans, most notably those of the Assyrians,
spread sugar cane all through the Middle East, from the Indus to the Black Sea, from the Sahara
to the Persian Gulf...It syrup, considered a spice even rarer and more expensive than any other,
was used in medicine by the Egyptians and Phoenicians even before the Greeks and Romans; it is
this pharmaceutical use that gives sugar cane its species name "officinarum."...Until modern
times...sugar was an expensive medicine to Europeans, or a luxury reserved for the rich and
powerful, a fabulous food brought from beyond the deserts by caravans than ended their journeys
in the ports of the eastern Mediterranean...The Arabs installed the first industrial' sugar refinery
on the island of Candia or Crete--its Arabic name, Quandi, meant crystalized sugar'--around the
year 1000."
---History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat,Translated by Anthea Bell [Barnes &
Noble Books:New York] 1992 (p. 549-554)
[NOTE: This book has much more information than can be paraphrased here. Ask your librarian
to help you find a copy.]
"In medieval times the growing of sugar had gradually spread westwards. By the year 1000 it had
reached the Middle East and the coast of east Africa. Around 1500, sugar plantations were begin
in the new colonies, notably in the Canaries and the West Indies. Thus, from the sixteenth century
onwards, we can read first-hand descriptions by Europeans of how to grow the cane and how to
refine the sugar cane...Investment in the planting and manufacture of sugar continued unchecked
until, in the seventeenth century, the world market collapsed. The price of sugar dropped like a
stone. In the West Indies, around 1700, there were far too many sugar plantations and far foo
much sugar being produced...This low price was a good reason to experiment with sugar
confectionery, which had already become complicated, varied, multi-flavoured and much loved in
seventeenth-century Europe. The making of rum was another use for sugar, or rather for the
refuse and by-products of the sugar industry."
---Dangerous Tastes: The Story of Spices, Andrew Dalby [University of California
Press:Berkeley CA] 2000 (p. 28-9)
"...it would not be Columbus of the Spanish but rather the British who would succeed in realizing this [establishing sugar cane
in the New World] goal, and in spectacular fasion. British colonies established on Barbados in 1627 and on Jamaica in 1655 came to be
devoted almost exclusively to sugar production, with the requisite labor provided by slaves imported from Africa. For centuries sugar
had been made by pressing short lengths of sugarcane stalks through a roller mechanism until syrup was exuded. The syrup was then
evaporated by boiling--one, two, or several times depending on the degree of refinement desired--and pourd into loaf-shaped vessels
to cool and harden. During the cooling stage, 'the emerging 'raw sugar' [would leave] behind it molasses, or treacle, which
[could not] be crystallized further by conventional methods," but which could be consumed. Proving to be a great deal cheaper
than crystallized sugar, molasses was in fact consumed in vast quantities...In New England sugar appears in the records from
an early date...In the eighteenth century sugar was regularly advertised in Boston newspapers, and it was on sale in other
communities as diverse as coastal and mercantile Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and interior and agricultural Deerfield, Massachusetts...
Seventeenth-century immigrants to the colonies "were advised to defer their sugar purchases" until reaching their
destinations, because sugar would be cheaper there than it had been at home."
---America's Founding Food: The Story of New England Cooking, Keith Stavely & Kathleen Fitzgerald [University of North
Carolina Press:Chapel Hill] 2004(p. 214-216)
Recommended reading
"Nothing further requires to be done to the loaves except to dry them.
The next stepj therefore, whether in the case of loaves, lumps, or titlers,
consists in wrapping them in paper. The sugar cones in their paper
envelopes, so as to prevent them from getting dirty, are then deposited
on trellised shelves in a room capable of holding about 4000 loaves,
called the stove, and heated by steam to about 54 C. (130 F.). The
loaves are kept in the stove for a period of four to six days, after the
expiry of which time they are equalised at face and apex, wrapped in
paper, tied, and are then ready for sale."
---
The Technology of Sugar, John Geddes McIntosh, January 1, 1903
Scott, Greenwood & Company (publisher)
http://tinyurl.com/pyfs5ht
General overview of 19th century manufacturing processes:
MAPLE SUGAR
Sugar maples are indigenous to North America. Native Americans generally
credited for being the first to tap maple trees and used it in their food. They taught
European settlers how to obtain this special liquid, who used it when refined white sugar and molasses were scarce.
"The most important contribution of the Northeast Indians to American cooking is perhaps that which
falls in the category of sweetening....Maple syrup was the great sweetener, and much more than that: it
was also the all-purpose seasoner, which for the Northeast Indians took the place of salt. It impressed
Europeans enormously, since the sugar maple did not exist in the Old World. Father Nouvel, a French
Jesuit priest, wrote in 1671 of "a liquor that runs from the trees toward the end of winter and is known as
maple-water." The Indians tapped the trees rather wastefully, slashing the bark with their tomahawks and
letting the sap ooze out. The colonists followed the Indian example in using maple sugar as their principle
sweetener; two hundred years ago Americans were consuming four times as much as they do now. One
reason for the popularity of maple sugar was that it was much cheaper than white sugar, made form the
cane the Spaniards had planted in the West Indies, until at least 1860...It is conceivable that it is because
maple sugar was their common seasoner that the American Indian exercised his most potent influence on
the character of American cooking. It might be argued that the sweetness maple sugar imparted to the
dishes the Pilgrims cooked under the inspiration of the Indians helped to make sweetness a dominant
feature of American cooking."
---Eating in America: A History, Waverly Root & Richard de Rochemont [William Morrow:New York]
1976 (p. 40-1)
"Colonists found maple trees in abundance. The harvesting of the "sugar trees" in seventeenth-century
Virginia is a part of the record left by Robert Beverly. ...However, it is in the North, and particularly in
New England, that Americans established maple sugar and maple syrup as one of the great indigenous
culinary ingredients. Nowhere else in the world has "sugarin' off" been important in farm life, for it is aprt
of living off theland learned from Algonquin Indians by the founders of Massachusetts. From the Atlantic
coast to Ontario and Minnesota, various tribes traditionally went into the woods in March to make cuts in
the bark of hard maples and then to channel the tree sap into rustic vessels set to receive it. Indian women
boiled it down to sugar, adding it to porridges made of ground corn; mixing it into cold water, they drank
it as a tonic in hot weather. The Indians also used crystallized maple syrup as a seasoning for meat and
fish dishes, a flavoring they much preferred to the Europeans use of salt. And there is an echo of this when
some Americans add maple syrup to the water in which country hams are boiled."
---American Food: The Gastronomic Story, Evan Jones [Vintage:New York] 1981, 2nd edition (p. 16-7)
"A. saccharinum. Wangenh. Rock Maple. Sugar Maple. North America. This large, handsome tree must be included among the
cultivated food plants, as in some sections of New England groves are protected and transplanted for the use of the tree to
furnish sugar. The tree is found from 40 degrees north in Canada, to the mountains in Georgia and from Nova Scotia to Arkansas and the
Rocky Mountains. The sap from the trees growing in maple orchards may gie as an average one pound of sugar to four gallons of sap, and a
sinble tree may furnish four or five pounds, although extreme yields have been put as high as thirty-three pounds from a
single tree. The manufacture of sugar form sap of the maple was known to the Indians, for Jeffereys, 1760, says that in Canada
'this tree affords great quantities of a cooling and wholesome liquor from which they make a sort of sugar,' and Jonathan Carver, in 1784, says
the Nandowessies Indians of the West 'consume the sugar which they have extracted from the maple tree.' In 1870, the Winnebagoes and
Chippewas are said often to sell to the Northwest Fur Company fifteen thousand pounds of sugar a year. The sugar season among the
Indians is a sport of carnival, and boiling candy and pouring it out on the snow to cook is a pastime of the children."
---Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants, edited by U.P. Hedrick, Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year
1919 II [J.B. Lyon Company:Albany NY] 1919 (p. 21-22)
Iroquois
"The sap of the maple, birch, and several other trees was employed prehistorically. Besides its use as a beverage, it was boiled and
thickened somewhat, though its manufacture into sugar must have been exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, with the crude
utensils at hand. References to the employment of sap are found in several of the earlier Relations. Nouvel, for instance, refers to a
'liquor that runs from the trees toward the end of Winter, and which is known as 'Maple-water.'' This was written in 1671, and refers tto the
Ottawas of Ekaentouton. Le Jeune, in 1634, observed that the Montagnais, when pressed by famine, eat 'the shavings or bark of a
certain tree, which they call Michtan, which they split in the Spring to get from it a juice, sweet as honey or as sugar;...but they don not enjoy
much of it, so scanty is the flow.' Neither of the foregoing refer to sugar, mention of which occurs only in later records. Carr, with
regard to sugar-making, considers that 'As to the maple sugar...there can be no doubt. It was made wherever the tree grew, and it
found especial favour as an ingredient in their preparation of parched corn-meal, or as we call it, nocake or rockhominy. Charlevoix, on the
other hand states that the Abnaki, 'when the sap begins to rise...make a Jag or Notch in the Trunk of the Maple, and by Means of a Bit of
Wood which they fix in it, the Water runs as by a Spout...It is certain that they did not know how to make a sugar out of it, which we
have since taught them. They were contented to let it boil a little, to thicken it something, and to make a Sort of Syrup.' The latter observation seems to
have been true throughout the area occupied by the Iroquois and their neighbours, although, with improved utensils, the making of sugar
was quickly adopted. Methods, within the historical period, appear to have changed but little. Loskiel refers to the use of a 'funnel made of
bark' which was used to convey the sap into 'wooden troughs are still employed by some of the Iroquois. Troughs were also made of
elm bark. A Cayuga informant states that an old-time method of tapping was by breaking the end of a limb. The sugar-moulds described
by Loskiel were 'broad, wooden dishes of about two inches in depth.' The crystallizing syurp was 'stirred about in these until cold.' The
sugar was also allowed to crystallize in the kettles. A model of the box-like mould, held together by wooden clamps, was made for the
writer by one of the old Onondaga. According to the latter, the sugar was also run into small tin pans, forming cakes of a certain
weight. The sap was stored, in preparation for boiling, in a large wooden trough formed by hollowing out the trunk of a tree. The hard or
sugar maple...as considered best, although the soft maple...and the birch were also used."
---Iroquois Foods and Food
Preparation, F. W. Waugh, facsimile 1916 edition [University Press of the Pacific:Honolulu HI] 2003 (p. 140-142)
Chippewa
"The first and one of the most enjoyable events of the industrial year was the making of maple sugar. Each group of relatives or friends had its
own portion of the maple forest, known as it sugar bush. There the birch-bark utensils needed in making sugar were stored from year to
year in a small lodge, near the large lodge where the sap was boiled. The sap kettles were kept boiling all night and the season was a busy one for all
in the camp. The sap was boiled to a thick sirup, trained, replaced in the kettles, and heated slowly. When it had thickened to the
consistency it was transferred to a 'granulating trough,' where it was 'worked' with a paddle and with the hands until it was in the form of
granulated sugar. If 'hard sugar' as desired, the thick sirup was poured into little birch-bark cones, dishes, or other receptacles, including the upper mandible
of ducks' bills, which formed a favorite confection for children...Maple sugar was used in seasoning fruits, vegetables, cereals, and fish, being used more
freely than th white race uses salt. It was also eaten as a confection, and dissolved in cold water as a summer drink. it was frequently
mixed with medicine to make it palatable, especially for children."
---Chippewa Customs, Frances Densmore, Smithsonian Institution [Government Printing Office:Washington DC] 1929 (p. 123)
Compare with early 20th century maple sugaring techniques:
"Maple sugar and Maple syrup:are made from the sap of several varieties of the maple tree, native to the northern United States and
Canada...The sap is collected by 'tapping' the g\trees about three feet from the ground. The tap hole is bored about an inch
deep with a three-eighth inch bit; the spout is driven into this, and a covered tin sap-bucket is hung from the spout. it is the wood immediately under the
bark which gives the sap--the largest amount coming from the ring made by the growth of the tree during the preceding year. The
gathering season commences in spring, generally during the month of March, just as the winter is breaking up and the general rule is thawing
days and freezing nights. It ends when the trees begin to bud, as at that time the sap undergoes a change and the sugar content
decreases. The percentage of sugar varies from 1% to 4%, being affected by many circumstances--the variety of the tree, its location, the
character of the soil, climate, etc. There are usually three or four 'runs' during a good season and the first is generally the sweetest,
averaging then from 3% to 4% of sugar. Each succeeding run is generally less sweet and in consequence the product is of a darker
color because of the longer boiling required. The quantity of sap depends to a great extent on the growth of the tree during the
preceding summer and upon the weather conditions during the tapping season. Under good conditions, a tree large enough for
two spouts will yield enough to produce three or four quarts of syrup or six or seven pounds of sugar. After its receipt at the sugar
house, the sap is evaporated in sap-pans and syrup pans to a syrup. For Maple Syrup, this product is starined, filtered and clarified by
the addition of milk, cream or egg white and is then ready for the market. Maple Sugar is made by condensing the syrup until of the proper
consistence. It is then stirred and 'grained' and poured into molds or tin pails and allowed to cool...Maple Sugar makingnow and Maple Sugar
making as it used to be, are very different things--what the industry has gained in facility, it has lost in picturesqueness. The
old style camp with its primitive applicees is no more. The kettle was long ago suspended by the 'pan' and the latter again by
an evaporator, and the trough has become a mass of crumbling decay. The women and children are kept at home and no longer know the old-time
delights of 'sugaring off,'...But to-day everything is 'improved.' In place of a hut of logs is a permanent sugar-house, furnished
with many elaborate devices to prevent waste and deterioration...A scoop or ladle is as anachronistic as a javelin!"
---The Grocer's Encyclopedia, Artemas Ward [National Grocer:New York] 1911 (p. 364-365)
Related item? Pancake syrup.
Recommended reading: The Maple Sugar Book, Helen & Scott Nearing [1950, 1970]
How is brown sugar produced?
There are two methods for producing brown sugar - boiling and blending - and both are currently in use in Canada.
Boiling involves heating a purified sugar syrup, which still contains some of the colour and flavour elements from the
sugar cane, until it crystallizes to form a soft yellow or brown sugar. Blending is a process that combines the separately
purified white sucrose crystals and refiners' syrups (something like fancy grade molasses) to produce yellow or brown
sugar. The difference in the method used to produce brown sugar should not result in a difference in taste or affect the
texture and consistency of baked goods. The difference between light (yellow) and dark brown sugar is that the darker
brown sugars have more of the refiners' syrup ("molasses") left in the product. Turbinado, Muscovado and Demerara sugars
are all specialty brown sugars."
---Canadian Sugar Institute
Types of brown sugar & their uses:
"Turbinado sugar:
This sugar is raw sugar which has been partially processed, where only the surface molasses has been washed off. It has a
blond color and mild brown sugar flavor, and is often used in tea and other beverages.
Brown sugar (light and dark):
Brown sugar retains some of the surface molasses syrup, which imparts a characteristic pleasurable flavor. Dark brown
sugar has a deeper color and stronger molasses flavor than light brown sugar. Lighter types are generally used in baking
and making butterscotch, condiments and glazes. The rich, full flavor of dark brown sugar makes it good for gingerbread,
mincemeat, baked beans, and other full flavored foods.
Brown sugar tends to clump because it contains more moisture than white sugar.
Muscovado or Barbados sugar:
Muscovado sugar, a British specialty brown sugar, is very dark brown and has a particularly strong molasses flavor. The
crystals are slightly coarser and stickier in texture than regular brown sugar.
Free-flowing brown sugars:
These sugars are specialty products produced by a co-crystallization process. The process yields fine, powder-like brown
sugar that is less moist than regular brown sugar. Since it is less moist, it does not clump and is free-flowing like
white sugar.
Demerara sugar:
Popular in England, Demerara sugar is a light brown sugar with large golden crystals, which are slightly sticky from the
adhering molasses. It is often used in tea, coffee, or on top of hot cereals."
---Sugar Association
How available was brown sugar in 19th century America?
These notes from 1807/Philly market lists three types:
"...it would be useful to review the various grades of whole-sale sugar as they were designated in Pennsylvania during the nineteenth century. The following list is
taken from Hope's Philadelphia Price-Current for October 5, 1807:
Havana white
Havana brown (like Brasilian Demarara)
Muscovado 1st quality
Muscovado 2nd quality
Muscovado ordinary
West India clayed white
West India clayed brown
Calcutta white
Batavia white
Of these, ordinary muscovado was the cheapest, just about half the cost of Havana white, the most expensive sugar then available and the one most like the white
granulated sugar of today. Cheap, black, sticky moscovado or brown Demarara-type sugars were the most common table sugars used by the Pennsylvania Dutch.
Like molasses, moscovado sugar was always in great demand, even in the eighteenth century, for it was one of the first sugars to be advertised in the Philadelphia
America Weekly Mercury of 1719. Regardless of grade, sugar was imported in large cones or loaves...Once the loaves of sugar reached the United States, they
were usually purged or refined again and converted into smaller loaves for retail sale and wrapped in blue paper to preserve the whiteness. In spite of this
precaution, none of the retail loaf sugar was usable until it was boiled again in water to remove insects and other extraneous material. This irksome process involved
egg whites, charcoal, and constant skimming. The syrup was then strained thorugh a cloth bag until clear, returned to the fire, and boiled down."
---Sauerkraut Yankees: Pennsylvania Dutch Foods and Foodways, William Woys Weaver, 2nd edition [Stackpole Books:Mechanicsburg PA] 2002 (p. 152-4)
The recipe below confirms brown sugar (no description, though) was available in the Midwest (Wisconsin) during the 1840s. We did not find any period/place specific advertisements for brown sugar. We cannot tell if this item was commonly available or the provenance of wealthy families who could afford to purchase expensive goods from larger markets. Neither can we tell what is meant here by "ordinary."
"Ordinary brown sugar may be used, a larger portion of which is retained in the syrup."
---"Recipe for Making Tomato Figs," Wisconsin Democrat, September 28, 1843 (p. 3)
"Powdered Finely-ground granulated sugar to which a small amount (3%) corn starch has been added to prevent caking. The fineness to which the granulated sugar is ground determines the familiar "X" factor: 14X is finer than 12X, and so on down through 10X, 8X, 6X (the most commonly used) and 4X, the coarsest powdered sugar." ---Sweetener glossary
Food historians tell us powdered sugars were used by European confectioners as early as the 18th
century. Technological advances in the 19th century made them available to a wider audience. It
is no coincidence that cake icing appeared during this time:
About sugar grades & processing
Corn syrup was an accidental discovery based on past experiences with other vegetables, most notably potatoes and sugar beets. High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is a more refined and sweeter version. Invented in 1967, HFCS is widely used in today's processed foods.
Corn syrup chemistry & variations
"In the language of corn refining, once the starch matrix has been separated from its protein gluten, the starch is converted by
chemical action (an acid or enzymes, or both, are added to starch suspended in water) into "simple" sugar, called a "low-dextrose
solution." Sweeteners and tecture (crystal or syrup) are controllled at every point to produce different products, depending upon how much
starch is digested by the acid or enzyme...By the same initial process through which the Hopi made
"virgin hash," our modern corn refiners make glucose, maltose, dextrose and fructose. The larger the number of these long glucose chains
in the molecule, the more viscous the syrup, a quality important to the baking and candy industries because it prevents
graininess and crystallization. Without corn syrup, no easy-to-make chocolate fudge. The more complete the digestion of starch,
the sweeter the syrup, because the rate of glucose and maltose is higher. Maltose is a "double unit" sugar produced, as in brewing,
by enzyme-manipulated starch. By manipulating the glucose unites
with an enzyme derived form...Streptomyces bacteria, the refiner can get a supersweet fructose called High Fructose Corn
Syrup (HFCS). Today, this is where the king's share of cornstarch goes, becasue this syrup is the sweetener of choice...for the
soft drink, ice cream and frozen dessert industries. Although supersweet fructose tastes about twice as sweet as ordinary sugar, we do not as
a result consume half as many soft drinks or ice cream cones. On the contrary, American sweetness consumption spirals ever
upward..."The family of corn syrups includes hyrdol, or corn sugar molasses, a dark, viscous syrup useful in animal feed and in drugs;
lactic acid, a colorless syrup useful as a preservative and flavorer for everything from pickles to mayonnaise; and sorbitol
(dextrose plus hydrogen), and emulsifier that shows up in toothpaste and detergents as well as processed edibles."
---The Story of Corn, Betty Fussell [North Point Press:New York] 1992 (p 272)
Origins & evolution
"Gottlieb Sigismund Kirchhof accidentally discovered that sweet substances could be prepared from starch while working at the Acadmey of Science, St. Petersbug,
Russia, during the Napoleonic Wars. Kirchhof needed gum arabic for use in manufacturing porcelain. No gum arabic was available because of the continental
blockade imposed by the British at that time. However, a Frenchman, Bouitton-Lagrange, had reported that dry starch, when heated, acquires some of the properties
of the vegetable gums. Kirchhof attempted to make a substitute gum arabic from starch by adding some water and acid before heating. As a result, instead of a gummy
substance, he obtained a sweet-tasting sirup and a small amount of crystallized sugar (dextrose), a finding he reported in 1811. Because of the extreme shortage of sugar
in Eruope at the time, the discovery attracted immediate notice in scientific and commercial circles. Starch, largely obtained from potatoes, was already being manufactured
in a number of countries in Europe. With this supply of raw material available, numerous small factories were erected to convert starch to either sirup or sugar. Means
were soon discovered by which either sirup or sugar could be obtained as desired. The fact that neither beet sugar nor any other acceptable substitute for imported can
sugar had as yet become available encouraged the development of starch sweeteners. However, the new industry, after the defeat of Napoleon and the lifting of the
blockade, declined almost as rapidly as it had grown. Sugar became very cheap for a while...Few statistics are available concerning the early operation of the starch
sweetener industry in Euope. But 11 million pounds of dextrose were reported to have been produced from potato starch in France in 1855 and about 44 million
pounds in Germany in 1874...Starch sweetener production developed more slowly in the United States than in Europe, since there was no sugar shortage
here early in the 19th century. A small factory near Philadelphia processed potato starch in 1831-1832. The next plant established in this country to make dextrose
from cornstarch was in New York City in 1864."
History of Sugar Marketing Through 1974, US Dept. of Agriculture (p. 7-8)
Early 20th ceentury
[1911]
The Grocer's Encyclopedia, Artemis Ward:
Corn syrup &
Commerical glucose.
[1916]
"Corn syrup. This is a product of clear but thick, syrupy consistency which is derived from corn, as the name implies. It is
commonly called 'glucose' among the [confectioners] trade, but this name is rapidly dying out due to the constant effort of the authorities
to discontinue the name 'glucose' because of the unfounded associations people have connected with the purity and wholesomeness of
this prodouct. In all formulas contained in this book the however mention is made, the term 'corn syrup' is use instead of 'glucose.' Corn syrup is
sometimes used in candy because it is cheaper than sugar, but that is not the only reason for using it. In a great many cases it
is essentially used as a 'doctor' to prevent a batch from graining or returning to sugar. It performs a purpose parallel to that of
cream of tartar, but as corn syrup is cheaper to use than cream of tartar and does not require such extacting attention in the batch,
it is use oftener as a 'doctor' than cream of tartar. Corn syrup good stand up better than cream of tartar goods; hence the more common
use of corn syrup in candies intended for wholesale business. Some pieces cannot be made without corn syrup, as, for instance,
caramels and fudges. Honey was formerly used in place of corn syrup in making caramels but it was very expensive to use, and allowed
the batch to grain unless extreme care was taken. Like all materials the batch to grain unless extreme care was taken. Like all
materials, there are different grades of corn syrup, depending on the grade of corn used in making the finished product. Corn syrup
should be used less in the summer than in the winter as it tends to make goods sticky."
---Rigby's Reliable Candy Teacher, W. O. Rigby, 19th edition [1916?] (p. 16)
Karo brand corn syrup
The most famous corn syrup in the USA is Karo brand, introduced by the Corn Products Refining Company in 1902. History
here.
"Corn syrup. A sweet, thick liquid derived from cornstarch treated with acids or enzymes and used
to sweeten and thicken candy, syrups, and snack foods. By far the most popular and best-known
corn syrup is Karo, introduced in 1902 by Corn Products Company of Edgewater, New Jersey.
The name "karo" may have been in honor of the inventor's wife, Caroline, or, some say, derivative
of an earlier trademark for table syrup, "Karomel." So common is the use of Karo in making pecan
pie that the confection is often called "Karo pie" in the South."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999
(p. 98)
What exactly is HFCS?
General current US Dept. of Agriculture definition:
"High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS): A corn sweetener derived from the wet milling of corn. Corn starch is converted to a syrup that is nearly all dextrose. HFCS is found in numerous foods and
beverages on the grocery store shelves."
A more technical definition: "High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)A corn sweetener derived from the wet milling of corn. Cornstarch is converted to a syrup that is nearly all dextrose. Enzymes isomerize the dextrose to produce a 42 percent fructose syrup called HFCS-42. By passing HFCS-42 through an ion-exchange column that retains fructose, corn refiners draw off 90 percent HFCS and blend it with HFCS-42 to make a third syrup, HFCS-55. HFCS is found in numerous foods and beverages on the grocery store shelves. HFCS-90 is used in natural and "light" foods in which very little is needed to provide sweetness. (ERS, USDA). Total fiber is the sum of dietary fiber and functional fiber.
About American consumption of high fructose corn syrup
In the words of Ralph Cramden: "How sweet it is!" Recommended reading
Chocolate
Chocolate is a "New World" food. Food historians confirm ancient Aztec and Mayan peoples consumed chocolate in
religious rituals. They did not each this precious substance or use it as an ingredient in recipes. European explorers introduced
chocolate to their home countries. Early European uses mirrored those of New World Natives; sipped as special beverage. Except?
Europeans tradition did not include the religious connection. Savvy entrepreneurs were quick to experiment on this new
substance to expand market possibilities.
Was chocolate candy sold in colonial era candy stores? Probably not. We find no evidence supporting personal portion chocolate candy (bon bons, truffles, bars) sold in colonial American shops to retail customers. Unsweeteened powder (for cocoa or cooking) was most likely the predominant chocolate product available in the Colonies. And then, only to the wealthy living in urban centers. One of the earliest references to "biting chocolate" (eating?) comes from the Marquis de Sade, 1779.
Savvy chocolate makers were keenly aware of the volatile nature of raw product availability and seasonal production. They routinely repurposed cocoa grinders to accomodate a variety of specialized goods, including spices and mustard. We can only imagine how these other flavors effected the flavor of the chocolate they produced.
"American consumers were probably savvier about their chocolate in the 18th century than they are in the modern world. Colonial chocolate makers routinely
advertised the geographic sources of their cocoa, much like modern coffee vendors do for their coffee beans...Because of high transportation costs and excessive
import duties on cocoa, Euroepan chocolate was both expensive and exclusive. It was a beverage for the elite and demand was relatively low...In North America,
by contrast, chocolate was more available at cheaper prices and consumed by a wider variety of people. The quantity of domestically produced chocolate was
sufficient enough to give it away to the poor. The Almshouses of Philadelphia and New York regularly provided chocolate and sugar to its needy residents,
something that did not happen in England for the fear of indulging the poor...American chocolate makers routinely advertised chocolate for sale in newspapers
throughout the 18th century. Approximately 70 commerical chocolate makers have been identified from these sources...American chocolate manufacturers were
concentrated in four major production centers: Boston, Philadelphia, New York City, and Newport (Rhode Island). Since these locations regularly were engaged in
the trade with the West Indies, it is logical that the domestic chocolate production also occurred here."
---Chocolate: History, Culture, and Heritage, Louis Evan Grivetti and Howard-Yana Shapiro editors [John Wiley & Sons:Hoboken NJ] 2009 (p. 284-285)
Colonial American chocolate industry
"Another feature of American chocolate was that is was primarily machine-made and purchased in stores. Chocolate histories written from a European perspective
generally ignore American manufacturing methods. American newspaper advertisement...provide insight regarding chocolate-making equipment and the chocolate
makers themselves. Since there were no monopolies or manufacturing guilds, there were no barriers to entry into the chocolate trade other than capital formation
and access to cocoa. American manufactuirng equipment was generally homemade and varied from foot-powered mills capable of producing small quantities to
watermills capable of producing several thousand pounds a day. Likewise, there were no patent restrictions...Some chocolate makers also produced other
commodities at the same time. The cocoa trade was tenuous...especailly during wartime. Chocolate makers could ill afford disruption in a steady supply of cooa
unless they were diverisfied into other commodities. Besides chocolate, chocolate makers commonly ground coffee, oats, spices, mustard, and even tobacco."
---Chocolate: History, Culture, and Heritage (p. 293)
How was it made?
"Chocolate making was hard work. The labor at times intense and at other times tedious...Whether roasting and shelling hundreds of pounds of cocoa at a time, or
walking on a treadmill for hours, or hand-grinding ten pounds of chocolate a day for the Master, the work was mind numbing. And those working in large
watermills also had their trials. If the order was for a ton of chocolate for a ship sailing on the next high tide, then well over a ton of cooca would have had to hae
ben manhadled onto cards, roasted, shelled, winnowed, taken to the hopper, ground up, mixed and molded, wrapped in paper, packaged into perhaps 50 pound
boxes, and loaded onto cars. This in an age where most of that labor would have been done by hand, sun up to sun down. Chocolate generally was not
manufactured in the summer because higher temperatures did not allow the chocolate to harden...Therefore, chocolate-making activities started in the fall and ended
in late spring."
---Chocolate: History, Culture, and Heritage (p. 293)
Bakers (est. 1765, Massachusetts) was named for Dr. James Baker. Original product was meant for drinking. The fact that Baker later produced chocolate used for baking (unsweetened at first)was a happy coincidence. 1828 marks the birth of modern chocolate. This new process made possible a broad range of chocolate products. Among them: cocoa, blocks, nibs, shells. Baker sells eating chocolate in 1845.
Popular chocolate recipes:
Fondant, chocolate cake,
chocolate chip cookies, cocoa,
chocolate fondue, chocolate mousse,
chocolate gravy & chocolate pie.
Recipes for "vanilla tablets" appear in cookbooks published by chocolate manufacturers.
Vanilla tablets/Walter Baker & Company [1913]
Choice
Recipes/Water Baker [promotional booklet]
A cheap vanilla chocolate (wholesale)
35 pounds sugar
17 pounds corn syrup
1 1/2 gallons water
Cook to 238 degrees; pour on dampened cream slab and when lukewarm stir into a creamy
consistency.
Now take:
20 pounds sugar
10 pounds corn syrup
3 quarts water
Cook to 238 degrees, then remove from the fire and add the first batch which has been creamed.
When the batches are thoroughly mixed, add 5 pounds of Mazetta Creme and 2 ounces of extract
of vanilla. When well mixed, set entire batch over a steam bath and get quite hot, then cast in
starch and when set dip in chocolate. You may make any flavor desired by blending flavor when
the Mazetta Creme is added."
---Rigby's Reliable Candy Teacher, W. O. Rigby, 19th edition [1916?] (p. 98)
So what exactly IS white chocolate? U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently defined this product and set forth standards for its manufacture. They can be found in 21 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Section 163.124:
"Sec. 163.124 White chocolate. (a) Description. (1) White chocolate is the solid or semiplastic
food prepared by intimately mixing and grinding cacao fat with one or more of the optional dairy
ingredients specified in paragraph (b)(2) of this section and one or more optional nutritive
carbohydrate sweeteners and may contain one or more of the other optional ingredients specified
in paragraph (b) of this section. White chocolate shall be free of coloring material. (2) White
chocolate contains not less than 20 percent by weight of cacao fat as calculated by subtracting
from the weight of the total fat the weight of the milkfat, dividing the result by the weight of the
finished white chocolate, [[Page 62178]] and multiplying the quotient by 100. The finished white
chocolate contains not less than 3.5 percent by weight of milkfat and not less than 14 percent by
weight of total milk solids, calculated by using only those dairy ingredients specified in paragraph
(b)(2) of this section, and not more than 55 percent by weight nutritive carbohydrate sweetener.
(b) Optional ingredients. The following safe and suitable ingredients may be used: (1) Nutritive
carbohydrate sweeteners; (2) Dairy ingredients: (i) Cream, milkfat, butter; (ii) Milk, dry whole
milk, concentrated milk, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk; (iii) Skim milk,
concentrated skim milk, evaporated skim milk, sweetened condensed skim milk, nonfat dry milk;
(iv) Concentrated buttermilk, dried buttermilk; and (v) Malted milk; (3) Emulsifying agents, used
singly or in combination, the total amount of which does not exceed 1.5 percent by weight; (4)
Spices, natural and artificial flavorings, ground whole nut meats, ground coffee, dried malted
cereal extract, salt, and other seasonings that do not either singly or in combination impart a
flavor that imitates the flavor of chocolate, milk, or butter; (5) Antioxidants; and (6) Whey or
whey products, the total amount of which does not exceed 5 percent by weight. (c)
Nomenclature. The name of the food is ``white chocolate'' or ``white chocolate coating.'' When
one or more of the spices, flavorings, or seasonings specified in paragraph (b)(4) of this section
are used, the label shall bear an appropriate statement, e.g., ``Spice added'', ``Flavored with ------
'', or ``With ------ added'', the blank being filled in with the common or usual name of the spice,
flavoring, or seasoning used, in accordance with Sec. 101.22 of this chapter. (d) Label
declaration. Each of the ingredients used in the food shall be declared on the label as required by
the applicable sections of parts 101 and 130 of this chapter. Dated: September 27, 2002. Margaret
M. Dotzel, Associate Commissioner for Policy. [FR Doc. 02-25252 Filed 10-3-02; 8:45 am]"
[NOTE: This excerpted from White
Chocolate; Establishment of a Standard of Identity, Federal
Register, October 4, 2002.]
About white chocolate & the 1980s:
"So called "white chocolate" is made out to cacao butter only, but in the United States it must be
called "White confectionery coating," since it contains no cacao solids and therefore does not fit
the legal requirements for "chocolate." It has the disadvantage of a relatively short shelf-life and a
tendency to pick up foreign flavors."
---The True History of Chocolate, Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe [Thames and
Hudson:New
York] 1996 (p. 29)
[NOTE: this book is THE definative history of chocolate. Ask your librarian to help
you find a copy]
Related food? White chocolate mousse
Brittle
The inspiration for brittle, as we Americans know it today, possibly descends from
halva. This documented medieval-era Arabic confection traditionally combines honey, nuts and seeds. Some food history
sources use this evidence to place brittle on ancient tables. To date: we find no print/historic documentation
backing this claim.
The Oxford English Dictionary states "brittle," in the confectionery sense, is an American term dating in print to 1892. Our survey of historic American cookbooks confirms recipes for peanut brittle (as we know it today) appear in 19th century. Early recipes and ingredients were known by different names. One must examine these recipes carefully with regards to ingredients and method to determine the finished product. Back in the day, peanuts were called groundnuts.
Early peanut brittle recipes
[1847]Related foods? Comfits (which later evolved into sugarplums), pralines & benne seed wafers.
"An Excellent Receipt for Groundnut Candy
To one quart or molasses add half a pint of brown sugar and a quarter of a pound of butter; boil it for half an hour over a slow fire; then put in a quart of groundnuts, parched and shelled; boil for a quarter of an hour, and then pour it into a shallow tin pan to harden."
---The Carolina Housewife, Sarah Rutledge, facsimile copy 1847 edition, with an introduction by Anna Wells Rutledge [University of South Carolina Press:Columbia] 1979 (p. 219)[1908] "Peanut candy.
Have ready one cupful of peanuts shelled and chopped. Be sure you are rid of all the brown skins. Put one cupful of white sugar in a hot iron frying plan and stir until it is dissolved. Add the peanuts and turn immediately. As it cools cut into squares."
---The Evening Telegram Cook Book, Emma Paddock Telford [Cupples & Leon:New york] 1908 (p. 157)[1919] "Peanut brittle.
5 pounds sugar
2 1/2 pounds corn syrup
1 1/2 pints water
Cook and boil and then add 3 pounds Spanish shelled peanuts, and stir and cook until peanuts are done, then set kettle off fire and stir in it 1/2 teaspoonful of baking soda. After the soda is well stirred, drop in a little more soda, about 1/4 teaspoonful, and stir good. Pour on the slab and spread as thin as possible. When partly cold turn batch over. By adding soda as above batch will be the same color on both sides, not yellow on one side and brow on the other."
---Rigby's Reliable Candy Teacher, W. O. Rigby, 19th ed., [1919?] (p. 160-1)
[NOTE: this book also contains a recipe for non-sugar peanut brittle. This is not a diabetic alternative. It substitutes corn syrup and molasses for refined white sugar.][1942]
"Peanut Brittle I
Sugar, 2 cups
Water, 2/3 cup
Cream of tartar, 1/4 teaspoon
Molasses, 2 tablespoons
Salt, 1/2 teaspoon
Cream, 2 tablspoons
Baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon
Peanuts, shelled, 1 cup
Combine sugar, water and cream of tartar in a heavy saucepan. Plce over low heat and stir until sugar is dissolved; cook without stirring to 280 degrees F. (brittle). Wipe down crystals from sides of pan with a damp cloth wrapped around the tines of a fork. Add molasses, salt and cream. Cook slwoly to 290 degrees F., stirring slowly but constantly. Remove from stove. Quickly stir in soda and peanuts. (Be sure that soda is free from lumps. Pour onto an oiled surface--a shallow pan or marble slab--in a very thin layer. When cool enough to handle, the brittle may be grasped at the edges and stretched into a very thin sheet. When cold break into medium-sized pieces. Note: If peanuts are raw, add a sirup at 250 degrees F. instead of at the end. Makes about 1 pound."
---Woman's Home Companion Cook Book [P.F. Collier & Son:New York] 1942 (p. 788-789) [NOTE: Peanut Brittle II consists of sugar, baking soda and peanuts only. This book also offers recipes for coconut brittle, Chocolate-Nut Brittle and Bran-Nut Brittle.][1957]
"Peanut Brittle
2 cups Karo, blue label
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups roasted peanuts
Combine the Karo and sugar and boil to 270 degrees F. or until brittle when a little is dropped in cold water. Stir in soda, peanuts and vanilla, spread thin on large pan well oiled with Mazola."
---49 Delightful Ways to Enjoy Karo, Corn Products Company, 1957 (p. 14)
Colonial American confectioners & candy shops
Food historians confirm professional confectioners (candy, cakes, cookies, ice cream) existed in mid-18th century London. Elizabeth Raffald was one such
confectioner. Not so much for Colonial America. In our country at that time most confections were made at home. Our research finds American confectioners did
not become a viable industry in their own right until the early 1800s. The original American confectionery epicenter was Philadelphia. At that time, confectionery
wares included candy, cakes, cookies, sugar work, preserved (candied/sugared) fruit, and ice cream. Chocolate makers
were a separate trade primarily concerned
with importing large quantities of product for resale. Professional confectioners in the 18th century (Old World & New) generally learned their trade via
apprenticeship. Long hours, hard work, and minimal pay counterbalanced room, board and master craftsman hands-on training. For free Colonial-American era
smart young folks, apprenticeship of any kind was the ticket to prosperity.
While it is possible that some urban centers had confectionery shops during Colonial American times, "penny candy" became popular in the 19th century, during the Victorian era.
Early American candy (Colonial era-Civil War)
Sugar candy (including molasses and maple), candied fruits & flowers (a Renaissance-era
favorite), sugar coated nuts (comfits), marzipan (almond paste), and toffee were all
enjoyed by Americans in 17th and 18th centuries. Period cooking texts typically group candy with
"sweet meats" or confectionery. Sweet meats also included preserves, jams, jellies, syrups, small
cakes/cookies, ice cream and sherbet. Some of the candies we Americans enjoy today (liquorice,
marshmallows, hard candies, peppermint) were originally used for medicinal purposes. "Recipes"
for these items were often included in medical texts as well as cookbooks. A wide variety of
different types of sugar were used to make these candies.
What kinds of candy did the first Americans eat? Native Americans in the northern regions were adept at tapping maple trees for syrup. Chocolate began as a beverage. By the 1840s, eating chocolate was introduced. European settlers introduced the foods they enjoyed in the Old World. The following confections were known in Medieval and Renaissance Europe:
How & where were these candies made?
A survey of candy recipes published in cookbooks used by early American cooksbr>
[1753]
Red crisp almonds or Prawlings (pralines)
Iced almonds (iced with sugar)
Candied cherries
Candied orange peel
Candied ginger
Barley sugar (a precursor to toffee)
March-pane (marzipan)
Pastils (soft gum-like candy)
Comfits
---The Lady's Companion, [London:1753] 6th edition
[NOTE: Colonial-era cooks used books they brought from home. Many of these were published
in London.]
[1749-1799]
Candied flowers (roses, marigolds, violets, rosemary--yes! Real flowers!)
Candied ginger
Suckets (candied fruits, oranges and lemons were most popular)
Sugar candy (boiled refined sugar)
Losenges (diamond shaped sugar candy...think of today's throat lozenge...flavored with orange,
lemon, rose water)
Fruit pastes (dried, thin sheets of pounded fruit...think of today's "Fruit Roll-ups"...made with real
apricots, peaches, raspberries, gooseberries, apples, plums, quinces, oranges, lemons)
Marchpan (aka marzipan; almond paste which was often colored and deoratively shaped)
---Martha Washington's Book of Cookery, transcribed by Karen Hess [Columbia
University Press:New York] 1995
[NOTE: If you want to see these recipes ask your librarian can help you find a copy of this book.]
[1792]
Lemon and orange peel candied
Melon citron candied
Anglelica candied
Cassia candied
Orange marmalade
Apricot marmalade
Red quince marmalade
White quince marmalade
Raspberry paste
Currant paste
Gooseberry paste
Orange chips
Apricot chips
Ginger tablet
---The New Art of Cookery According to the Present Practice, Richard Briggs [W. Spotswood, R. Campbell, and B. Johnson:Philadelphia]
1792
[1847]
Kisses & meringues (sweet, frothy egg white confections; some have hazel nut or cocoanut
centers)
Coconut candy
Lemon candy
Cream candy
Common twist (like candy canes/sticks)
Peppermint, rose or horehound candy
Molasses candy (taffy)
Candied orange or lemon peel
---Mrs. Crowen's American Lady's Cookery Book, Mrs. T. J. Crowen [Dick &
Fitzgerald:New York] 1847
Need to make something for class? Selected modernized recipes:
...while most of these candies were enjoyed throughout the country, those with specific colony/state designations in their respective cookbooks are noted.
"Nut Sweet
2 cups maple sugar (or brown sugar)
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup hickory nuts, or walnuts, broken.
In a saucepan combine sugar, water, and butter. Cook over low heat until a candy thermometer inciates 238 degrees F., or until the syrup dropped in cold water
forms a soft ball. Add the nuts. remove from heat and stir until the candy is thick. Drop in spoonsful onto waxed paper and let the patties harden."
---The Thirteen Colonies Cookbook, Mary Donovan et al [Montclair Historical Society:Montclair NJ] 1976 (p. 77) [Connecticut]
"Candied Peel
Cut rind of 8 oranges into quarters. Cover with cold water. Brink slowly to the boiling point. Remove pan from fire. Drain well. Repat this process, boiling the
orange peel in a total of 5 waters. Drain well each time. With scissors, cut into strips or leaf designs. Make a syrup with 1/4 cut water and 1/2 cup sugar. Add the
peel and boil until all the syrup is absorbed. Cool briefly. When thorouhgly dry, the peel may be dipped in chcoolate coating. Peel may also be rolled in freshly
grated coconut, then sugared. Store in airtight tins, or freeze."
---ibid (p. 115) [New Jersey]
"Apricot Leather
Wash 1 package dried apricots and put them in water to soak overnight. Next morning, bring apricots and water to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove
from heat and drain thoroughly. (Be sure all the water has drained off.) mash the apricots through a sieve, or belnd in a blender until smooth. Measure pulp: return it
to the saucepan and add 1 part sugar to every 3 parts pulp. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly (at thsis tage the mixture may burn easily, so
stir carefully.) Let the mixture cool for 15 minutes; then spread almost paper thin on a large piece of glass, marble slab, or aluminum cookie sheet. Form a
rectangular shape. Place in a warm dry room (an attic is excellent) to dry for 1 to 2 days (it should be pliable enough to roll). Cut the leather into 3-inch squares,
sprinkle with granulated sugar, and roll tightly into rolls about the size of a small pencil. Roll in granulated sugar and stroe in a tightly closed box."
---ibid (p. 251) [Georgia]
"Hoarhound Candy
Some of the candies which were made in colonial kitchens were very simple mixtures of sugar, water, and herbs. This candy was a confection as well as a lozenge
for colds and sore throats.
3 ounces hoarhound
3 cups water
3 1/2 pounds brown sugar
Add hoarhound to hot water and simmmer for 20 minutes. Stain and add sugar. Cook until syrup forms a hard ball when dropped into cold water or until candy
thermometer registers 265 degrees F. Pour into a buttered pan. When cooled, form into small balls or cut into squares. makes about 5 sozen pieces."
---Foods from the Founding Fathers, Helen Newbury Burke [Exposition Press:Hicksville NY] 1978 (p. 141) [Rhode Island]
"Molasses Candy
2 cups molasses
2 cups brown sugar
1/3 cup vinegar
1 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
Salt
Boil ingredients until brittle when tried in cold water. Pour into hot, buttered pan; pull when cool enough to handle."
---ibid (p. 141) [Rhode Island]
"Benne (Sesame) Brittle
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups parched benne seed (roasted)
Melt the sugar in a heavy frying pan or saucepan over a low heat, stirring constantly. When sugar is melted, remove from stove, then add benne seed and vanilla
quickly. Pour into a well-buttered pan to about 1/4 inch depth (a medium-size biscuit pan is right). Mark into squares while warm and break along lines when cold.
Makes 8-10 squares."
---ibid (p. 244) [South Carolina]
"Hickory Nut Creams
3 cups brown sugar
1 cup cream or evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups hickory nuts
Stir sugar and cream together until sugar dissolves. Boil to 234 degrees F. or until a little of the mixture forms a soft ball when dropped into cold water. Cool to
lukewarm. Add vanilla, butter, and nuts, and beat until creamy. Drop from spoon on waxed paper. makes 3 dozen creams."
---ibid (p. 316) [Philadelphia]
"Spiced Walnuts
1/4 pound walnut halves
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1 tablespoon water
1 egg white
Heat nuts in 350 degree F. oven for a few minutes. Sift together three times the sugar, ginger, salt, nutmeg, and cloves. Add awater to egg whtie and beat until
frothy (not stuff). Dip nuts in egg mixture and roll in spices. Cover bottom of baking sheet with leftover sugar and spices. Arrange nuts over top. Sift remaining sugar
over them. Bake at 275 degrees F. for 1 hour. Remove from oven and shake off excess sugar."
---ibid (p. 316) [Philadelphia]
"Pralines
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Mix all ingredients except vanilla. Bring to a boil and boil for exactly 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from heat, add vanilla, and beat until smooth and creamy. Drop by
spoonfuls onto wax paper. Makes 2 to 3 dozen."
---A Cooking Legacy, Virginia T. Elverson & Mary Ann McLanahan [Walker and Company:New York] 1975 (p. 167)
"Apricot Sweetmeats
1 pound dried apricots, ground
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
pecan or walnut halves, or almonds
superfine granulated sugar
Combine apricots, granulated sugar and orange juice in a saucepan. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Drop by teaspoon
onto waxed paper. When cool, place a pecan or walnut half or an almond in the center, rolling apricot mixture around it. Drop each ball into superfine granulated
sugar to coat completely. Pack in a tightly covered container to store. Makes 3 dozen."
---ibid (p. 166)
There is quite a sale in Boston--by all retail grocers--to children & others--at a cent a stick for small & two cents for large sticks. I learned to make them in London, and there as in Boston the sticks are piled in the retail shop window, cross each other, & rather ornament the store. If it be no trouble, you could hand to some of your best customers some of the sticks--always to be eaten raw or melted on the tongue to taste; & children once getting the taste would purchase them for enough; being much more healthy & suitable for them than Candy or Sugar Plums etc. (p. 351)
The Industrial Revolution made possible many new candies. Advances in food technology, scientific knowledge, and cooking apparatus made possible items such as jelly beans and chocolate. Most 19th century American cookbooks do not include recipes for making chocolate candy because it was primarily made by professional confectioners. "Penny candies" were a direct result of cheaper ingredients and mass production.
Primary sources/historic cookbooks
[1864]
Parkinson's
Complete Confectioner, (professional text) [online full-text, courtesy of Michigan State
University]
[1877]
Buckeye
Cookery
These popular American brands were introduced to the American public between the late 1800s and 1929:
Wrigley's gum (Spearmint, Juicy Fruit)
Baby Ruth (Curtiss)
Hershey Bars (Hershey)
Good & Plenty
Cracker Jacks
Chase's Tween Meals
Tootsie Rolls
Candy Corn (called "Chicken Feed," by Goelitz Confercionery company)
Nik-L-Nips (liquid sugar/flavored filled wax novelties)
NECCO wafers
Hershey's Kisses
Life Savers
Goo Goo Clusters (a southern favorite)
Godenberg's Peanut-Chews (Philadelphia area)
Mounds Bards (Peter Paul)
Milky Way Bar (M&M Mars)
Bit-O'Honey
Milk Duds
Heath Bars
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
Snickers Bar (M&M Mars)
Dubble Bubble bubble gum (Fleer)
Chases's Cherry Mash
Gummi Bears
Pez
Twizzlers
Cotton candy
Conversation Hearts
Jujyfruits (Henry Heide Co.)
Chuckles (jelly candies)
Charleston Chew
Almond Rocha (Brown & Haley)
Mr. Goodbar (Hershey's)
Mike & Ike
SOURCES: Candy: The Sweet History/Beth Kimmerle, The Food Timeline, The Food Chronology/James Trager
"In case any one wonders what happened to the college boys who ate live goldfish back in the
forties, the
answer might be right at hand. It's possible--allowing for the refinement of the palate that comes
with
maturity--that they have gone one to become conspicuous consumers of fried grasshoppers.
According to
T.G. Loryn, a local importer, more than 150,000 cans of these crispy cocktail accompaniments
haves sold
in this country in the last seven months--most of them to men...On reason for the phenomenon is
that
grasshoppers are accessibly prices...The gag, of course, is to serve...along
with more
conventional tidbits such as fried bacon rind, which they resemble somewhat in taste...experts
agree there's
a real demand these days for party foods that are new, exotic, "different." And once initiated,
many
American are suprised to find themselves quite won over by foods they wouldn't--wittingly--have
eaten on a
bet...As quick to spot a trend as any other merchants, live-wire food importers are now
negotiating for
French fried bees from the Oreint. Fried ants (possibly from Africa) and chocolate covered ants
from South
America are also in the blueprint stage."
---"Grasshoppers a la Mode: Strange things are tickling palates these days. Coming soon--fried
bees,
chocolate-covered ants," Jean Condit, New York Times, April 29, 1956 (p. 264)
Post WWII fancy food market:
"...travel-nurtured gastronomes, as well as other s who have never left home, are garnishing their diets with greater amounts of
specialty and fancy foods....The adventurous ones are asking...for the more exotic items: Kissproof garlic, snails, fried grasshoppers, kangaroo tail soup,
baby bees in soy sauce, quail eggs, octopus on skewer, canned wild boar, shark fin soup, pickled cocks combs, roasted locusts and
chocolate-covered ants. The fancy food uptrend reflects more than the impact of foreign travel. Americans have more money to
spend on delicacies and they are reading and learning more about them...A revised interest in good eating has been growing in this
country since the repeal of Prohibition, says Earle R. MacAusland, editor and publisher of Gourmet Magazine
...Gourmet Magazine, which
is written for connoisseiurs, was started on the eve of World War II and now has over 100,000 subscribers. During the past seven years the
publication has sold more than 150,000 copies of its Gourmet Cookbook at $10.00 a copy...One indication of fancy foods'
burgeoning popularity is the growth in the number of stores which specialize in such foods...Fancy food departments are also
blossoming in supermarkets."
---"Specialty Foods: Snails, Grasshoppers, Caviar, Ants Pop Up On More U.S. Menus," Victor J. Hillery,
Wall Street Journal, November 9, 1956 (p. 1)
Several articles ensued, mostly in the late 1950s/early 1960s. None provide historic details regarding origin of chocolate covered ants. Our South/Central American food history books are full of information on chocolate but nothing on the coating of insects. Presumably this particular delicacy was not a traditional food of the Incas, Mayas and Aztecs.
What other insects have been consumed by humans?
According to the food historians, chocolate truffles were named thusly because the finished product resembles the naturally occuring, expensive fungus of the same name. About fungus truffles. Alan Davidson's Oxford Companion to Food states this candy became popular in the 1920s.
"Many who have never encountered vegetable truffles have tucked into confectioners' truffles,
sweets the
colour and shape of black truffles, made from a mixture of chocolate, sugar, and cream (and often
rum)
and covered with a dusting of cocoa powder or tiny chocolate strands. These are, of course, a
much more
recent phenomenon; they made their first appearance in an Army and Navy Stores catalogue for
1926-7."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 351)
While references to early 19th century chocolate truffles can be found in some books on American food history, it is unlikely
the confection, as we know it today, existed that early. Possibly these authors are referring to chocolate creams, a related confection.
The earliest authentic/historic recipe we have for chocolate truffles dates to the 1920s:
"Chocolate truffles. Dip a plain vanilla cream center, one as small as possible in milk chocolate coating, then before the coating dries, roll each piece in macaroon cocoanut so that the cocoanut sticks to the chocolate. Now lay them on a cheet of wax paper and allow to dry."
---Rigby's Reliable Candy Teacher, W.O. Rigby, 19th edition (undated, early 1920s probably) (p. 84)
The truth? Spun sugar was known long before this time. Mid-18th century master confectioners in
Europe and America hand crafted spun sugar nests as Easter decorations and webs of silver and
gold spun sugar for elaborate dessert presentations. At that time, spun sugar was an expensive,
labor-intensive endeavor and was not
generally available to the average person. How was spun sugar made before the invention of
modern machines?
[1769]
"To spin a Silver Web for covering Sweetmeats
Take a quarter of a pound of treble-refined sugar in one lump, and set it before a moderate fire on the middle of a silver salver or pewter plate. Set it a little aslant, and when it begins to run like clear water to the edge of the plate or salver, have ready a tin cover or china bowl set on a still, with the mouth downward close to your sugar that it may not cool by carrying too far. Then take a clean knife and take up as much of the syrup as the point will hold, and a fine thread will come from the point, which you must draw as quicky as possible backwards and forwards and also around the mould, as long as it will spin from the knife. Be very careful you do not drop the syrup on the web, if you do it will spoil it. Then dip your knife into the syrup again and take up more, and so keep spinning till your sugar is done or your web is thick enough. Be sure you do not let the knife touch the lump on the plate that is not melted, it will make it brittle and not spin at all. If your sugar is spent before your web is done put fresh sugar on a plate or salver, and not spin from the same plate again. If you don't want the web to cover the sweetmeats immediately, set it in a deep pewter from getting to it, and set it before the fire, it requires to be kept warm or it will fall. When your dinner or supper is dished, have ready a plate or dish of the size of your web filled with different coloured sweetmeats, and set your web over it. It is pretty for a middle, where the dishes are few, or corner where the number is large." ---The Experienced English Housekeeper, Elizabeth Raffald, with an introduction by Roy Shipperbottom [Southover Press:East Sussex UK] 1996 (p. 92)
[NOTE: this book also has instructions for a gold web and to make a Dessert of Spun Sugar.][1864]
On sugar spinning
The Complete Confectioner, Pastry Cook and Baker, J.M. Sanderson [Lippincott:Philadelphia] (p. 33+)[1894]
Spun Sugar for Ornamental Purposes
--Required: loaf sugar and half its weight in water. The best cane sugar should be used, as failure if almost sure with inferior sugar. This is to be put in a copper pan and brought to the boil, and freed from any scum thay may rise. When the surface begins to look bubbly it is nearly ready. To test it, dip a knife or the end of a steel in cold water, and be sure that it is cold, or a mistake may arise; then dip this in the boiling sugar, then in cold water again, and if it is brittle, and leaves the knife or steel, it is done; should it cling an be soft it must be boiled longer. When it is done, take small portions and pass it quickly to and fro to form threads over an oiled rolling pin held in the left hand. A fork is best to use to take up the sugar. Should this be intended for "draping" a vol-au-vent or other sweet, the pin should be moved, so that the sugar falls into position, and is not handled. To be explicit, as it leaves the pin it is wound round the sweet. There is considerable art in this operation, and it is quite likely that a number of failures will precede success; it is one of those branches of the cuisine that require a practical lesson. It is always well to rub a little oil on the hands and wrists in the case the sugar should splash them, and by standing on a stool, holding the left arm low, and moving the right hand high in the air, the work is facilitated."
---Cassell's New Universal Cookery Book, Lizzie Heritage [Cassell and Company:London] (p. 811)
Cotton candy, as fair food, began when W.J. Morrison and J.C. Wharton (Nashville, TN) patented the first electric machine for spinning sugar into edible threads in 1897. This machine produced cotton candy quickly in mass quantities. The machine was portable, the process was novel, the appeal was universal. Perfect fair food. Notes from the original patent:
Candy MachineSkuse's Complete Confectioner [London, undated, probably late 1890s/early 1900s] contains similar instructions on page 71:
To all whom it may concern; Be it known that we, William J. Morrison and John C. Wharton, citizens of the United States, residing at Nashville, in the County of Davidson and State of Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Candy-Machines, of which the following is a specification. Our invention relates to improvements in candy-making, or, as commonly called, "candy-machines," in which a revolvable or rotating pan or vessel containing cand or melted sugar causes the said candy or melted sugar to form into masses of thread-like or silk-like filaments by the centrifugal force due to the rotation of the vessel. The object of our invention is to obtain an edible product consisting of the said filaments of melted and "spun" sugar or candy."
---U.S. Patent #618,428 January 31, 1899. Application filed December 23, 1897.
[NOTE: you can view the full image of this patent online. Accessible by patent number only, requires special viewing software.]
Sugar Candy, Pink and White
Sugar candy is made in a variety of colours. The foreign, which is imported in large quantities, varying in shades between very dark brown and pale yellow, the prices charged for these qualities being very little above the sugar value, therefore unprofitable to make, but the pink and white candy is not so common, and generally command a renumerative figure, besides being attractive as a window decoration. The process is simple and interesting. Copper pans are sold by machinists for the purpose, but for small makers a rough coller or white metal pan will answer, so long as its sides are a little wider at the top than the bottom, in order that the crystalized sugar may fall out unbroken. Perforate the pan with small holes, about three inches apart, pass a thread through from one hole to another, so that the thread runs at equal distances throughout the centre of the pan, then stop up the holes from the outside with a thin coating of beeswax and resin to keep the syrup from running through. When the pan has been got ready, boil sufficient sugar to fill it, in the proportion of 7-lbs. sugar to 3 pints of water, to the degree of thread, or 230; then pour the contents into the pan and stand it on the drying room for three or four days; when the crystals are heavy enough, which you can tell by examining them, pour off the superfluous syrup; rinse the candy in lukewarm water and stand it in the drying room till dry. To make the pink, of course, colour the syrup, but be careful in tinging it very lightly. N.B.-When goods are undergoing the process of crystalizing, the vessel in which they are must not be disturbed."
In the dawning years of the 20th century cotton candy was also sold in sweet shops and department store candy counters. A Wanamaker's advertisement announcing the acquisition of "A Wonderful Candy Machine" ran in the New York Times February 11, 1905 (p.4). Price of their cotton candy? 5-10 cents, probably depending upon size.
Bruce Feiler's notes debunking the popular history of cotton candy:
"The Dictionary of American Food and Drink reports that the item [cotton candy]
originated in 1900 at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Baily Circus, when snack vendor Thomas
Patton began experimenting with the long common process of boiling sugar to a caramelized
state, then forming long threads of it with a fork. Patton's genious, according to the entry, was to
heat the sugar on a gas-fired rotating plate, creating a cottony floss. The truth may be less
romantic, but it is no less appealing. In 1897 William Morrison and John
C. Wharton, candy makers in Nashville, invented the world's first electric machine that allowed
crystallized sugar to be poured onto a heated spinning plate, then pushed by centrifugal force
through a series of tiny holes. In 1904, at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, commonly known as
the St. Louis World's Fair, Morrison and Wharton sold the product, then known as "fairy floss,"
in chipped-wood [cardboard] boxes for 25 cents a serving. Though the price was half the
admission of the fair itself, they sold 68,655 boxes..."
---"Spun Heaven," Bruce Feiler, Gourmet, February 2000 (p. 66+)
[NOTE: this is an excellent article. Ask your librarian to help you find a copy.]
About the science of sugar.
Cotton candy: notes from the National Confectioners Association (includes how cotton candy is made today. If you need more details about the manufacturing process ask your librarian to help you find this book: How Products are Made, Jacqueline L. Longe, editor, Volume 4 [Gale:Detroit] 1999 (p. 157-161).
Food historians have yet to determine the first person to call this delicious confection "Divinity. " The general concensus about the name? The finished product tasted "divine." A survey of American cookbooks confirms recipes for Divinity (candy, fudge, rolls) were "standard items" from the 1930s to present. Some people connect Divinity with southern roots. This is not confirmed by our cooking texts which are published all over the country. Perhaps Divinity with pecans is a Southern twist on a national favorite?
This is what the food experts have to say:
"Divinity. An American confection related to nougat and marshmallow. It is made by cooking a
sugar syrup to the firm or hard-ball stage...and then beating it into whisked egg whites."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
251)
"Divinity...also divinity fudge [Prob with ref to its "divine" flavor] esp. west of Appalachians.
Homemade candy made by pouring hot sugar syrup into beaten egg whites. 1913 E.H. Glover
Dame Curtsey's Book of Candy Making (p. 34) Divinity Fudge. Three and one-half cups
of granulated sugar, one-half cup of 90 per cent corn syrup, two thirds cup water [etc.]"
---Dictionary of American Regional English, Frederick G. Cassidy and Joan Houston Hall,
editors, [Belknap Press of Harvard University:Cambridge MA] 1985, volume II D-H (p. 91)
[NOTE: This book has a map showing where this particular term is most popular. Your librarian
can help you find a copy of this book/page if you need it.]
"White divinity fudge wasn't heard of until around 1910."
---Listening to America, Stuart Berg Flexner [Simon & Schuster:New York] 1982 (p.
139)
Why does Divinity sometimes choose not to set?
"Divinity is a tricky confection to make under the best circumstances--almost impossible under less than good. The recipe in one community cookbook advises a short consultation with the local meteorologist: "Please remember candy doesn't set unless the barometer reads 30 in. or over; doesn't make a difference whether it's raining or not, just watch your t.v. for the barometric pressure." Divinity like most other Southern canides shows up around the winter holidays. It is sort of a companion piece to fudge in Christmas gift boxes.
---Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie, Bill Neal [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1996 (p. 138)
[1905]
"Divinity Candy. Mrs. C.C. Hall, Hollywood.--One pint golden drip syrup, one pint sweet milk one cup granulated sugar, butter size of a walnut. Boil until a soft ball can be made. Remove from fire ahd whip until it is creamy, then pour over one-half pound of shelled Califoania English walnuts."
---The Times Cookbook[1907]
"In place of the time-honored "fudge," she may make the new "Divinity Fudge," a sweet that is no more expensive, that takes but little more time, but that is far more delicious. Melt a cupful of sugar in a saucepan; when melted, pour it into another saucepan in which there is already a cupful of cold milk. Put this pan on the fire and cook slowly until the two have blended; then add two or more cupfuls of granulated sugar, and one more cupful of cold milk, and reheat, cooking slowly until it is of proper consistency to remove from the stove. At this time add a heaping teaspoonful of butter and a cupful of finely chopped nut meats; beat the mixture with a large spoon until almost cold, then spread it over buttered pans, and line for cutting, like fudge."
---"Christmas Cheer as Ever Calls on the Housewife for Sweets, Pies and All the Rest of the Good Things of the Holidays," The New York Times, December 17, 1907 (p. SM5)[1910]
"Divinity Fudge
Here is a recipe for Divinity Fudge, which is great:
2 cups sugar, 1/2 cup cup hot water, 1/2 cup corn syrup. Cook until it forms a soft ball when dropped in cold water. Have ready, in a rather deep dish, the whites of 2 eggs beaten to a stiff froth (1 egg may be used, not so good). Pour the cooked mixture over the whites of the eggs. Beat in the 1 cup walnuts. Beat until of a creamy consistency. Pour onto buttered pan. Cool, cut in squares. Janice Meredith."
---"Divinity Fidge," Boston Daily Globe, April 28, 1910 (p. 11)[1915]
"Divinity.
Two cupfuls gran.[granulated] Sugar, 1/2 cupful water, 1/2 cupful syrup. Boil until it hardens in cold water. Beat whites of 2 eggs to a stiff froth, then pour syrup over them and add 1 cupful chopped nuts. Flavor with vanilla. Beat until stiff and drip with spoon on parafine paper."
---The Concord Cook Book, compiled by Mrs. Adolph Guttman and Mrs. Levi Oppenheimer for the Ladies' Auxilary, Society of Concord Syracuse N.Y. first edition [Dehler Press:Syracuse NY] 1915 (p. 276)[1917]
"Divinity Fudge
Home candy economy seems on the increase, to judge from the requests that come to this column for recipes. M.A. wishes a recipe for "divinity." One of the colored corn sirups, probably the best known, is used by many people, but plain glucose, which costs a little less, makes a whiter candy. In making all candies I use a thermometer, because it saves time and attention and I get more uniform results, but my neighbor, fortunately i this case, does not, so Mrs. Y. lets me use her recipe herewith:
"This requires two pans or kettles. In pan No. 1, put one cup of sugar and one-half cup of water. In pan NO. 2 put three cups of sugar one one cup of corn sirup. Boil No. 1 until it spins a thread. Boil No. 2 until it forms a soft ball when dropped in water. Beat No. 1 into the whites of two eggs, and as soon as No. 2 is done beat into the egg mixture. Beat on a platter about ten minutes, or until creamy. Before it gets firm beat in a cup of pecan nuts and two teaspoons of vanilla. Beat until firm. Turn out on to a cloth that has been wet in cold water and roll up into a loaf. When cool enough cit down into slices."
---"Tribune Cook Book," Jane Eddington, Chicago Daily Tribune, February 14, 1917 (p. 10)[1926]
"Divinity Fudge
3 cups light brown sugar
3/4 cup Karo syrup
1 1/4 cups nut meats or chopped crystallized fruit
3 egg whites
1 cup cold water.
Mix in saucepan sugar, syrup and water. Cook until mixture reaches soft-ball stage. Whip egg whites very stiff and dry, then add syrup mixture in a small stream, beating all the time until mixture begins to thicken. Stir in nut meats or fruit, continue stirring until creamy. Pour in buttered pan. Cut in squares when cold."
---Every Woman's Cook Book, Mrs. Chas. F. Moritz [Cupples & Leon: New York] (p. 599-600)
Why won't divinity set in certain types of weather?
"Divinity is a tricky confection to make under the best circumstances--almost impossible under less than good. The recipe in one community cookbook advises a
short consultation with the local meteorologist: "Please remember candy doesn't set unless the barometer reads 30 in. or over; doesn't make a difference whether
it's raining or not, just watch your t.v. for the barometric pressure." Divinity like most other Southern candies shows up around the winter holidays. It is sort of a
companion piece to fudge in Christmas gift boxes."
---Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie, Bill Neal [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1996 (p. 138)
Related foods? Meringue and fudge.
"...it is probably in confectionery that liquorice has found its most extensive and attractive culinary
use. For this purpose, the extract from the roots is combined with sugar, water, gelatin, and flour
to give a malleable black or brown paste, which is tough and chewy. These attribute are used to
gread effect by manufactureres who mould it into pipes, cables, and long strips or 'bootlaces'; or
combine it with brighly coloured soft sugar paste to make liquorice allsorts. These sweets, very
popular in Britain, are of divers and striking appearance, mostly made of layers of black refined
liquorice combined in various ways with brightly coloured paste imitating marzipan. Some lumps
of liquorice rolled in coloured sugar vermicelli. Thanks to the liquorice in them, the flavour of
these sweets is more interesting than that of most cheap confectionery."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davdison [OxforUniversity Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
455)
Where did the name "Dolly Mixture" come from? The food historians are still looking for a definative answer. There are several theories:
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a dolly mixture is a "mixture of tiny coloured sweets of various shapes." The earliest citation to print references using this term dates back only to 1957. One of these books, Lore and Language of Schoolchildren, Iona Opie, states "Other current sweet-shop favourites appear to be the same as thirty years ago, in fact bull's eyes, jelly babies, and dolly mixture have entered schoolchild language as descriptive nouns." (page 166). This dates the term dolly mixtures, as they relate to candy, back at least to the late 1920s.
Just below this entry is another definition for the word dolly: "Anglo-Indian [ad.Hindi Dali]...A complimentary offering of fruit, flowers, vegetables, sweetmeats and the like presented usually on one or more trays..." Perhaps this term, as it relates to candy, was borrowed from traditions begun in British India?
Another argument supporting the possible connection to India is the word dal, or dahl. These pulses (beans, peas, legumes) are one of the principal foods in the Indian subcontinent. Dal is often composed of items of various sizes and colors, thus the possible connection (in looks only) to the popular candy mix. You can find more information on Dal in the Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 241) and A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food, K.Y. Achaya [Oxford University Press:Delhi] 1998 (p. 60).
Laura Mason, British confectionery history expert, says the connection between Indian dahl and dolly mixtures is unlikely.
"Soft Bright Jellies for Dolly Mixtures
Sugar 20lb
Glucose 20lb
Water 5pt
Gelatin 4lb
Citric acid powder 4 1/2oz
Run into starch impressions. Set aside until next day. Brush thoroughly and glaze."
---Skuse's Complete Confectioner, W. J. Bush & Co. editor, 13th edition [W.J. Bush:London] 1957 (p. 200)
"Fondants are sweets made from a paste produced by boiling sugar syrup and then kneading it until it is soft, creamy, and smooth. The same sort of paste is also
used as the basis for icing for cakes (fondant icing). The term comes from the present participle of French fondre, 'melt', and is probably an allusion to fondant
'melting in the mouth'."
---An A-Z of Food & Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 128-9)
"Fondant...is a relative recent development in confectionery. It appears to have originated in the middle of the 19th century, probably in France, although the
historian Mary Isin...suggests that it might first have come from Ottoman Turkey. A variety of fondant which had cream amongst its ingredients was popular in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries under the name of 'Opera Caramels'. Today, fondant has been reduced to a supporting role in confectionery, largely as a filling
for chocolates. When used in this way, it is often referred to as creme, or cream filling; this is a statement about the texture, rather than a reference to the
ingredients. A popular way of consuming fondant in the late 20th century is a mint-flavoured, chocolate-coated form intended to be eaten after dinner. Rolled
fondant is a type of sugar paste icing...and is used for covering cakes."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2nd edition, 2006 (p. 311-312)
"Fondant is relatively simple to make, and lends itself to many variations in colour and flavour. In the 1890s, various handbooks suggested it as a dainty suitable for
making by ladies wishing to earn a little income, both in Britain and North America...Presenting confectionery as a creative pastime which allowed the practitioner to
show off expertise and good taste echoed the seventeenth-century ideals fo gentlewomen who could make banqueting conceits. Fondant is now rarely seen without
a coating of chocolate, and is no longer considered an exciting novelty...Exploitation of fondant and starch-moulding led to a fin-de-siecle flourish of pastel
confectionery in myriad shapes and colours. About 1900, Skuse commented on 'Fondant Cream Work' that, 'this department has developed more rapidly and
more extensively than perhaps any other in the business, if we except chocolate, and even then, fondant cream has been of great assistance to the coca bean.
' Ironically, it was fondant which acted as a midwife to chocolate--now the dominating confection. Since 1866, the Bristol company of Joseph Fry and Sons had
been selling their Chocolate Cream Bar, filled with fondant. This was an enormous success."
---Sugarplums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect Books:Devon] 2004 (p. 75-77)
Fondant icing
Fondant icings date to the early 20th century:
Plastic icing?
FoodTV's Ace of Cakes show features georgeous cakes draped with a substance they
call rolled fondant. This artful substance appears to descend from Australian cake decorating
traditions, where it was first known as "plastic icing." The earliest references we find to "rolled fondant" in American print appears in the early 1980s.
"In Australia, despite its varied immigrant population, the British cake remained dominant but not in any static and unchanging
form. The major change which has been noted in the British trade in the 1890s had its roots in an Australian enthusiasm for
sugarcraft and cake-decoration which began in the 1950s...The provided competition classes for decorated cakes and in this way
promoted experimentation. A distinctive new style developed. This was based on a change of material. Royal icing was demoted
from its pre-eminence as the standard material for covering and decorating all the more important cakes to a mere auxiliary
for piping. Two other substances to be used in conjuction with it became essential. For covering there was 'plastic icing,' a cold-mixed
alternative to cooked fondant icing, made with glucose, gelatine, glycerine and flavouring, in addition to icing sugar and water.
For modelling it was aversion of the ancient sugarpaste...I The Australian Book of Cake Decorating (1973), Bernice
Vercoe, one of the leaders of the movement from the 1950s onwards, wrote: 'We do not recommend royal icing for coverings as this
mixture is hard and brittle when dry and tends to crack and separate from the cake whe cut', but 'the English still use it'.
'In Australia royal icing is used for pipework only.' Plastic icing, on the other hand, 'remains soft to the bite for long and
indefinite periods'...It is also easier to use, being rolled out and draped and conformed to almost any shape; it does not have to
be smoothed on moist and allowed to set. The very considerable skill needed to achieve a fine, smooth surface even on regular
shapes with royal icing becomes redundant."
---Wedding Cakes and Cultural History, Simon R. Charsley [Routledge:New York] 1992 (p. 24-25)
More from Ms. Vercoe:
"Plastic icing. Gone are the days when the knife bent dangerously before piercing the cake and fear clutched the heart of the
'cutter', wondering if indded, dynamite would be a better substitute to break the cement-like covering strongly defying all
efforts to slice neatly. The plastic icing and other fondants used today are easily handled, and give a smooth, dull, satin-like
surface which is a delight upon which to work. This icing remains soft to the bite for long and indefinite periods and is use
mainly for covering 'special occasion' cakes of a denser nature, usually fruit cake. Plastic icing should never be used to cover a
sponge as there is insufficient stability in the cake to support it."
---Australian Book of Cake Decorating, Bernice Vercoe & Dorothy Evans [Paul Hamlyn:Sydney] 1973 (p. 11)
[NOTE: this book contains a recipe for Mixing Plastic Icing. If you would like a copy please let us know.]
"The [Wilton] school teaches the American, Lambeth and Australian styles of cake decorating. Classes also are given in chocolate artistry, pulled sugar, figure piping and cakes for catering.
The two-week basic cake-decorating course costs $500, while other courses range from three to five days and cost $150 to $300.
The American method--the decorating style first taught by Wilton --emphasizes buttercream, shell borders, swags and piped icing flowers. Australian techniques include rolled fondant coatings,
lace work and royal icing flowers, while the Lambeth, or continental, method uses ornate layers of piped-on icing for its rococo effects."
---"Cake Decorating School Remains at Core of Expanded Wilton Enterprises," Phyllis Magida, Chicago Tribune, Apr 30, 1987 (p. 4)
"Last week's listing of summer cooking courses in the city inadvertently omitted Rose Levy Beranbaum at Cordon Rose, 110 Bleecker Street, Apartment 7D, New
York 10012. 475-8856. Dessert Baking and Cake Decorating 11 begins June 8. The cost for six sessions is $270. Miss Beranbaum studied at Ecole LeNotre in
France. Her course includes several LeNotre desserts, such as Gateau a la Brioche, Genoise, Dacquoise, rolled fondant, marzipan roses, royal icing flowers and ice
cream."
---"Cooking School Summer Class," New York Times, Jun 3, 1981, (p. C.16)
Australian recipe & instructions, circa 1956
Fondant Icing To Cover 1lb. Cake
Sift 3 lb. of icing sugar into bowl. Add 2 egg whites, 2 tablespoons glycerine 1/2 lb softened glucose. Beat with a wooden spoon until a stiff mixtuer. Turn out on board sifted with icing sugar. Knead until a workable paste and quite smooth. Colour if desired. Flavour with a few drips of almond or lemon essence. Stand over night. When covered and set decorate lightly with Royal Icing...To Cover Cake With Fondant Icing
Roll icing 1/4in. thick on sugared board. Wrap round rolling pin. Damp surface of cake as directed. Unroll paste over surface. Press on till perfectly smooth and hand dipped in icing sugar. Damp sides of cake as directed. Cut paste rolled 1/4in. thick into strips wide enough to cover sides. Press same on. Stand overnight to get firm."
---The Schauer Australian Cookery Book, 11th edition [W.R. Smith & Paterson: Brisbane] 1956 (p. 598-599)
You can make your own rolled fondant or purchase it from a cake supply store.
Related foods? Opera creams & icing.
Fruit pastes and jellies likewise originated in this region, probably during the Middle Ages. These jellies evolved into a broad range of sweet treats including jams, marmalades, preserves and candies. Dried fruit pastes (also known as fruit leathers) were known in southern Europe as early as the 16th century. Recipes for fruit pastes traveled northward to England and from there, to the American colonies.
About dried fruits:
"With the exception of the citrus group, most fruits dry extremely well if left out in the hot sun and
dry air. The natural sugars in fruit are concentrated when moisture is removed. This made dried fruit
particularly attractive when sugar was not known and honey, then the most commonly used
sweetener, was not easily available. Originally fruits were dried until they had a hard, desiccated
surface, which acted as a valuable deterrent to insects, molds, and other sources of decay...We know
that the ancient Greeks loved to eat mashed dried figs mixed with honey and nuts with cups of strong
sweet wine...Traditionally they are washed with seawater and dried on the ground in the hot sun.
Dates, rich in energy-giving sugar, were regarded by many ancient cultures as sacred. They dry
perfectly in the desert sun and can be eaten fresh, fried, or ground into meal to make cakes. The
Romans also loved to eat chewy dried foods. They grew to many varieties that Lucius Columella,
the first-century author of De Re Rustica, declared they were too numerous to catalog...But in cooler,
wetter England, the climate made sun-drying fruit so difficult that indoor drying with ovens or fires
was the only alternative. Apples...pears, and plums, could be dried whole over a period of days in
cooling bread ovens, but handling them too much meant they burst of split before they were dry.
Instead, apples were most commonly sliced in rings, threaded onto strings, and then hung up in the
kitchen or dried on the stillroom stove."
---Pickled, Potted and Canned: How the Art and Science of Food Preserving Changed the World,
Sue Shephard [Simon & Schuster:New York] 2000 (p. 40-42)
"Ripe soft fruits were lesss easy to candy whole. A recipe of 1587 told how to preserve all kind of
fruits, 'that they shall not break in the preserving of them' by laying them between layers of sugar on
a flat platter, coving them with a dish, and steaming them over a boiling pot. Later it was more usual
to boil the fruits briefly in sugar syrup, and then reduce the latter to a thick consistency before
pouring it over them in glass or stoneware jars...Candied fruits, together with other dry and wet
sweetmeats, were set ont in little dishes at the banquet of Tudor and Stuart days, and thereafter were
eaten as dessert at the end of the second course. They were also offered as refreshments to callers
at other times of day. The dry sweetmeats included thick peach or quince marmelades divided into
separate lumps, punted with moulds and sugared; pastes of fruit juice and sugar, similarly printed;
and dandied fruit chips. Stiff jellies were made from strawberries, raspberries or mulberries crushed
in a mortar with sugar, boiled with water, rosewater and isinglass and sieved. They were boxed and
would keep all year."
---Food and Drink in Britain From the Stone Age to the 19th Century, C. Anne Wilson [Academy
Chicago:Chicago IL] 1991 (p. 353-4)
"Apricot leather and Turkish delight are among the fruit pastes that have survived into modern
confectionery, especially in Europe, where they are more popular. Except for slight differences in
technique involved with varying fruits, the recipes differ little...In English and French cookbooks,
Genoa is often credited with recipes for fruit paste. Actually, they were much older; the Arabs, and
the Persians before them, had been making them for centuries. In Europe, however, Italy early
became preeminent in pastry and confectionery and quite likely confectioners came to England from
Genoa, bringing the art with them. (The Arabs first brought the art of working sugar to Spain); one
may speculate that early refugees from the Inquisition, who are known to have fled to Genoa, may
have been responsible for this center."
---Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats, transcribed by Karen Hess
[Columbia University Press:New York] 1981 (p. 294, 296)
Historic dried fruit/fruit leather recipes:
[1653]
"Dry Apricots.
Drain them, and turn them into ears, or in round, then bestrew them with sugar in powder, and dry them in a stove."
---The French Cook, Francois Pierre, La Varenne, Englished by I.D.G. 1653, introduced by Philip and Mary Hyman [Southover Press:East Sussex] 2001 (p. 230)"Paste of Apricots.
Take them very ripe, and pare them; then put them in a pan without water, and stir tem often with a scimmer untill they be very dry. Take them off the fire, and mix them with as much sugar sod into a Conserve as you have of paste."
---ibid (p. 236)[1694]
"To make Apricock Chips.
Take your apricocks pared & ston'd, & cut every one into 8 pieces, & take to a pound of apricocks a pound of sugar & half a pint & two spoonfulls of water, beaten very well with the white of an egg. Wett your sugar with some of the water & when it begins to boyl throw in the rest by a spoonfull at a time, not too fast, stirring it not att all. When it is enough take it off the fire & take off the scumm; sift the sugar very fine, then take the apricocks & put them to the sugar. Let them boyle a little & scum them, then take them up one by one and lay them in a basin & pour the liquor upon them, scalding hot. So lett them stand two days and two nights, then lay them on a haire seive & let them draine twelve hours, then take them off & put them on a pie-plate & sett them in an oven just warm, sifting sugar on them."
---The Receipt Book of Mrs. Ann Blencowe, facsimile 1694 edition [Polyanthos:Cottonport LA] 1972 (p. 9)"To dry Apricotts like prunelloes.
Take a pound of Apricotts, stone them, pare them & strew a quarter of a pound of beaten sugar over & under them. When tis dossolv'd set it over a slow fire to boyl: as they begin to boil, scum & turn them; if any begin to break take them out till the ye [the] rest are enough, then put them into syrup again; ye next day beat them again, & set them to dry on a sieve that ye syrup may run from them. Then crack ye stones & blanch them & put them in. And then put them into a stove or oven that is but warm. Turn them on plates till they are as dry as prunelloes, then dip a cloth in warm water & pott them with it, that they may not be clammy, & then dry them again a little. Between every row you put your gallipots, put a paper dip't in water & clapt dry again, & tye them down close with dry paper. Keep them in a place that's dry but not hot."
---ibid (p. 26)[1753]
"To dry Apricocks.
Take a pound of apricocks, a pound of double refined sugar; stone them, pare them, and put them into cold water; when they are all ready, put them into a skillet of hot water, and scald them till they are tender; then drain them very well from the water, and put them in a silver bason; have in readiness your sugar boil'd to sugar again, and pour that sugar over your apricocks; cover them with a silver plate, and let them stand all night; the next day set them over a gentle fire, and let them be scalding hot, turning them often; you must do them twice a-day, till your see them begin to candy; then take them out, and set them in your stove or glasses to dry, heating your stove every day utll they are dry."
---The Complete Housewife or Accomplish'd Gentlewoman's Companion, E. Smith, facsimile 15th edition, originally published in 1753 [T.J. Press:London] 1968 3(p. 202-3)[1769]
"To make Apricot Paste
Pare and stone your apricots, boil them in water till they will mash quite small. Put a pound of double-refined sugar in your preserving pan with as much water as will dissolve it, and boil it to sugar again. Take it off the stove and put in a pound of apricots, let it stand till the sugar is melted. Then make it scalding hot, but don't let it boil. Pour it into china dishes or cups, set them in a stove. When they are stiff enough to turn out put them on glass plates. Turn them as you see occasion till they are dry."
---The Experienced English Housekeeper, Elizabeth Raffald [1769], with an introduction by Roy Shipperbottom [Southover Press:East Sussex] 1996 (p. 119)[18th century]
"112. To make paste of apricocks and pear plums.
Take a pound of Apricocks or pear plums, & put them between 2 dishes with a little rosewater & let ym [them] boyle till they be tender. Then strayn them, & dry them on a chafing dish of coles. Then take as much sugar as they weigh, being boyled to candy height; put them together & stir it, & fashion it on a pie plate in what fashions you pleas. Then stove them, & keep them when they are dry for yr [your] use."
---Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats, transcribed by Karen Hess [Columbia University Press:New York] 1981 (p. 294)
[NOTE: Other fruit paste recipes in this book include peach, raspases (raspberries), gooseberries, pippins (apples), quinces, cherries, oranges and lemons. If you would like to see all of these recipes ask your librarian to help you find a copy of this book.[1839]
"Peach leather.
Take freestone peaches, that are ripe and sweet; pare them, mash them to a pulp after taking out the stones, and weigh it. Break up as many peach kernels as will flavor it to your taste, pound them to a paste, and mix it with the peach pulp. Weigh your sugar, allowing half a pound to every pound of peaches; break it up, put it into a preserving kettle with a very little water, boil and skim it, and then put in your peach pulp; simmer it at least thirty minutes, stirring it very well, and then spread it out in a smooth coat on dishes, and expose them to the sun till dry, turning them over once a day. Sprinkle over each piece a little powdered cinnamon and grated lemon, roll them into a scroll, and keep them in a dry place, exposing them occasionally to the air."
---Kentucky Housewife, Mrs. Lettice Bryan, facsimile reprint 1839 edition [Image Graphics:Paducah KY] (p. 347-8)[1847]
"Peach leather.
Take a peck or two of soft freestone peaches, pound them, pass the pulp through a coarse sieve, and to four quarts of pulp add one quart of good brown sugar; mix them well together, and boil for about two minutes; spread the paste on plates, and put them in the sun every day until the cakes look dry, and will leave the plates readily by passing a knife round the edges of the cakes; dust some sugar over the rough side, and roll them up like sweet wafers. If kept in a dry place they will continue sound for some months. If the weather is fine, three days will be enough to dry them."
---The Carolina Housewife, Sarah Rutledge, facsimile reprint of 1847 edition [University of South Carolina:Columbia] 1979 (p. 159)
Want to make fruit leather? Modernized instructions for Medieval Arab Quince paste are published in Barbara Santich's Original Mediterranean Cuisine(p. 170-171). Contemporary instructions for "modern" fruit leather here!
Related confections? Fruit jellies, jams & preserves, jelly beans & Turkish delight.
While the history of sweet compact confections (with or without nuts) is ancient, the fudge we Americans enjoy today (especially of the chocolate variety) is a relative newcomer. American confectioners introduced modern fudge to resort-area vacationers in the 1880s. Mackinac Island (Michigan) is particularly known for this confection. Early recipes for home-made fudge are more closely related to early 20th century cake icing than other confections. One of the primary differences between professional and amateur fudge is the equipment. Professionals employed huge marble tables to work their confections into the right consistency. Home cooks (& Ivy League co-eds) simply poured their mixed indredients directly into baking pans and let them cool.
What is fudge"
"Fudge. A semisoft candy made from butter, sugar, and various flavorings, them most usual being
chocolate, vanilla, and maple. The candy was first made in New England women's colleges. The
origins of the term are obscure. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests it may be a
variant of an
older word, "fadge," meaning "to fit pieces together." "Fudge" had been used to mean a hoax or
cheat since about 1833, and by midcentury "Oh, fudge!" was a fairly innocuous expletive. It has
long been speculated that American college women, using candymaking as an excuse to stay up
late at night, applied the then-current meaning to the new candy...The word "fudge as a candy
first showed up in print in 1896, and by 1908 was commonly
associated with women's colleges, as in "Wellesley Fudge,"..."Divinity fudge" with egg whites
and often, candied cherries, came along about 1910 and was especially popular during the
holidays. The name probably referred to its "divine" flavor."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar Friedman:New
York] (p. 135)
[NOTE: The Irish recipe for "fadge" makes an apple potato cake. It was traditionally served on
the feast of Samhain (Halloween).]
"The addition of dairy products [to Scottish tablet] was a development which contributing more
than must flavour...This is exploited by fudge, a confection which relies on similar ingredients
and principles to tablet, but is richer, softer and requires a slightly lower temperature. On
first tasting, the similarities seem overwhelming, both in flavour...and general textures. It is easy
to assume that they share a common origin; but the derivation of the name fudge and the origins
of the sweet are both obscure. Fudge as now understood seems to have travelled east to Britain
from North America. Anecdotal evidence links it to women's colleges in the laste nineteenth
century, and most early recipes include chocolate. It is possible that Scottish migrants took the
idea of milk-based tablet to North America. Whether these were influenced by fudge-like
mixtures of brown sugar and nuts from Creole cuisine of the southern states is unclear. Fudge
appears to have been taken up by confectioners and large companies some years later.
Skuse, who actively collected formulae, including North American ones, did not give one for
fudge in the early editions of his Confectioners Handbook, but recipes first appear in
British books in the first decade of this century."
---Sugar-Plums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of
Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect Books:Devon] 2004(p. 72)
"Fudge, which denotes a sort of soft, somewhat toffee-like sweet made by boiling together sugar,
butter, and milk, is a mystery word. It first appeared, in the USA, at the end of the nineteenth
century, when it was used for a kind of chocolate bonbon', and by 1902 the journal The
Queen was recording that the greatest "stunt" among college students is to make
Fudge. It is generally assumed to have been an adaptation of the verb fudge, in the
sense make inexpertly, botch. But this merely begs the question, as the origin of the verb, too,
is uncertain."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 133)
It is quite likely enterprising co-eds found "alternative" ways to melt store-bought chocolate/cocoa (Baker's, Hershey's), adding whatever ingredients they had on hand, to approximate the semi-soft, delicious confections they tasted on family holiday. Their concoctions probably tasted pretty good. Where there's a will, there's a way.
Most recipes are not invented, they evolve. Compare this recipe for "chocolate caramel"
with those below for "fudge":
[1884] Chocolate Caramels
"One cup of molasses, half a cup of sugar, one quarter of a pound of chocolate, cut fine, half a cup of milk, and one heaping tablespoonful of butter. Boil all together, stirring all the time. When it hardens in cold water, pour into shallow pans, as it cools cut in small squares."
---Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Mrs. D. A. Lincoln [1884] [Dover Publications:Mineola NY] 1996 (p. 390)
Two of the earliest recipes we have for [homemade] fudge are these:
[1893] Fudges
"Four cups granulated sugar; one cup cream; one cup water; one-half cake chocolate; one-half cup butter. Cook until it just holds together, then add two teaspoonfuls extract of vanilla and pour into pans, not buttered. When cool enough to bear finger in, stir it until it no longer runs. It should not grain, but be smooth. Cut into squares."---From Mrs. J. Montgomery Smith, of Wisconsin, Alternate Lady Manager
---Favorite Dishes: A Columbian Autograph Souvenir Cookery Book, Carrie V. Schulman, facsimile edition, introductions by Reid Badger and Bruce King [University of Illinois Press:Chicago] 2001 (p. 197)[1896]
"Vassar girls not only indulge freely in 'sweets' of every known variety, but they get up new recipes whenever their sated palats demand a change. The following is the reicpe for 'fudge,' the latest confectionery dainty:
Two cups of sugar, one cup of milk, a piece of butter one-half the size of an egg, and a teaspoonful of vanilla extract. The mixture is cooked until it begins to get grimy. Then it is taken from the fire, stirred briskly and turned into buttered tins. Fudge may be eaten hot or cold, but it is never so truly delicious as when, at the witching hour of midnight, it is first removed from the gas jet or alcohol lamp and served on bits of cardboard, or portions of a manicure set, bubbling hot, to a group of maidens in night attire."
---"'Fudges' Are Vassar Chocolates," Los Angeles Times, May 11, 1896 (p. 2)[1903]
Fudge
4 ounces of chocolate
2 cups of sugar
1 teaspoonful of vanilla
1/2 cup of milk
1 rounding tablespoonful of butter
Put the sugar, butter, chocolate and milk in a saucepan over the fire until thoroughly melted. Boil, stirring constantly, until the mixture hardens when dropped into cold water; take from the fire, add the vanilla, and turn quickly out to cool. When cold, cut into squares."
---Mrs. Rorer's New Cook Book, Sarah Tyson Rorer [Arnold and Company:Philadelphia] 1902 (p. 629)[1929]
"The name fudge is applied to a large group of candies made of sugar boiled with water, milk, or cream, from 230 degrees F. To 238 degrees F., and stirred or worked with a paddle until candy becomes firm. If stirred while still hot, the resulting candy is coarse and granular. To prevent this, the syrup should be cooled in the saucepan in which it is cooked, or poured out upon a marble slab, platter, or agate tray that has been slightly moistened with a piece of wet cheesecloth. It should not be disturbed until cool. It should then be stirred with a wooden spoon, or worked with a spatula forward and lifting up the mass, turning it over and bringing it back, until the whole begins to get stiff. At this stage, turn into a pan, or, better still, leave the candy between bars on wax paper on a board, regulating the size of the open space according to the amount of candy and the thickness desired."
The Candy Cook Book, Alice Bradley [Little Brown:Boston] 1929 (p. 49)
[NOTE: this book contains the following recipes recipes for fudge: chocolate, cocoa, sour cream, chocolate acorns, chocolate Brazil nut, chocolate marshmallow, chocolate walnut, condensed milk, cream nut, plum pudding, sultana, caramel, cocoanut, cocoanut cream, coffee, coffee cocoanut, fruit, ginger, marshmallow, maple marshmallow, maple chocolate, maple nut, praline, maple cream, walnut maple, pecan maple, orange, peanut butter, raisin, raspberry, vanilla, nut, vanilla opera, rainbow, maraschino opera, orange flower opera, pistachio, orange opera, genessee, brown sugar (penuche), fig penuche, fruit penuche, marshmallow penuche, pecan penuche, peanut penuche, Postum penuche (with instant Postum cereal), raisin penuche, double fudge (I & II), divinity, sea foam, Grapenuts divinity (also a cereal), cream mints, cherry puffs, nut puffs, and pineapple puffs.
Motto rock
The edible form of motto relates to a confection or candy. They originated in Great Britain and were also popular in the
USA in the 19th century. Conversation Hearts are the modern interpretation.
Motto Wafers are not edible. They are archaic stationery products.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines motto thusly:
"Motto 4. U.S. A sweet wrapped in fancy paper together with a saying or short piece of verse. See also motto candy n., motto kiss n. at Compounds 2. Cf. cockle n.2 4. Obs.
1835 Southern Lit. Messenger 1 358, I only ate..a few macaronies and mottoes.
1856 F. S. Cozzens Sparrowgrass Papers iv. 42 And that lady..went home with her pocket well stuffed with mottoes.
1860 North-West (Port Townsend, Washington) 5 July 3/3 Candies, Gum drops, Mottoes....
motto candy n. U.S. (now rare) = sense 4.
1857 Harper's Weekly 28 Mar. 196/2 Here is the list..a glass jar with nameless candies rolled up in ladies' curl papers; similar jar with lemon drops;..1 bottle of motto candies.
1886 Harper's New Monthly Mag. 72 625/1 Many groups of lads and lasses..exchanged notes, threw one another motto candies, and even kept up conversations
in under-tones."
"Kissing comfits , as detailed by Robert May in 1685, were sugar paste containg musk, civet, ambergris, and orris powder.
These were printed in moulds or rolled
into little pellets and then squeezed flat with a seal...The combination of sugar and mottoes continued, Hannah Glasse gave instructions 'to make little things of sugar,
with devices in them. These were made from the pieces of sugar paste, tinted whatever colour was preferred, 'in what shapes you like...in the middle of them have
little pieces of paper, with some pretty smart sentences wrote on them; they will in company make much mirth.' But the writing migrated from paper to the sweet
itself with the Victorian fashion for 'conversation lozenges'. Those who were tongue-tied could always offer their companion a little piece of sugar paste printed
with some suitable inscription. 'How do you flirt?' "Can you polka?' and 'Love me' were amongst those available from Terry's in York; for those wanting to make a
really positive response, a large medallion moulded with a heart and the words 'I will' was available. Another novelty was reminiscent of Hannah Glasse's little
things with devices in them. As advertised by the firm of Thomas Handisyde in the East End of London, these were 'Handisydes Secret Charms suck carefully and
the secret message will appear'. Handisyde produced various shapes and sizes of conversation lozenges, the larger ones cut in hearts, circles, and elegant oblongs
with ogee edges. The temperance movement used the idea of motto lozenges to promote their message. 'Drink is the ruin of man'...The inscriptions were added to
the sweets by printing the tops with stamps dipped in dyes."
---Sugar Plums and Sherbet: The Preshistory of Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect Books:Devon] 2004 (p. 146-147)
Motto Rock instructions, Skuse's Complete Confectoner [1890s].
Opera fudge
Opera fudge is one of many delicious culinary specialties connected with Lebanon, PA. This
fondant candy is a seasonal treat, traditionally made from Thanksgiving to Easter (it melts in the
hotter months). In other parts of the country these candies are called opera drops [Boston], french creams, and opera
caramels. Cincinnati's famous Opera Creams are a chocolate-coated fondant.
Why "opera?"
There are several theories explaining why these candies are connected to the opera, none of them
conclusive:
"Rueppel isn't sure why it's called opera fudge but doesn't think it has anything to do with fat
ladies, at least not the singing kind. ''I think it's because it's a real rich fudge,'' Rueppel said. ''The
opera is something rich - at the top - like opera fudge.''
---"Sugarm Cream, Chocolate--Of Course It's Good," Steve Stephens, The
Columbus Dispatch, February 28, 1994 (p. 8c)
"Opera drops were chocolates with vanilla cream filling, kind of conical, haystack shaped. You
would by them at intermission at the opera. There was a British brand called Between the Acts
that you could buy at Bailey's in Boston."
---Dictionary of American Regional English, Frederick G. Cassidy & Joan Houston Hall,
volume III (p. 890)
"Fondant...A variety of fondant which had cream amongst its ingredients was popular in the late
19th and early 20th centuries under the name of 'Opera Caramels'."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
312)
The name "opera" seems indeed to be a 20th century invention, evidenced by the fact that Skuse's Complete Confectioner [an important industry text, London: 1898?] makes no reference to them. Skuse's also does not use the word "fudge."
Opera creams, Cincinnati style
There is no question confections called "Opera Creams" are a Cincinnati specialty, extending to southern Illinois and western
Pennsylavania. Our culinary history sources confirme these confections existed in the early 20th century but do not specifically credit Papas (or any other person/place)
with the invention of this candy. In fact, most foods are not invented. They evolve. Why are they called "Opera?"
[1905]
"Opera Creams
These are beginning to outdo fudge in popularity. Melt together slowly three fourths cup of milk, two cups of sugar, and two squares of chocolate; then boil for three or four minutes, flavor and put in a cold place. The pan should not be touched for at least an hour or until it is absolutely cold. Then beat until it becomes resistant and creamy. Drop into cournd balls on paper.-[L.E.G., Vassar College.]"
---"Dormitory Favorites," Christian Advocate, August 3, 1905; 80,31; American Periodicals (p. 1242)
[NOTE: This article cites Good Housekeeping as the source of this recipe.][1913]
"Opera Creams.
Into two cups granulated sugar stir enough milk to dissolve it; add one-quarter teaspoon cream of tartar and put over slow fire. Stir constatnly while boiling, until a little dropped in cold water is like putty. Pour into pans and set aside until cold and firm; beat to a soft doughlike mass, knead, lay on a sugared pastry board, roll into a sheet one-half inch thick, and cut into squares."
---"Marion Harland's Helping Hand: Opera Creams," Marion Harland, Chicago Tribune, September 16, 1913 (p. 13)[1924]
"Opera Creams
Melt together three-fourths cup of milk, two cups sugar, two squares chocolate. Boil three or four minutes, flavor and set in cool place until absolutely cold, then beat until it becomes creamy. Drop into balls on waxed paper."
---Carbondale Cook Book, prepared by the Young Lady Workers of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Carbondale, PA, 7th edition, revised and enlarged [International Textbook Press:Scranton PA] 1924 (p. 193)[1929]
"Opera Bonbons. Color and flavor as desired small portions of Opera Fondant. With the hands shape in small balls, putting a piece of nut, cherry, or marshmallow in the center of each ball. Melt another portion of Opera Fondant in a double boiler over hot water, stirring constantly. Add half a teaspoon of vanilla, and drop centers one at a time in the fondant. Remove with candy dipper or two-tined fork to waxed paper. When enough white bonbons have been made, add a little pink or green color paste and raspberry or almond extract to taste to the melted fondant. Dip more of the centers, stirring the fondant, and reheating it if it becomes too stiff. Then add to remaining fondant one square melted chocolate, and dip remaining balls. In this way a great variety of attractive bonbons may be produced. Other flavors and colors may be used for greater variety, and tops may be decorated with small pices of nuts or cherries if desired. The centers may also be dipped in melted coating chocolate. White Fondants 1, II , or III may be used instead of Opera Fondant."
---The Candy Cook Book, Alice Bradley [Little, Brown:Boston] 1929 (p. 98-99)[1931]
"Chocoalte Dipt Opera Creams..."
---display ad, Putnam's, American Israelite [Cincinnati OH], November 19, 1931
"Vanilla Opera Fudge.
2 cups sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1/8 teaspoon cream of tarter
1/2 teaspoon vanillaPut sugar and cream in a saucepan, stir until it dissolves, add cream of tartar, and boil, stirring carefully to prevent burning, to 238 degrees F., or until candy forms a soft ball when tried in cold water. Move thermometer often, that candy many not burn underneath. Pour on marble slab, agate tray, or large platter which has been slightly moistened with a damp cloth, and leave until cool. With broad spatula or butter paddle work the candy back and forth until it becomes creamy. It may take some time, but it will surely change at last if it was boiled to the right temperature. Cover with a damp cloth for half an hour, then add vanilla, working it well with the hands. Press into a small shallow box lined with wax paper, let stand to harden, then cut in squares. Other flavors may be used instead of vanilla, and the candy be tinted with color paste to correspond. Sometimes the fudge is divided into several portions, each flavored and colored differently, and pressed into a box of thin layers, then cut in squares when hard. Or each portion may be packed separately to give more variety when arranged on a bonbon dish."
---The Candy Book, Alice Bradley [Little, Brown:Boston] 1929 (p. 67)[1931]
"Chocolate Opera Fudge
Put three squares of bitter chocolate in to a saucepan and set it over warm water; when melted add alternately and gradually two cupfuls of sugar and one cupful of medium cream, also one teaspoonful of corn syrup and a pinch of salt. Boil to 230 deg. Fahr. Pour on marble slab, let cool slightly and work like fondant. When it can be handled knead till creamy and flavor with a little orange extract, then shape into little balls and let crust."
---"Requested Recipes," Marian Manners, Los Angeles Times, November 30, 1931 (p. A7)
The connection between professionally manufactured candy products and military campaigns is an interesting and persistent phenomenon. Gibraltar Rock took its name from the Battle of Gibraltar, 1607. During World War II, American confectionery companies were crafted hard candies shaped like guns, soldiers and tanks.
"Halvah...A confection of mashed sesame seeds and honey. Halvah is of Turkish origin and was
first sold in America at the turn of the century by Turkish, Syrian, and Armenian street
vendors...The candy soon became a favorite of the Jewish immigrants in New York, and today
halvah is still associated with Jewish delicatessens, even though one of the most popular
commercial brands still depicts a turbaned Turk on its wrapper. The word was first printed in
1840."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York]
1999 (p. 148)
One of the primary ingredients of halva is sesame seed. These seeds were known to ancient cooks and incorporated into many recipes.
"Sesame...one of the first oil-yielding plants to be taken into cultivation, in Egypt or the Near
East. Wild species with one exception, are African; but there is a secondary source of diversity'
in India, where sesame was introduced in very early times. The name sesame is one of the few
words to have passed into modern languages from ancient Egyptian, in which it was sesmt."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
713)
MEDIEVAL RECIPES
"Halwa Al.
Two pounds of sugar, half a pound of bees' honey, half a bound of sesame oil and four ounces of starch. Stir it middling fine [one the fire until it takes consistency, then spread it on a smooth tile]. Put four ounces of sugar on it, and three ounces of finely pounded pistachios, and musk and rose-water: Spread this filling on it, then cover it with another cloak of halwa and cut it up into triangles. It is as delicious as can be. If you wish, make the filling into meatballs like luqma [luqmat al-qadi], and cover it was the mentioned halawa, and it is saciniyya."
---Medieval Arab Cookery: Essays and Translations, by Maxime Rodinson, A.J. Arberry & Charles Perry [Prospect Books:Devon] 2001 (p. 456)"Halwa Yabisa.
Dissolve sugar in a cauldron. On every two pounds of it put two pounds of honey and a quarter of a pound of rose-water, and cook it on a quiet fire until it is chewy in the mouth. Leave it a little while, and throw it on a smooth stone tile and knead it with about two ounces of crushed peeled almonds or pistachios. Leave it until it cooks, and take it up. If you want, feed it with them [the almonds and pistachios], and add hazelnuts and toasted chickpeas. It comes out nice. If you want, colour it with a little saffron before it comes off the fire. You might ound the almonds fine and mix them with it, and you might take it form the tile and beat it on an iron peg pounded into the wall until it turns white and knead it with the peeled pounded pistachios. Make it into cakes and geometrical shapes [tamathil] and so forth. You might colour it while it is on the fire, either with saffron or cinnabar, whichever colour you want. There is a kind kneaded with toasted sesame seeds or poppy seed, and it made into tamathil as we did before."
---ibid (p. 455)
[[NOTE: This source contains several halwa recipes. Your local public librarian will be happy to help you obtain a copy.]Hulwa recipe with modern instructions, Cariodoc's Miscellany
Joseph Dommers Vehling's tranlsation of Apicius [1-3rd century AD] contains an glossary item for horehound, but no recipes specifically titled such.
A sampler of early recipes:
[15th century Italy] "Book III, 42. On Horehound Horehound is what the Greeks call prachion because of its bitterness, and it is numbered by them in the first rank of herbs. When its seeds and leaves are ground, they are effective against snakes. They settle pains of the chest or side or coughs. Castor tells of two kinds of horehound, black, which he approves more, and white. From either, when they are chopped fine and mixed with flour, tidbits are made which we eat for health at the first course, after they have been fried in oil in a pan. They are believed to get rid of worms, and for this reason they are often served to children."
---On Right Pleasure and Good Health, Platina [originally published in the 15th century], critical edition and translation by Mary Ella Milham [Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies:Tempe AZ] 1998 (p. 205, 207)[17th century England]
"For the phthisic.
...take horehound, violet leaves, and hyssop, of ech a good handful, seethe them in water, and put thereto a little saffron, liquorice, and sugar candy; after they have boiled a good while, then strain it into an earthen vessel, and let the sick drink thereov six spoonful at a time morning and evening..."
---The English Housewife, Gervase Markham [originally published 1615], edited by Michael R. Best McGill-Queen's University Press:Montreal] 1994, Chapter 1, recipe 88 (p. 23)[18th century America]
"246. To Make Sirrup of Horehound.
Take hore hound, 2 handfulls; coltsfood, one handfull; time, penny royall, & callamint, of each 2 drams; licorish, one ounce & a halfe; figgs & raysons of the sun, of each 2 ounces; anny seeds & fennell seeds, of each a quarter of an ounce. boyle all these in a gallon of faire water till it comes to a pottle or 3 pintes, then strayne it & take 3 pound of sugar & 3 whites of eggs & clarefy with liquor, & soe boyle it to a sirrup."
---Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery, transcribed by Karen Hess [Columbia University Press:New York] 1981, Booke of Sweetmeats, (p. 376)
The earliest print references we find for horehound candy in American cookbooks are from the 19th century:
[1845] Houskeeper's Assistant, Ann Allen
Horehound candy[1857] Great Western Cookbook, Anna Collins
Horehound candy[1864] Complete Confectioner, Eleanor Parkinson
Horehound candy[1896] Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Fannie Merritt Farmer
Horehound candy[1929]
"Horehound Candy
1/2 ounce dried horehound
1 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Put water and horehound, which may be procured of a druggist in one-ounce packages, in a saucepan and let stand one minute. Strain through double cheesecloth; these whould be half a cup of liquid. To liquid add sugar and cream of tartar, and stir until mixture boils. Wash down crystals from sides of saucepan with a butter brush dipped in cold water, and boil to 300 degrees F., or until it is very brittle when tried in cold water. Remove at once from the fire, and pour into buttered pan one fourth inch thick, or pour between candy bars. As soon as it cools a little, loosen it from the pan, and mark in small squares. Go over the marks with a knife until candy is cold, then break with the hands. Pack in air-tight jar, and keep in a cool place, or wrap in wax paper."
---The Candy Book, Alice Bradley [Little, Brown:Boston] 1929 (p. 130-131)
Laura Mason, Britsih confectionery history expert, briefly mentions 'horehound taffy' in the late 1890s. She does not offer an exact date/place/person credited for making the first batch. (Sugarplums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets, Prospect Books:Devon 2004, p. 183)
White Horehound/M. Grieve [1931]
Black Horehound/M. Grieve [1931]
Why the name?
"Hoarhound, or Horehound: a bush plant of the mint fmaily native to the south of Europe and
Eastern countries, growing about a foot high, and with round, wrinkled, almost hairy ("hoary")
leaves, which contain a bitter principle and volatile oil of aromatic but not very agreeable smell.
It is used as a flavor for candy and also in medicinal syrups for its curative properties for coughs
and other affections."
---The Grocer's Encyclopedia, Artemas Ward [New York] 1911 (p. 301)
Modern definitions:
"The word "jelly" derives from the Middle English, geli, and ultimately from the Latin gelare, "to freeze."..."Jam"
differs from jelly in being made with fresh or dried fruit rather than juice and has a thicker texture..."Preserves"
differ from jams and jellies by containing pieces of the fruit."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 171)
Jelly (fruit)
The fundamentals jellying process was known in ancient times. These techniques migrated from the Middle West to
Europe with Crusaders and evolved with technological advancements and new ingredients.
Commercial gelatins
The manufacture of food-grade gelatin (aka gelatine) traces back to the 18th century. Denys Papin's Digester machine
was the forerunner of the modern pressure cooker. One of the items he experimented on was gelatin-based
portable soup. The first modern American patent was granted to Peter Cooper, in 1845. Mr. Cooper
did not set out purposely to *discover* dessert gelatine. He was more interested in glue.
"In 1754, the first English patent for the manufacture of gelatin was granted...Unflavored, dried gelatin
became available in 1842 from the J and G Company of Edinburgh, Scotland...In America, in 1845, Peter
Cooper, inventor of the steam locomotive, secured a patent for a gelatin dessert powder called Portable
Gelatin, requiring only the addition of hot water. The same year, the J and G Company began exporting its
Cox Gelatin to the United States. The new formulas never gained much popularity, however, and as late
as 1879 when the classic Housekeeping in Old Virginia was published, editor Marion Cabell Tyree, while
admitting that jelly made of calves and hogs was "more troublesome," claimed it was more nutritious than
Cox's or Nelson's desiccated formulas. Plymouth Rock Gelatin Company of Boston patented its Phosphated
Gelatin in 1889. In 1894, Charles Knox introduced granulated gelatin, making the brand something of a
household word. This opened the way for the plethora of American recipes that gained popularity..."
---Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, Solomon H. Katz, editor in chief [Charles Scribners:New York] 2003,
Volume 2 (p. 104-5)
"[Peter] Cooper took out the first U.S. U.S. patent for a gelatin dessert in 1845. It described "a transparent
concentrated or solidified jelly containing all the ingredients fitting it for table use...and requiring only the
addition of a prescribed quantity of hot water to dissolve it."...Cooper also invented a gelatin "eagle" to help
time the gelatin-making process...Knox, Cox (of Scotland), and other companies were already making
other kinds of convenience gelatin products. But sheet and shredded gelatin still had to be soaked, and
sometimes cooked and strained as well."
---Jell-O: A Biography, Carolyn Wyman [Harcourt:New York] 2001 (p. 3)
[NOTE: The Jell-O museum is in LeRoy, NY. We have been there. Very
cool place!]
Other jelling agents: Isinglass & Carageen.
Related confections? Marmalade, jelly beans,
fruit leather & Turkish delight.
"[in the 16th century]The majority of these fruit sweetmeats were available in two guises. They could be wet, swimming in rich syrup, stored in jars
and eaten with a spoon or (later) fork. Or they could be dry, in lumps or little chips, coated in sugar and kept in boxes between
thick sheets of paper...There were other fruit sweets devised in the medieval period, the ancestors of multi-coloured modern
fruit jellies. The names for these sweets make them sound more like breakfast or teatime delicacies, but it is necessary to
forget the modern meanings of these words for a moment. Take marmalade. Today, this is a jam-like condiment made of oranges and
sugar, semi liquid and flecked with strips fo peel...But the name is derived from the medieval Portuguese marmelada, a stiff
paste that was cut in slices rather than spread. The word derives from the Portuguese marmelo, or quince, since this fragrant
yet knobbly item was originally the favoured fruit for preserving, and it became the term used by the mid sixteenth century
to describe all kinds of fruits preserves, not glutinous and syrupy as they are today, but stiff enought to be made into
individual sweets if so desired...It is possible that the technique of naking thse marmalades and other conserves, by boiling up
equal amounts of fruit pulp and sugar in water, was inherited from the Levant, where confectioners were skilled at melding fruit with
sugar largely because of the ubiquity of sherbet...The main ingredients of sherbet were sugar syrup or sugar candy--in Turkey
a dark pink substance called gul sekeri--and any one of scores of fruit juices and pulots...However, a seventeethn-century visitor
to Turkey described this base sherbet flavour not as a liquid but as a type of fruit paste. And Francis Bacon, writing in 1626,
notes: "They have in Turkey and the East certaine Confections, which they call Servets [sherbets], which are like to Candied
Conserves and...these they dissolve in Water, and therof make their Drinke...'...Stiff fruit fruit jellies, coated in sugar, as well
as wobbly ones for the pudding table, were greatly in favour during the eighteenth century, when the thickening agent used was
sometimes isinglass...Another type of conserved fruit sweetmeat persists as the unappetisingly named 'leather', thin layers of
fruit paste, made of fruit and sugar in equal parts...This leather is known as armadine in the Middle East..."
---Sweets: A History of Temptation, Tim Richardson [Bantam Books:London] 2002 (p. 128-132)
"Jelly beans are a combination of the Middle Eastern fruit-gum candy Turkish Delight and the
seventeenth-century method of coating Jordan almonds. The production of jelly beans has
changed little since the candy was first developed in the late nineteenth century...The date of the
introduction of the jelly bean is in dispute, but the earliest known published mention of the candy
was October 2, 1898, in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. By the turn of the century, jelly beans were
popular, selling for nine to twelve cents per pound, and by the 1930s they had become associated
with Easter."
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford
University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 1 (p. 182)
"As with many other sweets, mass-production and cheapness banished the magic. They have become slicker, from techniques for glazing
the surface with edible waxes. They have become more yielding, as 'soft panning' evolved, using glucose syrup in place of sugar
syrup required for old-fashioned hard comfits, and relying as much on air currents as on heating to dry the sweets. Jelly beans are
the best example: developed in the USA, these spread eastwards to Europe, together with chewing gum (the varieties of this which have
crisp little sugar shells are also panned)."
---Sugar Plums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect Books:Devon] 2004 (p. 132-3)
Related confections? Fruit leather, Turkish delight & jujubes.
"Some gum-based sweets remain recognizably close to the original opaque confections once made from sugar paste. But a second strand,
exploiting gums as transparent setting agents for sugar syrup, was evident by the early nineteenth century. Precidents came from fruit swets...which
relised on pectin and sugar to make them set...By 1820, when Jarrin gave this recipe, clear gum and sugar sweets were being made under
the name of jujubes: 'Jujube Paste. 1 pound of Gum Senegal, half bound of Sugar, Orange Flower Water, Take a pound of gum senegal,
pound and dissolve it in orange flower water...put it on a slow fire to reduce, and keep stirring it; when it is of the consistence
of paste, clarify half a pound of loaf sugar, boil it do a blow, and add it to your paste...dry it to a good consistence;
run it into moulds of tin about a quarter inch thick, and place them in a stove. When dry, take out the paste and cutr it into small
pieces, or any shapes you please.' Jubube paste, he added, 'is in great vogue in France, and on the continent as a medicine for
coughs and colds...Jujubes were apparently popular as cough-cures throughout the nineteenth century..."
---Sugarplums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect Books:Devon] 2004 (p. 140-141)
"Jujubes. Confections of sugar syrup and fruit flavourings, set with a high proportion of
gum, and falling into the general category of fruit gums and fruit losenges, often with a
medicinal application, e.g. good for sore throats. Jujubes have been made since at least
1830 when Gunter wrote in his Confectioner's Oracle that "Jujubes are very much in
vogue abroad,--but it would be exceedingly difficult to say wherefore.:-they are at best
very little better than a sweetish sort of India-rubber!!"
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999
(p. 423)
"Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba). Also, "Chinese date." The fruit of an Old World tree having
dark red skin and yellowish flowers. The term, which comes from the Middle English
iuiube, also applies to several varieties of candies that are fruit-flavored and chewy,
though not necessarily similar in taste to the jujube fruit. A commerically produced candy
called "Jujubes" (which probably took its name from the ju-ju gum that gave the tiny
morsels their chewy texture) came on the American market sometime before 1920 and
was followed by "Jujyfruits," which were shaped like candy berries, in 1920. Both
candies are produced by the Heide company of New Jersey."
---Encyclopedia of American Encyclopedia Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 173)
Eleanor Parkinson's instructions for Jujube gum & Jujube paste [1864]
Jujyfruit brand candy is a trademark owned by Henry Heide (an American candy manufacturer). According to the records of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, Jujyfruits were introduced to the American public in 1925. Record here:
"Word Mark JUJYFRUITS Goods and Services IC 030. US 046. G & S: CANDY. FIRST USE: 19250000. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19250000 Mark Drawing Code (5) WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS IN STYLIZED FORM Serial Number 71516075 Filing Date January 21, 1947 Current Filing Basis 1A Original Filing Basis 1A Registration Number 0435900 Registration Date January 13, 1948 Owner (REGISTRANT) HENRY HEIDE, INCORPORATED CORPORATION NEW YORK NO. 313 HUDSON STREET NEW YORK NEW YORK Assignment Recorded ASSIGNMENT RECORDED Type of Mark TRADEMARK Register PRINCIPAL Affidavit Text SECT 12C. SECT 15. Renewal 2ND RENEWAL 19880113 Live/Dead Indicator LIVE"
Related confections? Fruit leather & jelly beans.
[1827]Related confection? Lollipops.
"No. 71.--Of Drops. The drop is composed of aromatic refined sugar only; it requires much care and cleanliness in the making. Take double refined sugar, and pound and sift it through a hair sieve, not too fine to obtain a large grain; then sift it through a silk sieve, to take out all the fine dust, which would destroy the beauty of the drop, as this takes away its transparency, and prevents its shining. The sugar being thus prepared, put it into a very clean pan, and moisten it with any aromatic you choose, as rose-water, &c.; pour in the rose-water slowly, stirring it with a spaddle; you will know whether the sugar be moist enough, if, on taking up some on the spaddle, it falls off without sticking to it. You may colour the sugar if you please with a small quantity of liquid carmine, or any other colour ground very fine, and made very smooth by moistening it with water only: the lightest colours are best. Take a pan with a lip...and fill it about with paste, and place the pan on a small stove, the half hole being the size of the pan; stir the sugar with a little ivory or bone spaddle, till it becomes liquid; when you see it about to boil, take it from the fire, and continue to stir it; if it be too moist, take a little of the powdered sugar, (which you should reserve for the purpose when you begin), and add a spoonful to your paste, and keep stirring it till it be of such a consistence as to run without extending itself too smooth; take the little pan in your left hand, and hold it in your right a bit of iron, copper, or silver wire, four inches long, to take off the drop from the lip of the pan,and let it fall regularly on the tin-plate; two hours afterwards you may take off the drops with the blade of a knife.""No. 82.--Lemon Drops. Use the essence of lemon, made by rubbing the lemon on a piece of loaf-sugar, and scraping it into your paste: this is better than any other essence.."
---The Italian Confectioner; Or, Complete Economy of Desserts, William Alexis Jarrin, facsimile 1827 edition on-demand reprint [ISBN 9 781146 199803] (p. 37-38, 40)
"Licorice. The Greek word glykyrrhiza, meaning "sweet root," gave rise to the Latin name...for
licorice, which is the condensed juice from the roots of this Old World plant. A native of the
Middle east, licorice was employed by the ancient Egyptians in medicinal preparations. Today, it
is used in candy, to flavor liquors, and in the manufacture of tobacco. It addition, there is
American licorice, G. Lepidota, a wild licorice of North America with roots that were cooked by
Native Americans, who also nibbled on the raw roots as a treat."
---Cambridge World History of Food, Kenneth F. Kiple & Kriemhild Conee Ornelas
[Cambridge University Press:Cambridge] 2000, Volume Two (p. 1802)
"Liquorice, aromatic root native to southern Russia and central Asia. Liquorice was familiar in the
classical Mediterranean and had medicinal uses. In particular, sweet protropos wine, whether
Scybelite or Theran, formed the basis of a medicinal wine in which liquorice was an ingredient,
according to Galen. It was also an ingredient in a compound which was used for doctoring young
wine to give it age: Damegeron supplies a recipe. By late Roman times liquorice was grown
plentifully in northern Anatolia."
---Food in the Ancient World From A to Z, Andrew Dalby [Routledge:London] 2003 (p.
197)
"Liquorice (or licorice), Glycyrrhiza glabra, a small leguminous plant whose thick roots, up to
about 1 m (40") long, and inderground runners contain a very sweet compound called
glycyrrhizin. In its pure form this is 50 times sweeter than ordinary sugar; but the plant also
contains bitter substances which partly mask the sweet taste. The name liquorice' is a corruption
of the original Greek name glycorrhiza, meaning sweet root', which is also an old English
name.The plant, in one form or another, grows wild in parts of Asia and southern
Europe...Cultivation in western Europe seems to have begun on a significant scale in the 16th
century...Liquorice was used as a flavouring and colouring in a number of sweet foods including
gingerbread; in stout and other dark beers. However, it is probably in confectionery that liquoirce
has found its most extensive and attractive culinary use....[a] traditional British liquorice
confections goes by the name of Pontefract cakes, or Yorkshire pennies, little shiny black
liquorice sweets...made in Pontefract, in Yorkshire, which has been the centre of
liquorice-growing in England for many centuries. The origins of liquorice growing in Pontefract,
popularly
attributed to the monks of a local monastery, are unknown. However, liquorice was being grown
there on a large scale by the mid-17th century..."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford Universtiy Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
455)
[NOTE: this source site to sources for further study. Ask your librarian to help you track them
down.]
"Liquorice...is the pungent root of a small European plant of the pea family. It was used as a
flavouring in ancient times...and has been known in Britain since at least the early thirteenth
century, introduced via Spain from the Arabs. In medieval times and up until the seventeenth
century it was commonly used, either whole or ground up, for flavouring cakes, puddings, drinks,
etc...Nowadays, however, it is far more familiar in the form of a black sweet, made from the
evaporated juice of the liquoice root. Earliest examples of this include the pontefract cake, a
small disc-shaped pastille of liquorice, but over the past 60 or 70 years a far more varied
repertoire of liquorice sweets has emerged, including the liquorice bootlace...[and] liquorice
allsorts."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p.
191-2)
19th century liquorice
"Liquorice and Liquorice Root. Liquorice is a long and creeping root, procured from a plant of
the pod-bearing tribe. It is cultivated in England, but is a native chiefly of Spain and of Southern
Europe. The extract of the root is known as "black sugar," "stick liquorice," "Spanish juice," or
"hard extract of liquorice." It forms the basis of several kinds of lozenges, and is added generally
to soothing drinks. It is employed, as every one knows, as a demulcent remedy in coughs and
other complaints. Even when used in considerable quantitiy it does not disorder the stomach, or
even create thirst like common sugar."
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations [Cassell, Petter, Galpin &
Co.:London] 1875? (p. 382)
"Liquorice. The black mass which comes on the market in rolls is the boiled juice of the liquorice
plant which grows in all parts of the world. It is most commonly done up in sticks, is dry and
brittle, and to be soluble in water it should be pure. It is adulterated to such and extent that the
pure article is scarce. A mixture of a little of the juice with the poorest kind of gum arabic, starch
and flour, is what is generally put on the market for liquorice. Its principal use is in medicine, and
it is extensively used in the manufacture of tobacco and liquors, especially to give color and flavor
to porter and brown stout."
---The Grocers' Hand Book and Directory for 1886, Artemas Ward [Philadephia Grocer
Publishing Company:Philadelphia] 1886 (p. 95)
The 1911 edition of this book makes only a passing mention of licorice as candy.
Related confections? Dolly mixtures/licorice allsorts & jujubes & Horehound candy.
Why are lollipops generally considered a child's candy? Some theorize the stick made lollipops safer for children to consume (think: hard candy choking hazard). After WWII, savvy banks stocked lollipops to encourage family visits.
"Sugar candy...both the etymology of the term sugar candy and the methods given in early
recipes for making it indicate an ancient origin. Sugar candy can be traced back through Persian
quand to Sanskrit khanda, maning sugar in pieces. The fact that the word has such an ancient
derivation shows just what a desirable and uncommon item sugar candy was as it travelled from
culture to culture."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999
(p. 768)
"When sugar first became known in Europe it was a rare and costly commodity, valued mainly for
its supposed medicinal qualities and finding its place in the pharmacopoeia of the medieval
apothecary...Sugar gradually became more widely available in Europe during the Middle Ages. In
Britain it was considered to be an excellent remedy for winter colds. It might be eaten in the form
of candy crystals...or it might be made into little twisted sticks which were called in Latin penida,
later Anglicized to pennets. The tradition of penida survives most clearly in American stick candy
which is similarly twisted and flavoured with essences supposed to be effective against colds, such
as oil of wintergreen."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999
(p. 210)
"Lollipop. The word lollipop is first recorded in 1784, in a January issue of the
London Chronicle...At this stage...lollipops were simply sweets (a meaning the
abbreviated lolly retains in Australia and New Zealand), and it does not seem to have
been until the early twentieth century that they gained their now quintessential
characteristic, the stick...As for the origin of lollipop itself, that is not altogether clear;
the explanation usually given is that it was based on lolly an obsolete northern
[English] term for the tongue (so called because it lolls' out.)"
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002
(p. 193)
"Lollipop...The term lolly is an 18th century-century one for mouth, so a lollipop was
something that one popped into one's mouth. It did not necessarily mean a sweet with a
stick, as became usual later. A few old-fashioned boiled sweets sold by British
confectioners are still called lollies though they are stickless....In the USA the other
end of the word (pop) has been used as the bais for the...term popsicle."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford]
1999 (p. 459)
"Lollipop. A hard candy attached to a stick usually made of rolled paper (1785). It is a
favorite children's snack and has been so since it was introduced in England in the
1780s. The name comes from an English dialect word, "lolly," "tongue," and the "pop" is
probably associated with the sound made when the candy is withdrawn from the
mouth."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 188)
Instructions for making these sweets are included in professional confectioners' texts. There were special machines for achieving perfect shapes and inserting the sticks. Skuse's Complete Confectioner [London:1890s] has several recipes for boiled sugar [hard] candies. Most of these were shaped as sticks, drops, rocks, and balls. They came in a variety of flavors and colors. There is no mention of inserting sticks into any of these creations. There is also a small section devoted to "boiled sugar toys." These candies were shaped with molds. According to Skuse, animal shapes were very popular. There is also instruction for making three-dimensional [hollow] candy whistles.
The earliest "recipe" for lollipops [with a stick] we have is from 1918/1919:
"All day suckers or loulopops.
This is an old-time piece which has lately come into favor once more. It is more or less a wholesale piece, but is simple to make if the small shop has a sucker machine. It is made as follows: 10 pounds sugar, 10 pounds corn syrup, 1 quart water. Cook to 290 degrees F., then pour out on a slab. Fold in edges and use work up bar...Color and flavor to suit then spin in strips 1 1/4 inches thick and feed into sucker machine."
---Rigby's Reliable Candy Teacher, W. O. Rigby, 19th edition, [USA] 1918/1919? (p. 194)"Lolly Pops.
Make Barley Sugar or Butterscotch Wafer mixture, pour onto oiled marble slab, cook slightly, roll up like jelly roll, toss back and forth until cool enough to handle, cut off with scissors in pieces one and one half inches long, and insert stick in one end. With palm of hand press into shape. Wrap in wax paper."
---The Candy Cook Book, Alice Bradly [Little Brown:Boston] 1929 (p. 136)
Related candies? Rock candy & Lemon drops.
"Marmalade, in Britain, refers to a jam-like preserve made from the bitter, or Seville, orange. The inclusion of the orange peel, cut into thin 'chips' or shreds, is
characteristic of this preserve. 'Marmalades' based on other citrus fruits, such as lime or lemon, are made as is ginger marmalade. However, orange marmalade is
perceived as the archtype (although not the prototype), and orange marmalade, with toast, is part of the 20th-century concept of the traditional English breakfast.
The evolution of marmalade is a complicated story...Marmelada was the Portuguese name for a sweet, solid, quince paste...This luxury good was imported to
Britain by the laste 15th cnetuy, to be used as a medicine or a sweetmeat. Clear versions were known as cotignac (France) or quiddony (England). Recipes for
quiddonies and thick quince marmalades of this sort are frequent in 16th- and 17th-century English cookery books. Lemons and bitter oranges had also been
imported to medieval and Tudor England. These...were pulped into stiff 'conserves' and were called, by analogy with the Portuguese product, 'marmalades'. They
were set in wooden boxes, or moulded in fancy shapes, to form part of the dessert or banquet course. Other fruits, such as camsons, apples, pears, and peaches
were also made into marmalades. All these marmalades were relatively solid confections, to be cut into slices and eaten from the fingers, not at all like moderrn
marmalade. The 18th century saw a new developement; finely cut peel, the precursor of the modern product. There is a strong traditional belief that Sctoland was
responsible for the creation of the new jellied orange marmalade. If some of the tales told in support of this belief tax credibility, never mind, it 'feels' right. At this
time marmalade was still percieved as a suitable item for dessert in England; but Scottish recipes for the mid-18th century used a higher proportion of water, giving
a 'spreadable' consistency. In fact marmalade does appear to have been used as a breakfast spread at a much earlier date in Scotalnd than in England. Meanwhile
, and well into the 19th century, thick quice marmalades continued to appear in recipe books, so at this time the term 'marmamalde' was used in a wider range of
senses than it is now...It was during the latter part of the 19th century that jams...became the subject of a rapidly growing industry, mainly because sugar became
much cheaper. Bread and jam became a cheap source of noursihment for the working classes. And marmalade received a boost, since the jam factories could
produce orange marmalade in winter at not much greater cost than that of jams made with home-grown fruits during the summer. Marmalade...had more of a luxury
image than jam, and was exported to be used on breadfast tables throughout the British Empire...The range of differnt marmalades now being made in Britain,
including some based on combinations of several citrus fruits, dark and light ones, chunky ones, and some with just slivers of peel in a clear jelly...is vast..."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidsion [Oxford Univeristy Press:Oxford] 2nd edition, 2006 (p. 483)
"The word marmalade originally signified 'quince jam.' It comes via French from Portuguese marmelada, a derivative of marmelo, 'quince'. This in turn goes
ultimately to melimelon, a Greek term, meaning literally 'honey-apple', which was applied to the fruit of an apple gree grafted on to a quince...In the fifteenth and
early sixteenth centuries such quince preserve was known in English as chare de quince or chardecoynes...but in 1524 we find the first referernce to marmalade, in
an account of the presentation of 'one box of marmalade' to the king by a certain 'Hull of Exeter'. Throughout the sixteenth century its main ingredient appears to
have remained quince, but the seventeenth century saw a sudden diversity, with fruits such as plums, damsons, and even straweberries and dates being used for
marmalade (at this time citrus fruits preserved in sugar was still generally called succade...In 1767, Hannah Glasse gave a recipe for 'marmalade of cherries', and as
late as 1845 Eliza Acton in her Modern Cookery for Private Families was giving directions on how to make a 'marmamade'. As this last phase implies, marmalade
was from earliest times not the soft spreadable confection of today, but a firm sweetmeat that could be cut with a knife, and was eated as part of the dessert course
of a meal. The use of citrus fruits for marmalade seems to have begun in the seventeenth cnetury, and in the middle of that century we find the first references to the
addition of sliced peel. But it is not really until the middle of the nineteeth century that this ingredient had so ousted all others that it became safe to assume that
marmalade meant, essentially, 'orange marmalade'...In other European languages, such as French and German, the word still means generally 'jam' or 'preserve'...
but the notion of 'citrus preserve' has become so firmly ensconced in English that in 1981 and EC edict declared that the term marmalade could not be applied to
a product made other than with oranges, lemons, or grapefruit."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 203-4)
Recomemnded reading: The Book of Marmalade/C. Anne Wilson
[1747]
"Orange Marmalade. Take the best Seville Oranges, cut them in Quarters, grate them to take out the Bitterness, put them in Water, which you must shift twice or thrice a Day for three Days; then boil them, shifting the Water till they are tender, then shred them very small, them pick out the Skins and Seeds from the Meat which you pulled out, and put it to the Peel that is shread; and to a Pound of that Pulp take a Pound of double-refined Sugar. Wet your Sugar with Water, and boil it up to a candy Height, (wth a very quick Fire) which you may know by the dropping of it; for it hangs like a Hair; then take off the Fire, put in your Pulp, stir it well together, then set it on the Embers, and stir it till it is thick, but let it not boil. If you would have it cut like Marmalade, add some Jelly of Pippins, and allow Sugar for it."
---The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, Hannah Glasse, facsimile 1747 edition [Prospect Books:Devon] 1995 (p. 152)
[NOTE: Mrs. Glasse also provides recipes for White Marmalade and Red Marmalade, both made with quinces.][1829]
"Scotch orange-chip marmalade.--Take equal weight of fine loaf-sugar and Seville oranges. Wipe and grate the oranges, but not too much. [The outer grate boiled up with sugar will make an excellent conserve for rice, custard, or batter puddings.] Cut the oranges the cross way, and squeeze out the juice through a small sieve. Scrape off the pulp from the inner skins, and pick out the seeds. Boil the skins till perfectly tender, changing the water to take off part of the bitter. When cool, scrape the coarse, white, and thready part from the skins, and trussing three or four skins together for despatch, cut them into narrow chips. Clarify the sugar, and put the chips, pulp, and juice to it. Add, when boiled for ten minutes, the juice and grate of two lemons to every dozen of oranges. Skim and boil for twenty minutes; to and cover when cold. --Obs. There are variou ways of making this favourite marmalade. The half of the boiled skins may be pounded before they are mixed; and if the chips look too numerous, part of them may be withheld for pudding-seasoning. The orange-grate, if a strong flavour is wanted, may either be added in substance, or infused, and the tincture strained and added to the marmamalde when boiling. Where marmalade is made in large quantities for exportation, the various articles are prepared and put at once into a thin syrup, and boiled for from four to six hours, and potted in large jars. Orange-marmalade bay be thinned, with apple-jelly, or when used at breakfast or tea, it may be liquefied extmpore with a little tea."
---Cook and Housewife's Manual, Mistress Margaret Dods, facsimile 1829 edition [Rosters Ltd.:London] 1988 (p. 434-5)
[NOTE: Mrs. Dods also provides recipes for Smooth orange-marmalade, Transparent orange marmalade, Lemon marmalade, Apple marmalade, and Apricot and plum jam marmalade.][1845]
"Genuine Scotch Marmalade. Take some bitter oranges, and double their weight of sugar; cut the rind of the fruit into quarters and peel it off, and if the marmalade be not wanted very thick, take off some of the spongy white skin inside the rind. Cut the chips as thin as possible, and about half an inch long, and divide the pulp into small bits, removing carefully the seeds, which may be steeped in part of the water that is to make the marmalade, and which must be in the proportion of a quart to a pound of fruit. Put the cups and pulp into a deep earthen dish, and pour the water boiling over them; let them remain for twelve or fourteen hours, and then turn the whole into the preserving pan, and boil it until the chips are perfectly tender. When they are so, add by degrees the sugar (which should be previously pounded), and boil it until it jellies. The water in which the seeds have been steeped, and which must be taken from the quantity apportioned to the whole of the preserve, should be poured into a hair-sieve, and the seeds well worked in it with the back of a spoon; a strong clear jelly will be obtained by this means, which must be washed off them by pouring their own liquor through the sieve in small portions over them. This must be added to the fruit when it is first set on the fire. Oranges, 3 lbs.; water, 2 quarts; sugar, 6 lbs. Obs.--This receipt, which we have not tried ourselves, is guaranteed as an excellent one by the Scottish lady from whom it was procured."
---Modern Cookery for Private Families, Eliza Acton, facsimile 1845 edition [Southover Press:East Sussex] 1993 (p. 438)
[NOTE: Mrs. Acton also provides recipe for apple, apricot, bargerry, Imperatrice plum, orange (Portuguese receipt), clear (author's receipt), peach, pineapple (a new receipt), quince and quince & apple marmalades.][1861]
Mrs. Beeton's Book of Cookery: (no. 1502) & (no. 1566 et seq)
"Marshmallows or Guimauves are a form of sweetmeat for which the confectioner is indebted to
the pharmacist. The original Pate de Guimauve was a pectoral remedy. It was made, as the name
implies, from a decoction of marshmallow root, with gum to bind the ingredients together, beaten
egg white to give lightness and to act as a drying agent, while sugar was incorporated to make the
whole palatable. Marshmallow has come down to us basically unchanged except that it no longer
contains extract of marshmallow. The marjority of marshmallows are made with egg albumen and
gelatin, some are made with all of one and none of the other..."
---Skuse's Complete Confectioner, 13th edition [W.J. Bush & Company:London] 1957
(p. 145)
"Marshmallows are one of the earliest confections know to humankind. Today's marshmallows come in many forms, from solid...to semi-liquid---to the creme-like or as an ice cream topping. Originally...marshmallows were made from the rood sap of the marsh mallow (Althaea officinalis) plant. It is a genus of herb that is native to parts of Europe, north Africa, and Asia. Marsh mallows grow in marshes and other damp areas...The first marshmallows were made by boiling pieces of the marsh mallow root pulp with sugar until it thickened. After is had thickened, the mixture was strained and cooled. As far back as 2000BC, Egyptians combined the marsh mallow root with honey. The candy was reserved for gods and royalty.
Modern marshmallow confections were first made in France around 1850. This first method of manufacture was expensive and slow because it involved the casting and molding of each marshmallow. French candy makers used the mallow root sap as a binding agent for the egg whites, corn syrup, and water. The fluffy mixture was heated and poured into the corn starch in small molds, forming the marshmallows. At this time, marshmallows were still not mass manufactured. Instead, they were made by confectioners in small stores or candy companies.
By 1900, marshmallows were available for mass consumption, and they were sold in tins as penny candy. Mass production of marshmallows became possible with the invention of the starch mogul system of manufacture in the late 19th century...
In 1955, there were nearly 35 manufacturers of marshmallows in the United States. About this time, Alex Doumak, of Doumak, Inc., patented a new manufacturing method called the extrusion process. This invention changed the history of marshmallow production and is still used today. It now only takes 60 minutes to produce a marshmallow. Today, there are only three manufacturers of marshmallows in the United States, Favorite Brands International (Kraft marshmallows), Doumak, Inc. and Kidded & Company."
A sidebar to the information contained in this books (written by Donna R. Bearden) adds:
"In the early 20th century, marshmallows were considered a child's confection, dispensed as penny
candy at general stores along with licorice whips and peppermint drops. But through a fortuitous
connection with other popular foods and some clever marketing, marshmallows would soon
become a staple ingredient at pot-luck dinners, family get-togethers, and even elegant parties....A
perusal through twentieth-century cookbooks and recipe booklets reveals that marshmallows
usually served as an ingredient in cakes, candies, and desserts....Perhaps the greatest distinction
for marshmallows occurred as a result of their advantageous connection with gelatin salads and
desserts, which rose in popularity during the 1920s and 1930s. Recipe booklets for Jell-O and
Knox Gelatin from that time include recipes that called for marshmallows on almost every
page--recipes like banana fluff, lime mallow sponge, cocoa tutti frutti, and paradise pudding."
---How Products are Made Volume 3, Krapp & Longe, editors[Gale:Detroit] 1994 (pages
276-277).
Early 20th century commercial marshmallow packaging & pricing. Campfire Marshmallow package, 1930.
More on the medicinal properties of marshmallows, A Modern Herbal, Mrs. M. Grieve [1931].
Marshmallow recipe evolution
[Ancient & Medieval Rome]
Ancient marshmallows were classed as medicine, not candy. Instructions for preparing the plant for human consumption most likely first appeared in medical texts and herbals. Platina's "On the Seasoning of Mallow" (On Right Pleasure, Book IV, section 8 [1475]) extols the healing qualities of mallow but does not provide a recipe for making it. If you want to make modern marshmallows using mallow plants check these recipes.[1864]
Pastes formed with gum Complete Confectioner, Eleanor Parkinson (uses gum arabic are real marsh mallow plant roots).[1875]
"Marshmallow.This is a wholesome plant, and very palatable when boiled, and afterwards fried with onions and butter. In seasons of scarcity, the inhabitants of some of the eastern countries often have recourse to it as a principle article of food.""Marshmallow water. A concoction of marshmallow is effacacious in the cure of severe coughs, catarrhs, &c. Cut the roots into thin slices, and pour over them boiling water (about a pint to an ounce of the root), cleansing and peeling off the outer skin before infusion. The water may be flavoured with the squeezed juice and grated rind of an orange, and sweetened with honey or brown sugar-candy. Marshmallow leaves are eaten dressed like lettuce, as a salad. Time, two hours to infuse."
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations [Cassell, Petter, Galpin:London] (p. 410)[1908]
Marshmallows.--Cover an ounce of carefully picked gum arabic with 4 tablespoonfuls of water, and let stand for an hour. Heat the gum in a double boiler until it is dissolved. Strain through cheese cloth and while in about 3 1/2 ounces of Confectioners' XXX sugar. Place on a moderate fire and beat for 3/4 of an hour, or until it comes to a stiff froth. Remove from the fire, beat 2 or 3 minutes while cooling and stir in 1/2 teaspoonful vanilla. Dust a tin pan with cornstarch, pour in the marshmallow, dust cornstarch over the top and set aside to cool. When cold cut into squares with a knife dipped in cornstarch, roll the squares in the starch and pack away in tin or other tight boxes."
---Household Discoveries: An Encyclopedia of Practical Recipes and Processes, Sidney Morse [Success Company:New York] (p. 538)[1923]
Toasted marshmallows
1 tablespoon granulated gelatine
1 cup boiling water
1 cup sugar
whites 3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Macaroons
Dissolve gelatine in boiling water, add sugar, and a soon as dissolved set bowl containing mixture in pan of ice water; then add whites of eggs and vanilla and beat until mixture thickens. Turn into a shallow pan, first dipped in cold water, and let stand until thoroughly chilled. Remove from pan and cut in pieces the size and shape of marshmallows; then roll in macaroons with have beeen dried and rolled. Serve with sugar and cream."
---Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, Fannie Merritt Farmer [Little Brown:Boston] (p. 523)
[NOTE: This book also has recipes for marshmallow cake with marshmallow cream (icing), marshmallow chocolate cake, marshmallow frosting and marshmallow gingerbread. Marshmallow hot chocolate recipe instructs the cook to place inexpensive marshmallows-- "they melt more quickly"--in the bottom of a cup and pour the hot chocolate over them!.][1935]
Marshmallows
As a rule it is better and less costly to purchase marhsmallows than to try to make them. Here, however, is a recipe should you desire to make them: Soak three ounces of gum arabic in one cupful of water for two hours, cook in a double boiler until dissolved. Strain, return to saucepan, and add one cupful of powdered sugar; stir until stiff and white. Add one teaspoonful of vanilla, beat it in and pour the mixture into pans which have been rubbed over with cornstarch. Cut in squares when cold and roll in cornstarch and sugar, in the proportions of three parts cornstarch to one of sugar."
---Cooking Menus Service, Ida Baily Allen [Doubleday:Garden City] (p. 796)
[NOTE: This book has instructions for making a marshmallow doll (p. 799), and recipes for marshmallow cream (cake filling), marshmallow cream sauce, marshmallow fondant icing, marshmallow frosting, marshmallow fruit sauce, marshmallow fudge, marshmallow icing (uncooked), marshmallow layer cake, marshmallow lemon cake and marhsmallow pumpkin pie.]
Recipe for Marshmallow sweets
Make sure the mallow roots aren't moldy or too woody.
Marshmallow gives off almost twice its own weight of mucilaginous gel when placed in water.
4 tablespoons marshmallow roots
28 tablespoons refined sugar
20 tablespoons gum arabic
Water of orange flowers (for aroma or instead of plain water)
2 cups water
1-2 egg whites, well beaten
Make a tea of marshmallow roots by simmering in a pint of water for twenty to thirty minutes. Add additional water if it simmers down. Strain out the roots. Heat the gum and marshmallow decoction (water) in a double boiler until they are dissolved together. Strain with pressure. Stir in the sugar as quickly as possible. When dissolved, add the well beaten egg whites, stirring constantly, but take off the fire and continue to stir. Lay out on a flat surface. Let cool, and cut into smaller pieces.
(Recipe from Herbal Medicine by Diane Dincin Buchman, Ph.D.)Syrup of Marshmallows, The Complete Confectioner, Eleanor Parkinson [Lippincott:Philadelphia] 1864 (p. 23)
Pate de Guimauve
(Pate de guimauve was the French confection made from the roots.)
Take of decoction of:
marshmallow roots 4 ounces;
water 1 gallon.
Boil down to 4 pints and strain; then add
gum arabic 1/2 a pound;
refined sugar 2 pounds.
Evaporate to an extract; then take from the fire, stir it quickly with:
the whites of 12 eggs previously beaten to a froth;
then add, while stirring.
Marshmallow cream/creme
The general concensus of the food history sources is that Marshmallow Fluff was the first
marsmallow creme to
be manufactured and marketed on a large scale to the American public.
"Is Fluff the same as Marshmallow Creme?
Generically, they are the same, but Fluff is made by a costly, batch-whipping process. Creme is
whipped in a continuous mixing process. The differing results are quite evident." (
Durkee &
Mower).
Prior to that marshmallow creme-type products were made by cooks at home. Many late 19th century marshmallow paste recipes produced solid foods. The first spreadable marshmallow creme recipes we find in American used store-bought marshmallows. This substance was used for cake filling.
The earliest mention we find of marshmallow creme in an American cookbook is from Fannie Farmer's Boston School Cook Book, 1896:
"Marshmallow cake.Ms. Farmer does not give a recipe for Marshmallow Cream in this book (perhaps an oversight?). She does give a recipe for Marshmallow Paste in the cake filling section:
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour
3 teasoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Whites 5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla.
Follow recipe for mixing butter cakes. Bake in shallow pans, and put Marshmallow Cream between the layers and on the top." (p. 427)
"Marshmallow pasteSarah Tyson Rorer lists this recipe in 1902:
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 marshmallows
2 tablespoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Put sugar and milk in a saucepan, heat slowly to boiling point without stirring, and boil six minutes. Break marshmallows in pieces and melt in double boiler, add hot water and cook until mixture is smooth, then add hot syrup gradually, stirring constantly. Beat until cool enough to spread, then add vanilla. This may be used for both filling and frosting." (p. 435)
"Marshmallow filling. Put a half pound of marshmallows and a quarter cupful of water in a double boiler over the fire. Stir until melted. Take from the fire and our while hot into the well beaten whites of two eggs. Add a teaspoonful of vanilla."Marshmallow roasts
---Mrs. Rorer's New Cook Book (p. 627)
"'Marshmallow roasts' are the newest thing in summer resort diversions. The simplicity of this form of amusement is particularly charming.
One buys two or three pounds of marshmallows, invites half a dozen friends, and that is all the preparation required. However a small
amount of kindling-wood must be taken along with which to build a small fire in an unfrequented spot on the beach, away from crowds unfamiliar with so
refined a species of entertainment. When the fire is blazing merrily, or better still, when it has died down to red embers, each member
of the party takes a sharpened stick and affixes upon the end of it a marshmallow. Simutaneously all those engaged hold their
marshmallows over the embers, as close as possible to avoid burning and roast dexterously, so as to brown the marshmallows nicely on all
sides. This requires some skill, because marshmallows are highly inflammable and will take fire if not very prudently handled. The...marshmallows...swell up
to considerable more their nomal size...They are a sort sublimated combination of candy and cake, all ine one bite, though the proper fashion
is to nibble the roasted marshmallow off the end of the stick. One set consumed, each person pokes the point of his wooden skewer
through another marshmallow and the performance is repeated until everybody's appetite is satisfied Marshmallow roasts are an excellent medium
for flirtation...appropriatly exhibited by nibbling the marshmallows of each other's sticks. Accordingly the idea is sure to grow in favor."
---"Marshmallow Roasts are the Fad," Asbury Park letter in N.Y. World, Chicago Daily Tribune, August 8, 1892 (p. 6)
Related foods? Scooter pies, Moon pies
& Mallomars, Nabisco Marshmallow Sandwich cookies (Nabisco) & s'mores.
According to the British food historians, marzipan can be placed in England at the end of the 15th century. This conclusion is drawn from documented print evidence. Certainly, words (as foods) enter a culture before they are recorded in print. If you are interested in a detailed discussion on the complicated history of the word "marzipan" ask your librarian to help you find "Venice and the Spice Trade," Medieval Arab Cookery, Maxime Rodinson, A.J. Arberry & Charles Perry [Prospect Books:Devon] 2001 (p. 211-3)
"Marzipan, a paste made from ground almonds, was orignally called marchpane in English--or
martspane, or mazapane, or marchpan. These were the best efforts English-speakers could make
at the word when it was borrowed, either via early modern French "marcepain" or from its
source, Italian "marzapane," at the end of the fifteenth century."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 206)
"Marchpane, or marzipan was a discovery of the later Middle Ages, dependent as it was upon the
union of ground almonds with sugar...One of the earliest uses for the paste was in
subtleties.
These were figures of men, animals, trees, castles and so forth made from sugar paste and jelly,
and placed before an admiring audience at the end of each course of a great medieval feast. Often
the figures had an allegorical meaning, and bore written mottoes appropriate to the occasion. The
subtleties varied from simple depictions of a gilded eagle, or a swan upon a green stork, carrying
mottoes in their bills, to such complexities as a portrayal of the Trinity in the sun of gold with a
crucifix in His hand attended by saints and the kneeling figure of the new Archbishop of
Canterbury, for whose enthronement feast the subtlety had been made. When they had been
sufficiently applauded they were dismantled and eaten.
In the fifteenth century a marchpane began to emerge as an object in its own right. And by
Elizabeth I's reign, when the subtlety was becoming archiaic, a marchpane was regularly
produced as the chief showpiece at the banquet or dessert course served to guests at the end of a
meal.
It was made of ground almonds and sugar on a base of wafer biscuits, and was formed into a
round (a hoop of green hazelwood somethimes helped shape it). Ye may while it is moist, strike
it full of comfits of sundry colours, in a comely order...The frosting of the marchpane with sugar
and rosewater to make it shine like ice was an important part of the preparation; and so was the
gilding with decorative shapes in gold leaf..."
---Food and Drink in Britain From the Stone Age to the 19th Century, C. Anne Wilson
[Academy Chicago Press:Chicago] 1991 (p. 336-7)
Recipes through time
[1660]Marchpane figured prominently in early wedding confections, according to Wedding Cakes and Cultural History, Simon R. Charsley (your librarian can help you find a copy of this book).
Marchpane, Accomplist Cook, Robert May[1660]
March-pane
"To make the best March-pane...lay it upon a fair Table, and strowing searft-sugar under it, mould it like leaven, then with a rolling pin role it forth, and lay it upon wafers, washt with Rose-water; then pinch it about the sides, and put it into what form you please, and so set it into a hot stove, and there bake it crisply, and serve it forth."
---The English Hous-Wife, Gevase Markham [1660], Book 2, (p. 93)[1753]
"To make March-pane
Take a pound of Jordan almonds, blanch and put to them three quarters of a pound of double refined sugar, and beat them with a few drips of orange-flower water; beat all together till tis a very good paste, then roll it into what shape you please; dust a little fine sugar under it as you roll it, to keep it from sticking. To ice it, searce double refined sugar as fine as flour, wet it with rose water, and mix it well together, and with a brush or bunch of feathers spread it over your march-pane: bake them in an oven that is not too hot; put wafer paper at the bottom, and white paper under that, so keep them for use."
---The Compleat Housewife or, Accompish'd Gentlewoman's Companion, E. Smith, facsimile 1753 edition [Literary Services and Production:London] 1968 (p. 173)"To make March-pane unboiled. Take a pound of almonds, blanch them and beat them in rose-water; when they are finely beaten, put to them a half pound of sugar, beat and searched, and work it to a paste; spread some on wafers, and dry it in an oven; when it is cold, have ready the white of an egg beaten with rose-water, and double refined sugar. Let it be as thick as butter, then draw your march-pane thro'it, and put it in the oven: it will ice in a little time, then keep them for use. If you have a mind to have your march-pane large, cut it when it is rolled out by a pewter-plate, and edge it about the top like a tart, and bottom with wafer-paper, and set it in the oven, and ice it as aforesaid: when the icing rises, take it out, and strew coloured comfits on it, or serve sweetmeats on it."
---ibid (p. 208)[1753]
"To make common March-panes.
Take a sufficent Quantity of Almonds, which are to be scalded in hot Water, blanched, and thrown into cold Water as they are done; then being wiped and drain'd, they must be beaten in a Stone Mortar, and moistened with the White of an Egg, to prevent their turning into Oil. In the mean while, having caused Half as much clarify'd Sugar as Paste, to be brought to its feathered Quality, toss in your Almonds by Handfuls, or else pour the boiling Sugar upon them in another Vessel: Let them be well intermixed, and the Paste continually stirred on all Sides. When it is done enough, it must be laid upon Powder-sugar, and set by to cool Afterwards, several Pieces of a convenient Thickness may be taken out, of which you are to cut your Marchpanes with certain Moulds, gently slipping them off with the Tip of your Finger upon Sheets of Paper, in order to be heated in the Oven only on one Side; that done, the other Side is to be iced over, and baked in like Manner; otherwise the Paste may be rolled out, or squeezed through a Syringe, and made curbed, or jagged, of a round, oval, or long Figure, in the Shape of a Heart, &c."
---The Lady's Companion, Sixth Edition, Volume II [London:J. Hodges] 1753 (p. 348)[1749-1799]
"To make Machpane Cakes.
Take almonds & blanch them in warme water, then beat them very fine in a stone morter and put in a little rose water to keepe them from oyling, then take the same weight in sugar as you doe of almonds, & mingle it with them when they are beaten very small & short, onely reserveing some of it to mould up the almonds with all. Then make them up in pritty thick cakes, & harden them in a bakeing pan. The make a fine clear candy, & doe it over you marchpanes with a feather. Soe set them in your pan againe, till the candy grow hard. Then take them out, & candy the other side. Set them in againe, & look often to the them. Keepe a very temperate fire, both over & u[nder them,] & set them in a stove todry."
---Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats, transcribed by Karen Hess [Columbia University Press:New York] 1981 (p. 322)
[NOTE: this book contains more marzipan recipes and a wealth of notes regarding marzipan/marchpane and period cooking. Your librarian will be happy to help you find a copy.]
Chinese almonds
"Nuts play a minor part in Chinese food...Most important are the kernels of apricots...Special varieties with uninteresting fruit are grown soley for their large, sweet,
nontoxic seeds, which are used as almonds are used in the West. True almonds are barely known and not normally used."
---Food of China, E.N. Anderson Yale University Press:New Haven] 1988 (p. 168)
What are "Jordan Almonds?"
Almonds yes, Jordan (the country) no. The practice of coating nuts and seeds for preservation purposes is
ancient. Think: Brittle. Colorful sugar-coated almonds surface in Medieval times and flourish in the "modern" era.
Recipes progressed via technology and time.
Why the name?
"The well-known varieties include Jordan (nothing to
do with the country of that name, but a corruption of the Spanish "jardin", meaning garden.)"
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
12)
"There are essentially two types of almond: bitter almonds, which contain prussic acid by can be used in very sparing quantities as
a flavoring, and ordinary eating almonds. Of the latter, Jordan almonds are probably the most highly regarded variety. Their long thin
shape may have inspired the comparison of oriental women's eyes to almonds. They have no connection whatsoever with Jordan (they are
mainly grown in Spain, in fact); their name is an alteration of Middle English jaren ('garden') almond."
---An A-Z of Food & Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 4-5)
"Of the important Shelled Almonds, the best known are the Jordan and Valencia, chiefly from Malaga, Spain. Jordan Almonds are
long and plump and pointed at one end...They are highly esteemed both as a dessert item and for confectionery purposes."
---Grocer's Encyclopedia/Artemas Ward [1911] (p. 20)
When were Jordan Almond trees introduced to the USA? 1901
"The Department of Agriculture has at last succeeded in securing some Jordan Almond trees, in the exportation of which has been
rigorously prohibited by Spain for some years. The Government will now experiment with the trees to determine the best localities
for growing them. This species of almond is regarded by the agricultural authorities as the finest in the world, but only its
fruit has heretofore reached this country, the trees having been jealously guarded in Spain. The bush has been forwarded here
by the Agricultural Department's agent, who is seaching in Spain for rare plants."
---"Jordan Almond Trees Exported," New York Times, October 2, 1901 (p. 5)
"For many years it has been the ambition of California almond growers to produce Jordan almonds in that State. They did not get
on very well with their first attempts, but recently a nursery company doing business at Alameda imported some almond trees
from France, where Jordan almonds are rarely found, and from one of these trees some very good specimens of what were supposed
to be real Jordan almonds were produced. In order to find out whether they were real Jordans, the nursery company sent samples
to the United States Consul in Malaga...the were unhesitatingly declared to be almondra larga, of the famous Jordan almonds
of commmerce, of fair medium grade. The taste seemed quite the same, and there is a very little difference in the shape. A
surprising feature of this incident lies in the fact that the almonds in question are said to have been grown on a tree imported
from France...The report from California and the result of my investigation would indicate...that Jordan almonds can now be grown in California.
If this be true, California growers probably will find the matter will be worth their attention, as both the demand and the prices
for Jordan almonds have steadily increased during recent years. The present price of these almonds for the popular grade
known as confectioners' is $3.75 per box of twenty-five pounds at Malaga."
---"California Able to Raise Jordan Almonds," Los Angeles Times, April 29, 1902 (p. 7)
Why are sugar coated almonds traditional wedding favors?
Sugar coated nuts, known in Renaissance times as comfits have long been proferred
as gifts. Until recently, sugar coated almonds were expensive. They were reserved for the finest banquets, especially
wedding feasts. Today's wedding favors typically featurehttp://foodtimeline.org/foodcakes.html#dragee Jordan almonds.
"The portability of comfits led to a gentler custom of handing them out as gifts. In 1702, Massailot mentioned placing on the
banquet table little baskets of dry sweetmeats decorated with ribbons: one for each guest, to be taken home and shared with the
family. it is echoed by the gift of 'favours', little bags of sugared almonds, to wedding guests in southern Europe. Not just wedding
guests: different colours of almond indicate different celebrations, a christening, an engagement, and anniversary (although some--
for instance graduations--may be inspired by modern marketing rather than long tradition)."
---Sugarplums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect Books:Devon] 2004 (p. 129)
"...sugared almonds, one of the oldest sweetmeats in history, do perhaps come from ancient Rome. Metz, Nancy, Paris, Verdun
and Toulouse are among the cities and towns of France famous for their sugared almonds. Earlier still, however, the Romans of classical
times distributed them at public and private ceremonies. Sugared almonds are mentioned amnong the gifts given to great men in accounts
of receptions...In fifteenth-century Cambrai, Marguerite of Burgundy, at her wedding to Guillaume IV of Hainault, wished to have
sugared almonds given 'to the common people by her comfit-maker Pierre Host...'"
---History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, translated by Anthea Bell [Barnes and Noble Books:New York] 1992 (p. 567-8)
"Mr. Salvatore Ferrara came to America from Nola, Italy, in 1900 and founded Ferrara Pan Candy Company in 1908. At the time of
his immigration from Italy, Mr. Ferrara was a confectioner, skilled in the art of making...sugar coated candy almonds. Sugar
coated candy almonds are otherwise knwon as "confetti" in Italy and other parts of Europe. These candy-coated almonds were also called
Jordan Almonds or almond dragees, and they continue to be a tradition at many weddings and celebrations. Early on,
then they were covered with white sugar, they were a candy that symbolized purity and fertility...From 1908 to 1919, the sugar
coated almond business grew. Mr. Ferrara was soon shipping his classic, always fresh and in-demand product all over the
Midwest."
---Candy: The Sweet History, Beth Kimmerle [Collector's Press:Portland OR] 2003 (p. 96)
Recipe, circa 1899:
"Prawlings, or Fried Almonds.--Take a pound of the best Jordan almonds, rub them very clean from the dust; take their weight in loaf sugar, wet it with orange flower water, and boil it to a syrup; then throw the almonds into it and boil them to a candy, constantly stirring until they are dry; then put them into dish and take away the loose bits and knobs which will be about them; put the almonds into the preserving pan and set them on a slow fire until some of their oil comes from them into the bottom of the pan."
---"Quaint Old Desserts," New York Times, May 28, 1899 (p. 23)
Related foods? Marzipan, brittle, pralines & Dragees.
"Mint. The common name of most plants of the genus Mentha. There are two dozen species, and many
hundreds of varieties...The superstitions and beliefs associated with mint are often of ancient origin and vary
with different cultures...In Rome, Pliny recommended that a wreath of mint was a good thing for students to
wear since it was thought to 'exhilarate their minds'...Mints, usually spearmint, are used, fresh or dried, to
make jams, jellies, and sauces, to accompany meat, fish, or vegetable dishes...In England mint sauce is
served with roast lamb. Gerard (1633) wrote that 'the smell of mint does stir up the minde and the taste to a
greedy desire of meat'. Certainly the mint flavor is sweet and refreshing; and mint has digestive properties,
so the habit of taking an 'after-dinner mint' has some foundation."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 508)
"Mint, aromatic plant of Europe and elsewhere. Mint was well known in classical Greece and in Roman
Italy, where, according to Pliny, it was a scent familiar at coutnry feasts. In Greece, however, mint is
seldome mentioned in the context of food and dining."
---Food in the Ancient World From A to Z, Andrew Dalby [Routledge:London] 2003 (p. 219)
"Mints. A colloquial English term from any small sugar confectionery item flavoured with mint, especially
boiled sugar sweets...Mint has a long therapeutic history as an aide to digestion and a breath
freshener."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 508)
"Sugar was considered to have health benefits; it was also useful for preserving decoctions of herbs and
other physic such as flowers and roots. It made bitter herbs more palatable and, formed into candy, allowed
the slow release of soothing essences for sore throats and coughs. Recipes of this kind were probably the
ancestors of several sweets which have survived as regional specialties: cough candy, Kendal Mint Cake,
and Scottish tablet...It has a long precedent, and is a survivor of many other candied medicaments, most of
which have vanished. Cures for other ailments were sometimes administered in candy, as a recipe from A
Queens Delight shows: Sugar of Wormwood, Mint, Anniseed, or any other of that kinde. Take double
refined sugar; and do but wet it in fair water, or Rose-water and boil it to a candy, when it is almost boiled
takeit off and stir till it be cold; the drop in three or four drops of the Oyles of whatsoever you will make, and
stir it well, then drop it on a board, being before fitted with sugar.'...The qualities of mint as a digestive, and
the alternatives...suggest the recipe was intended to comfort the digestion. The recipe is an early published
example of the use of mint in sweetmeats in Britain. This flavour, not a distinctive feature of Polos, mint
imperials, spearmint gum, Glacier Mints and many others, appears to have become popular in the middle
of the last century. A factor may have been ready availability of good-quality mit oil from Mitcham in Surrey,
at a time when sugar confectionery was rapidly commercializing. Mint oil was reliable, probably relatively
cheap, and a strong flavour which was easy to handle, by small-as well as large-scale confectioners.
Candied peppermint was one of several simple mint-flavored confections given in a small, provincial book
in the1820s. Mint-flavored candy is still being made by a similar process to the seventeeth-century recipe
given above (but without the rosewater) and sold under the name of Kendal Mint Cake. Why this confection
should survive as a specialty of a small town in north-west England is not clear. The first record of an
association between product and town occurs in the mid-nineteeth century."
---Sugarplums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect Books:Devon] 2004
(p. 69-70)
Why do we serve mint (sauce, jelly) with mutton?
While it is true that mint is an ancient herb known to the Greeks, culinary evidence confirms the
combination of mint jelly with mutton is an English tradition. The tradition was conceived for medical/health reasons, as mint has long been appreciated for calming the
digestive system. Mutton is fatty and hard to digest. The pairing of pork and applesauce follows the same general principal.
"Mint was grown and pickled in vinegar by the Romans, who introduced the plant into England.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the herb was commonly grown in convent and monestary gardens
and used extensively in cooking and medicine. Mints, usually spearmint, are used, fresh or dried,
to make jams, jellies, and sauces, to accompany meat, fish, or vegetable dishes. The leaves are
also used to make teas, an Arab custom especially noticeable in North Africa...In England mint
sauce is served with roast lamb. Gerard (1633) wrote that the smell of mint does stir up the
minde and the taste a greedy desire of meat'. Certainly the mint flavour is sweet and refreshing
and mint has digestive properties, so the habit of taking an 'after-dinner mint' has some
foundation."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 508)
"Mint is an aromatic herb that people have used since ancient times both as a condiment and as a
medicinal. It was highly valued by the ancient Hebrews, the Greeks, and the Romans, all of
whom used mint much more frequnetly than people do today. Mint was alluring, but at the same
time satisfying. The ancients considered it an aphrodesiac, yet also believed that it made women
sterile and men impotent."
---Nectar and Ambrosia: An Encyclopedia of Food in World Mythology, Tamra Andrews [ABC-CLIO:Santa Barbara] 2000 (p. 151)
"Lamb is a fatty meat, and most cuisines recognize the need for some kind of acid ingredient or
sauce to 'cut' this. In England, mint sauce, composed of chopped fresh mint, sugar, and vinegar,
has been the accepted accompaniement for roast lamb since the mid-19th century...Around the
North Mediterranean, including Spain, the Balkans and Greece, sauces for lamb are thickened
with egg yolks beaten up with lemon juice."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 441)
"Lamb, Sauce for.--Mint sauce is usually served with lamb. To make it: Strip the leaves from some fresh young mint, wash and dry them well, and chop them as finely as possible. Put them into a tureen, and cover them with powdered sugar in the proportion of a table-spoonful of sugar to one and a half of mint. Let these remain for half an hour, then pour over them three table-spoonfuls of vinegar. If after a trial this sauce is found to be too sweet, a less proportion of sugar can be used; but it has been very generally approved when prepared as above. The vinegar is sometimes strained from the mint-leaves before being sent to table. Time, a few minutes to prepare. Probable cost, 3d. Sufficient for three or four persons."
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations [Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co.:London] 1875? (p. 360)
Related pairing? Pork & applesauce.
"Word Mark POP ROCKS Goods and Services (CANCELLED) IC 030. G & S: NO GOODS/SERVICES STATEMENT ON TRAM Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING Serial Number 81041425 Filing Date 0000 Current Filing Basis UNKNOWN Original Filing Basis UNKNOWN Registration Number 1041425 Registration Date June 15, 1976 Owner (REGISTRANT) General Foods Corporation UNKNOWN White Plains NEW YORK Register PRINCIPAL Live/Dead Indicator DEAD Cancellation Date November 9, 1982"
The earliest print reference we find for test marketing is this:
"Enter "Pop Rocks": General Foods Co,. tests a "crackling candy" in various fruit flavors. Ingredients are similar to conventional hard candy except that carbon
dioxide is included. Result: a sensation of candy particles bursting noisily in the mouth as the Pop Rocks dissolve."
---"Business Bulletin: Special Background Report on Trends in Industry and Finance," Wall Street Journal, February 5, 1976 (p. 1)
"One of the great challenges of modern industry has been the problem of soda pop. Most of it is water, which means that most of the money spent to transport the
stuff from bottling joint to store has been spent to transport water. How much nicer if the pop and its bubbles could be powdered. General Foods' efforts to solve
the problem of powdered pop have led to the already legendary Pop Rocks and Space Dust candies, which are still being test marketed, and black-marketed by
kids where they aren't available. The candies fizz, releasing carbonation in the mouth or in the hand when they come in contact with moisture. While General Foods
wrestles with the problem, Eugene Dana, president of Nellson Candies, is testing his solution, Advertising Age reported. His Carb-O-Nated powdered mix cones
come in cherry, lemon-lime, grape, and orange. It is being tested in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Six packets, each of which makes a 10-ounce drink, retail
for 99 cents, one cent an ounce cheaper than buying a name brand six pack of canned soda pop in Chicago. No cola yet, but give them time."
---"News for you: Powdered soda pop." Chicago Tribune, August 22, 1977 (p. B1)
"With nothing but word-of-mouth advertising behind them, General Foods' Space Dust and Pop Rocks carbonated candies are outselling most--if not all--major
candy brands 'in any makret where they are introduced,' according to a GF exec. But the unusual candies, which cause a bursting, tinlging sensation in the mouth,
can be marketed only for 13-week periods at a time in order to prevent the carbonation from dissapating and spoioing the moment for kids. They are also sensitive
to heat, so GF has a policy of not introducing them in markets where the average temperature exceeds 85 degrees. GF is attempting to educate the trade about the
prdoucts because of instances where they have been 'bootlegged' into other markets. In one case, a heat in a truck carrying the prudcuts was accidentally turned
on. The gas released from several hundred Pop Rocks cases eventually blew the truck doors open. 'When that happens, you're left with just hard candy,' the exec
said. The carbon dioxide in Pop Rocks is one-tenth of the amount contained in a can of soft drink...Now that temperatures are beginning to climb across the
nation, GF has stopped selling them. When fall arrives, however, Pop Rocks and Space Dust willl reappear in much wider distribution, perhaps as many as 37
states. During a 13-week introduction, a reatailer is permitted a single order and receives one shipment. According to the GF exec, a retailer can expect to sell half
his supply within four weeks and 90% by the tenth week. The candies have been subject of much free publicity in newspapers and on network tv talk shows,
including Johnny Carson's monolog on the 'Tonight Show' April 12. Although there has been no advertising to date, Benton & Bowles has done some concept
work on the products. Pop Rocks was first tested in Flagstaff and Yuma, Ariz, in 1976. It was followed by Space Dust, whose initial test markets were in
Colorado and Arizona. Both sell for 15 cents. In February of last year, the phrase 'explore the far reaches of your mind.' was removed from packages of Space
Dust after GF received complaints that the reference seemed based on drug use. At the time, the company expressed shock that anyone would misinterpret the
phrase. The company earlier denied rumors that the patented technique used to produce Pop Rocks and Space Dust would be applied in development of a
carbonated powdered drink mix."
---"Pop Rockes hot item--but not too hot, please," Adverstising Age, April 17, 1978 (p.1)
"General Foods has a hit with Pop Rocks and Space Dust, two forms of the hard candy with locked-in carbonation that makes an audible appearance when it his
the mouth. But despite their success, both 15-cent candies have not left test-market status, regardless of how many kids bootleg them across the country. The
problem is the manufacturer can't introduce them 'in markets where the average temperature exceeds 85 degrees,' Advertising Age reported. Not only are kids
bootlegging them, but eager merchants are, too. And one hapless fellow lost his whole shipment when the truck carrying it accidentally had its heat turned on. The
Pop Rock cargo released its carbonation and blew the truck doors open. Next fall, though, General [Foods] plans to market the candies temporarily in 37 safely
cool states, making the candies perhaps the only processed snack available soley in season."
---"News for you: Too successfull for their own good," Mary Knoblauch, Chicago Tribune, April 19, 1978 (p. A2)
"'It's like raining on the roof of your mouth,' says a middle-aged person who tried it...'It' is Pop Rocks, a new carbonated hard candy that sizzles, snaps, pops
and tingles in your mouth, and brings grimaces, faint smiles and startled reactions from first-time tasters. "Explore the far reaches of your mind," says the package.
Since it has no apparent purpose or social significance--two key fad criteria--Pop Rocks promises to win a place in the pantheon of freaky gimmicks that infect
America from time to time. All of which brings more smiles than grimaces to General Foods, maker of Pop Rocks, which has sold "hundreds of millions" of the
packets...In fact, in true fad fashion Pop Rocks seem to be something of a hot underground item. They're being bootlegged to New York and sold on the street and
in a few stores for three and four times the normal price. Rumors about their existence and even a few samples of the 20-cent packages have reached Washington,
but exactly when the product will be on sale here, the manufacturer isn't saying. Meanwhile reports like a recent on in Advertising Age (confirmed by General
Foods) that a overheated load of Pop Rocks blew the doors open on a delivery truck have raised questions about the product's safety. Speculation that Pop Rocks
might harm the esophogus or the taste buds led NBC consumer reporter Betty Furness to take to the air recently to calm parents' fears. The secret ingredient of
General Foods' smash seller is carbon dioxide, about one-tenth the amount that's put into soft drinks to make them fizz. While a Pop Rock left on the tip of the
tongue with one's mouth open will "explode," ingredients for the product were okayed by the Food and Drug Administration before General Foods started to
test market it in 1976. Meanwhile, the company's hot product has its own unique sales difficulties. The company says Pop Rocks can't be sold in areas where the
average temperature is over 85 degreses. And sales are being suspended over the summer for the same reason. The shelf-life is also limited because the
carbonation dissapates over a period of time and then you're left with "just another hard candy." But wherever they appear, says the company, they are being
hoarded. It's not unusal to see people walk out of a store, carrying a large shopping bag filled with nothing but Pop Rocks or Star Dust (the former are large
rock-like pieces; the latter, dust-like bits.) Which explains why the candy is outselling most, if not all major candy bars "in any market where they are introduced."
General Foods says."
---"It Snaps, Crackles And-Yes-Pops: Carbonated Candy That Explodes in Your Mouth," Washington Post, April 21, 1978 (p. C3)
[NOTE: This article contains a photograph of the package.]
"The giant semi raced through the night across America from California to Brooklyn. Inside was a precious cargo whos street value in New York would be double
its West Coast price. Thousands of packs were unloaded at one distributor's warehouse, then channeled stealthily to selected candy and variety shops. Candy
shops? Yes, the cargo was destined to feed the latest kid candy craze: Pop Rocks. Says the Brooklyn distributor: "The kids sare like junkies--hungry for the stuff.
It's the fastest-moving new candy I've ever seen." The candy, so goes a Wall Street analyst's version, was born when a General Foods Corp. chemist mixed a little
"Kool Aid technology" with cargon dioxide...Crystalline in shape and so far available in three flavors (cherry, orange, grape), Pop Rocks are made of sugar, corn
syrup, milk derivative and artificial coloring and flavoring. When the small crystals of candy are placed in the mouth, tiny chambers of trapped CO2 are activated by
moisture. The result: a popping and crackling that delights kids. Pop Rocks are hard to get in most places, which only adds to their appear. General Foods markets
the candy mainly in California, although there have been other test sales around the country in the past three years. GF tries to confine sales of the candy to its test
markets, where a one-fifth-ounce package sells for 20 cents retail, but entrepreneurs have managed to obtain supplies and spirit them elsewhere, at prices up to
50c cents a package. Despite the potential demand, GF is moving cautiously before going national. Reason: although the food makes more than 400 food products,
it has never before sold a candy."
---"Rock It to Me: Feeding a Candy Craze," Time, May 1, 1978 (p. 44)
"General Foods has expanded its carbonated confection technology to a bubble gum and is testing Increda Bubble gum in a small market in the Northwest. The
company hopes the bubble gum will become more of a year-round entry than its carbonated Pop Rocks and Space Dust candies, the latter which is due to be
reintroduced under the name Cosmic Candy. GF has been marketing the candies on a cyclical basis because of their fad nature...According to sources close to the
company, GF chose a very small Northwest market to avoid bootlegging--as serious problem that has occurred with the [Pop Rock] candies. In contrast to the
more usual concern of concealing a test market because of competition, GF's worry is that candy and gum wholesalers/distributors will buy up truckloads of the
gum to ship East. In the New York area, the candies have sold for more than triple their suggested list price of 15 cents. In a card shop near Advertising Age's
midtown New York office, Pop Rocks go for 50 cents a packet. Candy and gum distributors advertise in the New York Times to sell their supplies of Pop Rocks
and Space Dust to retailers. One classified ad reads, "Pop Rock. Hottest candy in the U.S. Fast turnaround--large profit, available wholesale." It's the large profit
and "consumer ripoff" that GF is hoping to avoid by concealing its test market. GF is worried that in addition to making the test market impossible to read properly,
hijacking and subsequent high retail prices will hurt GF's image and the product's sales potential when it is offically introduced in the East. Pop Rocks was first
tested in Flagstaff and Yuma, Ariz. in 1976. It was followed by Space Dust in Colorado and Arizona. It has since been marketed sporadically in a number of
western markets, but none has been sold since the spring because GF is accumulating enough candy for a major fall introduction in as many as 37 states...The
packaged foods marketer recognized the fad aspect of the carbonated candies from the start. That is one reason it produces and wharehouses the candies until there
is a 13 week supply. Usually either pop Rocks or Space Dust--not both--is introduced to a market area. Nine months later, long after the firest candies have
disappeared from the retail shelves, GF moves into the same market with the other item, and the fad begins anew...Prime targes are children under 15, who buy
the candies not so much for themselves but to watch their friends try them. After three or four packets, the effect of the carbonation on one person has reached a
saturation point, noted one source. The candies are expected to be introduced in a broad area this fall. Space Dust has been repackaged and renamed Cosmic
Candy because of compliant about its association with the drug Angel Dust. Earlier, the phrase "explore the far reaches of your mind," was removed from packages
of Space Dust after GF received compliants that the reference seemed based on drug use. Network affiliated tv stations also expressed some apprehension about
tv commercials. The two candies are similar, although Pop Rocks is a somewhat larger particle."
---"GF keeps carbonated gum test hush hush to avoid bootleggers," Advertising Age, July 31, 1978 (p. 1)
"What kind of mind thinks up products like exploding candy? "I'm basically a farmer type. I like to work with fruits and vegetables," says 67-year-old William A. Mitchell, a
silver-haired father of Pop Rocks, a crackling confection so popular that black markets have appeared in schools all over the country. Pop Rocks, a General Foods
product, is sold in most parts of the country for 20 cents a pack. That's 20 cents a pack in the store. "What's happened is that school kids would buy the packets and then sell them to their friends with quite a surcharge," Mitchell said in a interview. "They were profiteering." The tremendous demand for Pop Rocks led General Fods to
build another manufacturing plant and Mitchell is now touring the country to introduce another sizzling sweet called Cosmic candy. Along the way, he's doing his best to
quash rumors about Pop Rocks. The incendiary effects fo Pop Rocks, a carbonated combination of sugar, flavoring and coloirng, apparently inspired stories of exploding
stomachs and other maladies among enthusiasts. All false, says Mitchell. "The amount of gas in a pack of Pop Rocks is less than one-tenth of what's in a can of soda
pop," says Mitchell, noting that Pop Rocks have U.U. Food & Drug Administration approval. "The worst thing they can do is make you burp." Because of the peculiar
nature of Pop Rocks, the product languished for more than 20 years after Mitchell first created them in 1956. General Foods simply wasn't sure what to do with them.
"I always thought it should be candy, but most of our people thought it should be in some other product--cereal or something," Mitchell said. Finally, a Canadian division
started selling Pop Rocks in packets and General Foods decided to market them nationally."
---"Father of the Candy Bomb Just a Farmer at Heart," Los Angeles Times, April 30, 1979 (p. D12)
"In 1976, General Foods Corp. began marketing a new candy called Pop Rocks--carbonated crystals that fizz and crackle in the mouth. Pop Rocks became what
one distributor called "the fastest-moving new candy I've ever seen." Three years later, General Foods is planning to adapt the carbonated-candy idea to other
products. Pop Rocks have posed some unusual marketing problems, however. Earlier this year, a false but widespread rumor that Mikey, the boy on the Life
cereal commercial, had died from popping too many rocks prompted General Foods to take out ads in 45 newspapers assuring parents that the ingredients in Pop
Rocks have FDA approval. Also, the company has to take the unsold candy off the shelves when the daily temperature averages more than 85 degrees. In high
heat, Pop Rocks can start crackling ouside the mouth--and a shipment once blew open the doors on an overheated delivery truck. The company has so far sold
more than 500 million packages of Pop Rocks and Cosmic Candy...Bill Mitchell, who invented Pop Rocks, believes that carbonated candy is only the
beginning--that eventually such crystals will be an ingredient in everything from breakfast cereals to medication. General Foods has already begun test-marketing a
product known as Increda Bubble--carbonated gum."
---"A Candy Craze Keeps Popping," Newsweek, June 4, 1979 (p. 15)
"The bubble gum market is continuing to explode with new entries--American Chicle's Crackups, Life Savers' sugarless Bubble Yum and General Foods' especially
appriate Increda Bubble gum with bursting candy particles...Although GF researchers have experimented with carbonation for years, it wasn't until recent years that
the company came up with a viable product--carbonated candies. As that business expanded via some incredible successes on the West Coast for Pop Rocks and
Cosmic Candy, GF began to work on a gum and carbonated candy concoction. Increda Bubble went into test in a small northwestern market a year ago. GF took
great pains to maintain secrecy in order to avoid the bootlegging that occured with its carbonated candies. The unauthorized shipping of the candies, which crack
and pop in the mouth, has been cited as a factor in the sales failure in the east. Just as Increda Bubble is rolling out, GF is mulling over the fate of the candies. After
making what once source descried as a "mint of money" with the candies on the West Coast, GF lost all but a couple of million dollars wtih the disaster in the East.
The exposure of the candies in eastern markets before they officially debuted eliminating the surprise factor so important in a fad product's success,GF also was
faced with combating all sorts of rumors about kids suffering illness or death after tyring the candies. One of the most bizarre and unfounded rumors centered
around the youth who played "Mikey" in Life cereal commercials. It was rumored he ate the candy with a soda chaser, his tomach exploded and he died. The final
blow was the unfortuante introduction of the carbonated candies in the Midwest last winter when markets such as Chicago where hit by as series of winter storms
that dumped record levels of snow and forced people to remain homebound for days. Despite these setbacks, GF has not given up on carbonated technology. A
spokesman said Pop Rocks are still sold in some western markets, anthough it won't be there for long. She said no decisions had been made on the candy's
future...GF has also filed for trademark registration on the name Freeze-In for a freezable carbonated soda concentrate...The company also is looking at novelty
items, possibly for Halloween, and and ice cream novelty on a stick that would contain the carbonated candy inside. These items are all byproducts of the
company's search for the so far elusive carbonated drink mix that would expand its franchise in the drink mix field."
---"More Gums Burst Onto Scene," Advertising Age, September 2, 1979 (p. 8)
"Pop Rocks, the popular carbonated candy that General Foods Corp. quit making after less than three years and many rumors of exploding tummies and choking
children, is back in stores. The crackling, mouth-tingling treat is being test marketed in New England and the Dakotas by Carbonated Candy Ventures of Buffalo,
N.Y. False rumors once claimed the candy killed little 'Mikey,' the young character featured in cereal commercials a decade ago, by making his tummy explode,
and that it made other children gag and choke. While Carbonated Candy said it hasn't seen a resurgence of the rumors, it's not taking any chances. It had a
laboratory in Connecticut retest the product, which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier found safe. Wholesalers were instructed to contact the FDA
about any new rumors."
---"Pop Rocks candy returns," St. Petersburg Times, November 23, 1986
"Despite bad publicity and several health-food crazes, Pop Rocks soldier on. For 50 years, in fact. To celebrate the anniversary, Pop Rocks Inc. has released a
limited edition line of Cherry Pop Rocks in their original 1970s packaging. They were developed by General Foods chemist William A. Mitchell in 1956 while
trying to create an instant soft drink (he holds a patent on Tang). For their first two decades, though, no one quite knew what to with this odd concoction. In 1975,
they were given suitably garish packaging and christened Pop Rocks. They took off immediately. A hard candy like no other - little fragments containing hidden
pockets of carbonation - they explode in the mouth, fizzling and darting about. Soon, there was even a Pop Rock mythology. Rumors emerged that Mikey ("Give it
to Mikey - he'll eat anything!") from the Life cereal commercial died after ingesting an ill-advised combination of pop rocks and soda. The rumors were so
pervasive that General Foods executives took out ads in major publications and sent out up to 50,000 letters to school administrators extolling Pop Rocks'
virtues. Inventor Mitchell even hit the road and spoke to audiences about his product. Pop Rocks, he told crowds, were safe, good and right; Mikey was alive and
well. But rumors die hard. Pop Rocks were briefly discontinued in the mid-1980s."
---"Pop Rocks Still Rock," William Weir, The Hartford Courant, April 18, 2006
"Even though Pop Rocks' 30th anniversary officially fizzled out this Jan. 1, Spanish company Zeta Especial will continue to exploit its "explosive" retro candy
brand with promotions and licensing. Later this month, Pop Rocks will leverage the sixth season of American Idol with the launch of its I Want to Be a Pop
Rocks Star promo, in which kids write a song about their love of the popping candy and mail it in with two proofs of purchase. (Entrants don't have to show the
songwriting skills of Elvis Costellowinners will be chosen through a drawing.) Running through October and dangling special-edition Pop Rocks gear, the
sweeps will be marketed via print in kids mags such as Disney Adventures, radio promos, sampling, pr and ads on Web sites including Americanidol.com.
Freestanding store displays sporting an Idol-reminiscent blue oval will communicate the sweeps. The Steven Style Group, New York, is Pop Rocks' full-service
agency. Popping candy was an afterthought when a General Foods scientist attempted to invent instant soda with carbonized crystals that melt in water. That idea
never panned out, but his crystals became Pop Rocks, a candy that proved so popular in the '70s that kids were selling 15-cent packs for $1 or more on the candy
black market. The brand is still reeling from an urban legend in which Life cereal spokeskid Little Mikey's stomach purportedly exploded after he washed down
Pop Rocks with a Coke. (Mikey, aka John Gilchrist, is doing fine, thank you.). Originally sold in a cherry flavor, Pop Rocks is planning gourmet flavors like
pumpkin and candy cane, and cotton candy this year. The popping candy has been embedded in fruit rollups, sprinkled on Kellogg's cereals and served as subjects
for science experiments in a Klutz activity book. Additionally, the brand expects to launch a full licensing program in 2007 with apparel and other lifestyle
products."
---"The Biz: Pop Rocks Candy Recharged; OMG! OMG Gets Strategic," Brandweek, January 8, 2007
[NOTE: 2013 Zeta Especial is still making Pop Rocks. They are imported into the US by Pop Rocks In., Atlanta Georgia.
One retro unit of the original cherry flavor sells for $1.20/.33 ounce (p.5g) packet. 2013 product photo
here.]
Compare these recipes:
"Potato Pudding, Sweet.We find several recipes in the Internet called "Irish Potato candy." None offer history regarding the name/origin of the confection. In fact? Some employ ingredients that are quite definately NOT connected with Ireland, such as peanut butter. Perhaps the Irish connection is the fact that these recipes employ white (Irish) potatoes, rather than sweet potatoes (which are orange in color). Curiously, we do not find any potato candies in our historic British confectionery texts (Skuse), or candy reference books (Laura Mason), books on potatoes (Zuckerman), or Irish culinary sources.
Bake half a dozen large potatoes, and when they are done enough break them open and scoop out the contents with a spoon. Beat them lightly, and with a quarter of a pound of the potato flour put three ounces of clarified butter, half a teaspoonful of finely-minced lemon-rind, a dessert-spoonful of lemon juice, a pinch of salt, three table-spoonfuls of powdered sugar, and three table-spoonfuls of milk or cream. Beat the pudding for five or six minutes, then add separately the yolks and well-whisked whites of three eggs. Butter a plain mould, ornament it with dried fruit or slices of candied peel, pour in the pudding, and bake in a well-heated oven, or steam the pudding if preferred. Turn it out before serving, sift sugar thickly over it, and garnish the dish with jam. Time to bake, three-quarters of an hour; to steam, one hour. Probably cost, 1s. Sufficient for five or six persons."
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery, [Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co.:London] 1875? (p. 627)"Candy Irish Potatoes for St. Patrick's Day
Take five pounds of bon bon cream and into knead one pound of almond paste, stiffening it with XXXX powdered sugar while working, if necessary. When thoroughly kneaded, shape into small spuds about the size of an ink bottle, and while moist rub with powdered cinnamon. Use almond paste or pignolia nuts pressed in side to represent eyes or sprouts, or simply make little dents for the eyes. Care must be taken to bet the cinnamon to stick good."
---Rigby's Reliable Candy Teacher, W.O. Rigby, 19th edition 1920s? (p. 208)"Potato Cocoanut Candy.
1 medium sized potato
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
2 cups shredded cocanut
1 teaspoon vanilla
Chocolate.
Boil or bake potato until well done, and force through a coarse sieve or a potato ricer. There should be half a cup of potato. To this add sugar, cocoanut, and vanilla, working together until well mixed. Press one inch thick into small bread pan, and spread top with a thin layer of melted bitter chocolate or sweet chocolate. When chocolate is firm, cut in small squares. This can be varied by using nuts or fruits instead of cocoanut."
---The Candy Cook Book, Alice Bradley [Little, Brown, and Company:Boston] 1929 (p. 29-30)
Then? There's this:
"Idaho Candy Company. A candy bar named for a vegetable is not very common.
A candy bar named for a potato is truly rare. But htere is one. The Idaho Spud has
been in production since 1918. It was made for the potato because Idaho, wehre
the candy hails from, produces lots of spuds...The Idaho Spud candy bar has not
actual potato flavors in it, and it is much lighter than its starch name-sake. It is made
of fluffy marshmallow, covered in dark chocolate, and sprinkled with coconut. The
handformed candy apparently looked a little like a lumpy chocolate covered potato
when it was first made."
---Candy: The Sweet History, Beth Kimmerle [Collectors Press:Portland OR] 2003
(p. 133)
According to the records of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Idaho Spud candy was introduced to the American public in April, 1913. Record here: "Word Mark IDAHO SPUD Goods and Services IC 030. US 046. G & S: CANDY. FIRST USE: 19130400. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19130400 Mark Drawing Code (5) WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS IN STYLIZED FORM Design Search Code Serial Number 71358321 Filing Date November 17, 1934 Current Filing Basis 1A Original Filing Basis 1A Registration Number 0322496 Registration Date March 12, 1935 Owner (REGISTRANT) IDAHO CANDY COMPANY, THE CORPORATION IDAHO 3494 SOUTH TK AVENUE BOISE IDAHO 83705 Attorney of Record STEVEN R. ORMISTON Type of Mark TRADEMARK Register PRINCIPAL Affidavit Text SECT 12C. SECT 15. SECTION 8(10-YR) 20050315. Renewal 4TH RENEWAL 20050315 Live/Dead Indicator LIVE"
The company is still in business.
Related confections? Sauerkraut candy & Bologna candy.
"Sugar almonds. Almonds coated with a layer of fine sugar, as for dragees...Sugar almonds play
an
important role in rites of passage, particularly christenings and weddings, at which they are
offered as
symbols of good fortune. This custom is strong in France, Greece, Italy, other Mediterranean
countries, and
as far east as Iran and Afghanistan where they are known as noql...As a New Year offering they
are
supposed to ensure that the mouths and lives of the recipients will remain sweet for the whole of
the
coming year. Less sophisticated versions of almond dragees are sometimes made at home by
cooking
almonds, or other nuts, such as hazel, in sugar syrup and then stirring the mixture till it grains.'
The
almonds, with some of the sugar clinging to them, are separated and dried. Many 17th- and
18th-century
praline recipes are of this type."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
766)
"Praline. A combination of almonds and boiled sugar, is a popular confection with a long history.
The name
is originally French, and the Dictionnarie de l'epicerie (1898) gives this definition"
Praline.--Bonbon forme
d'une amande rissole dans du sucre dont ell form ensuite le noyeay, et parfue it colore de diverse
manieres.' The important points in this definition are that it refers to almonds which are whole and
separate,
each covered with boiled, grained sugar. This remains the primary meaning of the word in modern
French.
According to the often-repeated but unverifiable legend dating back to the end of the 18th century
at least,
the name praline' is derived from the Duke of Plessis-Praslin (1589-1675). His cook is supposed
to have
invented a method for coating whole almonds in grained caramelized sugar, and later to have
retired to the
to produce the sweets commerically. Whatever the truth, pralines were well known, outside as
well as
inside France, but the 18th century, when recipes for Prawlins', or for Almonds Crisped'
appeared in
English cookery books. Borella (1770) observed that ;praline' is French Anglicized, as there is no
English
word to express the real idea of the French in this sort of preserving almonds.' Eventually,
however, praline,
like many other French culinary terms, became an adopted word in the English language. As an
English
word, praline now has the main meaning of a powdered nut-and-sugar confection, the nuts
commonly (but
not exclusively) used being almonds...In North America pralines are a specialty of several
southern states.
In Louisiana, especially New Orleans, the name applies to candies made with pecans in a coating
of brown
sugar which used to be sold by Creole women known as pralinieres."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
631-2)
"Praline...The praline is a specialty of Montargis, where its inventor, Lassagne, who was chef de
bouche
(master of the household) to the Compte du Plessis-Praslin, came to retire. Legend has it that his
creation
came about this way: seeing a kitchen boy nibbling at leftovers of caramel and almonds, Lassagne
had the
idea of cooking whole almonds in sugar. The sweetmeat that resulted had a bread successs and
even, it is
said, contributed to certain diplomatic triumphs, for which the Compte du Plessis-Praslin, minister
to Louis
XIII and Louis XIV, took all the credit (he also gave his name to the sweets). Lassagne finally
retired to
Montargis in 1630 and there founded the Maison de la Praline, which exists to this day."
---Larousse Gastronomique, Completely updated and revised [Clarkson Potter:New York]
2001 (p.
934)
"We owe it [praline] to Lassagne...One day, in the servants' quarters of his residence at
Montargis,
Lassagne found his children caramelizing almonds almonds stolen from the kitchens. The
wonderful odour
emanating from the spot where the little cooks were at work gave away their guilty secret and its
delicious
results. His mouth watering, Lassagne promsed to keep quiet in exchange for some of the
sweetmeats. He
perfected the recipe and took it to the court of Louis XIII, where the confection became known
as prasline,
not that the duke himself had anything to do with inventing it. Another sotry holds that the reicpe
was the
result of clumsiness on the part of an apprentice, who dropped some almonds into caramel made
with
Gatinais honey. Whatever the truth of the matter was, Lassagne retired to Montargis and opened
a
confectioner's shop there, the Maison de la prasline, which still exits and is as good as a museum.
Praline is
made and sold at modern fairs in France, but the cheap sort contains peanuts instead of authentic
almonds."
---History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat [Barnes & Noble Books:New York]
1992 (p. 569)
Jarrin's praline (prawling) recipes, circa 1825:
"No. 91.--Prawlings.
Everything is called a prawling, which is covered with dry sugar to preserve it from moisture, as orange flowers, lemon peel, almonds, pistachios, &c."No. 92.--White Prawlings.
Boil your sugar to a feather (see No. 9), put in the fruit or almonds, and boil it to a crack, (see No. 11); take it from the fire and work it with a spaddle [sic]...till the sugar becomes a powder, then throw the whole into a sieve to take off the surplus of sugar; afterwards put the prawlings into a box for use."
---The Italian Confectioner; Or, Complete Economy of Desserts, facsimile Third edition, corrected and enlarged, 1827 Londonedition, William Alexis Jarrin [reprint on demand, Breinigsville, PA ISBN 9781146199803] 2010(p. 41-42)TE: this book also contains recipes for almond, pistachio, and orange-flower prawlings.]
Pralines in the USA
"Praline. A Confection made from almonds or pecans and caramel. It is a great favorite of the
South,
especially in New Orleans, and derives from the French preparation of praline, caramelized
almonds or
hazelnuts and sugar pounded into a fine, crumblike texture, Both terms come from the name of
French
diplomat Cesar du Plessis-Praslin, later duc de Choisuel (1598-1675), whose cook suggested that
almonds
and sugar aided digestion. The American Creoles substituted pecans for the almonds. The
confection is
first mentioned in print in 1715, and part of Louisiana food culture as early as 1762. The term had
various
meaning by 1809, when one chronicler told of pralines made from corn and sugar."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p.
255)
"Pralines. The word "Praline" is entirely associated in New Orleans with the delcious pink and
white sugar
cakes, made of cocoanut and sugar, or the brown ones, made of pecans and sugar, which are sold
by the
old Creole negro women of New Orleans. The "Pralinieres," as they are called, may always be
found in
Canal street, near Boubon or Royal, or about the entrance of Jackson Square, in the dim cathedral
alley, or
going about the streets of the Old French Quarter, selling their wares of an evening, when the
little Creole
children are taking an airing with their faithful old mammies. These little one always have a
"Picayune," or
five-cent peice, with which to buy a praline or a "La Colle," or a stick of "Candi Tire a la
Melasse."
---The Picayune's Creole Cook Book, second edition, facsimile 1901 reprint [Dover:New
York] 1970
(p. 375)
[NOTE: This book has more information about Creole candy and several praline recipes. Ask
your librarian
to help you find a copy.]
Louisiana praline recipe, 1904
Suggestions for further study:Related food? Pecan pie & brittle.
Food historians confirm coconut (aka cocoanut) has been a popular ingredient in American foods from colonial days forward. Fresh, dried or dessicated, coconuts flavored American desserts. 19th century technological advances made cocoanut cheap and plentiful. Coconut candy recipes proliferated. Our survey of historic newspapers suggest Sauerkraut candy originated in the northern American Midwest (Wisconsin, Iowa) in the early 20th century. This region was home to great waves of Northern European immigrants who enjoyed sauerkraut and sausages. An inexpensive novelty confection resembling beloved sauerkraut, and promoted as such, makes perfect sense in this context.
End of story? Not quite. Enter: The Greek Factor. Our survey revealed two articles connecting a Greek confectioner with Sauerkraut Candy. If you can shed light on this mystery we'd love to hear from you!
[1907]
"A Greek employed in the making of 'sauerkraut' candy at Milwaukee has been forbidden to continue his business. He is a
victim of tuberculosis."
---Eau Claire Leader [WI], April 19, 1907 (p. 7)
[NOTE: Is this the same person referenced here?]
"Try sauerkraut candy to make you thrive. Ten cents worth and you'll bet your money's worth."
---"The County Fair," Baltimore Sun, reprinted in the Ackely Word [IA], October 2, 1907 (p. 3)
[NOTE: the poem containing this line was published in several local newspapers about the same time.]
[1920s]
"Sauer Kraut Candy
This formula is for the candy sauer kraut which originated in the candy butcher shops. Unlike many novelties, it is not only a
fast selling piece, but also a piece possessing good eating qualities.
3 pounds sugar
6 pounds corn syrup
1 quart light New Orleans molasses
1/2 pound butter
1 spoonful salt
1 pint water
Place on fire and when batch boils add 8 pounds long shredded cocoanut. Continue to cook until the batch hangs together, then
pour batch into a greased sieve and allow the surplus syrup to drain from the cocoanut. Pour on slab to cool and flavor with a little
extract of vanilla and extract of lemon. Sell from pans, or pack in boxes and sell in that manner."
---Rigby's Reliable Candy Teacher, W.O. Rigby, [Rigby Publishing Company:Topeka KS] nineteeth edition (undated, maybe
1920s?) (p. 216-217)
[NOTE: A "candy butcher" was a young man who hawked cheap confections at popular events (circuses, fairs) for quick profit. Thomas Edison
was a "train butcher" in his youth.]
[1922]
"Sauerkraut Candy
Cook one pound of brown sugar and enough milk to moisten for about 5 minutes, stirring all the time, then add one quarter
pound coconut.--Jacob Achauer, route 7."
---Appleton Post-Crescent [WI], March 17, 1922 (p. 7)
[1924]
"D.K. Phoenix, Ariz., want to know how to make sauerkraut candy. Place two cups of brown sugar and half a cup of boiling water in
a saucepan and boil until a little will harden when dropped in cold water; remove from the fire, add enough grated cocoanut to make
a stiff paste, place on a buttered dish to cool."
---"Practical Recipes," A. L. Wyman, Los Angeles Times, March 8, 1924 (p. A6)
[1925]
"Old Fashion Sauerkraut Candy, per lb, 29 cents."
---Suburbanite Ecomomist [Chicago IL], October 22, 1925 (p. 5)
[1926]
"Fresh Sauer-Kraut Candy. This is a new confection. It is made of pure fresh cocoanuts, rich pure cream and creamery butter. We
have purchased this secret formula and have made arrangements to have fresh supply on on hand at all times. Special Introductory
Price 58 cents Per Pound."
---Alton Evening Telegraph [IL], February 19, 1926 (p. 16)
[NOTE: Why does this 1926 ad herald Sauer Kraut candy as a "new confection" when the 1925 snippet above proclaims it "old fashioned?"]
[1930]
"...the attractive box of sauerkraut candy on the desk in awaiting some some victim other than the intended one."
---"All Foods' Day Observance Is Lacking Here," Manitowoc Herald-News, April 1, 1930 (p. 13)
[NOTE: April Fools!]
[1941]
"Old Fashioned 'Sauerkraut Candy,' full pound 17 cents."
---Sheboygan Press [WI], July 24, 1941 (p. 18)
[1948]
"Sauerkraut candy. A Sheboygan favorite. Made of delicious, chewy, cocoanut, 39 cents lb."
---Sheboygan Press, December 18, 1948 (p. 13)
[1955]
"'Candy' Jim Athas, who filled this central Texas town's sweet tooth 56 years, has retired. 'I wish I could shake the hand
of every boy and girl who ever came to my place for candy, soda water, popcorn or even a rink of water,' says Greek-born 'Candy'
Jim...He became famous for his 'Sauerkraut Candy.' It was a caramel form but rich in coconut. For years, 'Candy' Jim never said how it
got its name. On retiring, he told. He said that in the early days of his candy making he visited Des Moines, Iowa, and heard of
this recipe. He learned how to make it, and noted that, when cooking, the coconut gives the appearance of sauerkraut."
---"Taylor's 'Candy' Jim Closing Sweet Shop After 56 Years," Corpus Christie Times [TX], January 21, 1955 (p. 14)
[NOTE: Could this possibly be the same person/relative of Greek confectioner referenced in the 1907 article? We have no clue.
This piece was reprinted in several midwest American newspapers; a testament to Mr. Athas' famous confectionery skills.]
[1970]
"Sauerkraut Candy Comes Back. Most youngsters never hear of Sauerkraut Candy, but oldsters know it well. The 'sauerkraut' is shredded coconuty and you team it with
penuche. Many grocery stores throughout the Midwest sold it from barrels during the Gay Nineties. It held its place in the sun until
World War I. Then for some reason it almost disappeared. Make it once and you may stage a revival, for this candy tastes
extra-good.
"Sauerkraut Candy
You can't miss with this combination of lots of coconut in penuche
2 c. light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 c. white sugar
1/4 c. light corn syrup
1 1/3 c. dairy half-and-half
1/4 c. butter (1/2 stick)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. shredded coconut.
Combine sugars, corn syrup and half-and-half in 3-qt. heavy saucepan with buttered sides. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar
is dissolved. Continue cooking to the soft ball stage (238 to 240 degrees F.). Remove from heat; add butter and salt without
stirring. Cool to lukewarm (110 degrees F.). Add vanilla and beat until creamy; mixture loses gloss and becomes opaque. Fold in
coconut all at once. Pour onto buttered and chilled platter or into an 8" square pan. Cut in slices if thick or in 49 squares if
molded in pan. Makes about 2 1/4 pounds."
---Homemade Candy, Nell B. Nichols, Farm Journal Field Food Editor [Doubleday & Company:Garden City NY] 1970 (p. 58-59)
Bologna candy?
Like Sauerkraut Candy, Bologna Candy (aka Sausage Candy) is a cheap 20th century confection crafted to visually resemble its
namesake. Novel idea, yes?
[1920s]Related confections? Sauerkraut candy & Potato candy.
"Bologna Made of Candy
You can use cream scrap in this type if you desire; if you do, place in a kettle
30 pounds scrap
20 pounds corn syrup
Water to dissolve
Cook to 234 degrees F., add all the shredded cocoanut it will stand, then add a few blanched almonds or Brazil nuts to represent the fat in the sausage. Also add chocolate to flavor and red color; do not use too much color but just so the batch will be a kind of reddish brown. Now pour batch on slab and work into round rolls a little over two inches thick and about fifteen inches in length. It is necessary to have a heavy wire suspended across your shop when you are making this piece. Have the wire up before starting batch. Now wrap the strips of candy bologna in heavy sheets of wax paper; be sure to keep them round all the time, then tie up the end of the wax paper so that the whole sheet of oiled paper will keep the bologna in the desired shape. Hang each of these pieces from the heavy wire and let them remain undisturbed for about twelve to fifteen hours, then remove the wax paper and cut into slices of about a half inch in thickness. You will find this cuts very smoothly and is nice eating. In cutting, cut on an angle just as butchers do, then your piece will still be more imitative. If yo do not wish to use cream scrap in making this batch, use 20 pounds of sugar to 20 pounds of corn syrup, then proceed the same."
---Rigby's Reliable Candy Teacher, W.O. Rigby, [Rigby Publishing Company:Topeka KS] nineteeth edition (undated, maybe 1920s?)(p. 216)[1970]
"Bologna Candy
It looks like a good summer sausage but it's and elegant, rich candy.
2 c. sugar
1 c. milk
1 lb. dates (2 1/2 c.)
1 c. flaked coconut
1/2 c. chopped nuts
Combine sugar and milk in 2-qt. heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat to soft ball stage (234 degrees F.), stirring constantly, until mixture is very thick and leaves the side of pan when stirred. Remove from heat. Stir in coconut and nuts. Cool slightly. Turn out on wet towel. When cool enough to handle and hold shape, roll up in towel. Place in refrigerator and chill. Make a roll 2" in diameter and about 18" long like rolls of cookie dough. Cut in slices to serve. Makes 2 1/4 pounds."
---Homemade Candy, Nell B. Nichols, Farm Journal Field Food Editor [Doubleday & Company:Garden City NY] 1970 (p. 192-193) [NOTE: this book also offers recipes for Fruit/Nut Sausage Candy and Gingered Prune Sausage Candy (p. 192)]
"Hence, orig. and chiefly Sc. (also taiblet), a type of fudge (formerly hardbake or almond toffee) made in tablets; a piece of this. 1736 MRS. MCLINTOCK Receipts for Cookery 35 (heading) To make Orange Tablets with the Grate."Why call it "tablet?" Etymology notes from the OED suggest this confection may have borrowed its name from medicinal origins. In the world of candy, this is common.
"Anglo-Norman tablet, tablett, tablette, tabelet, tabillet and Old French, Middle French tablete, Middle French, French tablette small slab or panel, smooth stiff sheet (originally made of wax-covered wood) for writing on (both c1200 or earlier in Anglo-Norman; in later use chiefly in plural (compare sense 1b)), small slab or panel bearing a painting or drawing (early 13th cent.), flat ornament made of precious metal or precious stone (a1376 or earlier in Anglo-Norman), table diamond (mid 15th cent. in tablette de diamant; also diamant en tablette), medicine in the form of a small disc or lozenge (1564), food in the form of a small disc or lozenge (1690), horizontal projecting course or moulding (1701) < table TABLE n. + -ete, -ette -ET suffix1. Compare also Old Occitan, Occitan tauleta (late 12th-early 13th cent., originally in sense castanet), Catalan tauleta (first quarter of the 14th cent.), Spanish tableta (late 13th cent., originally denoting a small plate in an astrolabe; probably < French), Portuguese tabuleta (15th cent. as taboletas, plural), also (in sense 3a) tablete (20th cent.; < French), Italian tavoletta (1294), and Middle Dutch tafelet, tafelette, taffelet, taflet (Dutch tafelet)."Laura Mason, British culinary expert, observes:
Recipe circa 1829:
"Tablets and Confectionary Drops. A few receipts in this department may be useful in most families, as these things are cordial and sometimes even medicinal, and may be easily and very cheaply prepared at home...To make cinnamon, lemon, horehound, or ginger tablet.--Take either oil of cinnamon, fine sifted China ginger, essence or grate of lemon pounded, in the proportion wanted for flavouring the article to be made. Two drops of oil of cinnamon, a half-ounce of ginger, or the grate of two lemons, is a medium quantity to a pound of sugar. Mix the flavouring ingredient very well with the boiling sugar, and pour it out when boiled candy-height, on a marble slab or stone previously rubbed with sweet oil. Mark the tablet quickly in small squares with a roller and knife."
---Cook and Housewife's Manual, Mistress Margaret Dods, facsimile 1829 edition [Rosters Ltd.:London] 1998 (p. 440)"Scots Tablets....(Traditional recipe)
Granulated sugar, thin cream or milk, flavouring.
Put into an enamelled saucepan two pounds of granulated sugar and three teacupfuls of thin cream or milk. Bring it gradually to the boiling-point, stirring all the time. Let it boil a few minutes. Test as for toffee, but do not boil it so high. When it has reached the consistency of soft putty when dropped in cold water (about 245 degrees F.), remove the pan from the fire. Add flavouring as below. Now put the pan into a basin of cold water and stir rapidly with a spoon. It soon begins to solidify round the edge, and this must be scraped off repeatedly. Keep stirring until the mass is sufficently grained, and then pour it immediately on to a buttered slab. If too highly grained, it will not pour out flat; if too thin, it will be sticky. Only practice makes perfection. When sufficienty firm, mark into bars with a knife, or cut into rounds with the lid of a circular tin."
---The Scots Kitchen, F. Marian McNeill, originally published in 1929 [Mercat Press:Edinburgh] 2004 (p. 228)
[NOTE: Flavourings in this book include: Cinnamon, Coco-nut, Fig, Ginger, Lemon, Orange, Peppermint, Vanilla, Walnut.]
Related sweets? Toffee, & American fudge.
When did "rock candy," as we know it today, first appear?
Our survey of historic cookbooks and newspapers confirms "rock candy" first surfaces in the first quarter of the 19th
century. Newspaper ads published throughout the USA were for commerical products without description.
We cannot tell from this evidence exactly what product was being sold with that name. The earliest
print references we find to crystallized sugar sold in string format is from the last quarter of the 19th century. These
items were not marketed as candy. They were cough medicine. Curative claims combining whisky and rock sugar were
contoversial and not universally sanctioned by medical professionals. It is not until the early 20th century we find
crystallized "rock candy" marketed as a confection. Even then, the colors were controversial. Think: Pure Food and Drug
Act of 1906. In the mid-1950s Weekly Reader, a popular children's newspaper used in schools, featured an article
about making rock candy as a fun science experiment. We Baby Boomers remember this fun project.
Rock candy science, Exploratorium
[18th century]
"To Candy Any Flowers Fruits or Spices with Ye Rock Candy
Take two pounds of barbary sugar, great grayned, and clarefy it with ye whites of 2 eggs, and boyle it allmoste to the height of Manus Christi. Then put your flowers, fruits or pieces, & then put your pipkin into A still, and make A litle fire of small cole or charcole under it. And in the space of 12 days your fruit, flowers, or spice will be rock candied."
---Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery, transcribed by Karen Hess [Columbia University Press:New York] 1995 (p. 279)
[NOTE: Ms. Hess adds these notes..."This is a recipe in which I have little confidence; it is effectively sugar candy with flowers..."][1845]
"Lemon Candy or Rock Candy--To one pound of loaf sugar, put a large cup of water, and set it over a slow fire for half an hour. Clear it with a little warmed vinegar. Take off the scum as it rises. Try when it is done enough, by dipping a spoon in it and raising it; if the threads thus formed snap like glass, it is done enough. Then pour it out into a tin pan that has been buttered; when nearly cold, mark it in narrow strips with a knife. Before pouring it into the pans, chopped cocoa nut, almonds, or picked hickory nuts may be stirred into it. Brazil nuts, taken from the shells, cut in slices, and added to it, are very good."
Housekeeper's Assistant, Ann Allen[1875]
"Rock.--Under this name flourishes a kind of sweetmeat composed of sugar, and sometimes mixed with almonds and various flavours. The sugar is first of all boiled, then it is poured out on a cold marble slab, and worked up into a rough mass. The name 'rock' is also give to another kind of sweetmeat, in which the sugar whilst hot and soft is repeatedly pulled over a smooth iron hook, until it becomes white and porous. This rock is flavoured in various ways." (p. 762)"Rock or Candy.--Put a pound of loaf sugar into a saucepan with a tea-cupful of water, and stir it until it has dissolved, add a spoonful of vinegar to clear it, and carefully remove the scum. Have ready a shallow tin rigged over with butter. When sugar is boiled sufficiently, stir into it sliced almonds, chopped cooca-nut, or Brazil nuts shelled and cut in slices, and pour it into the tin to the thickness of half or a quarter of an inch. If preferred, the nuts, &c., may be left out, and the rock may be simply marked caross with a knife when it is almost cold. In order to ascertain when the sugar is done enough, dip a spoon into it, and raise it. If the threads thus formed snap like glass, it is ready." (p. 763)
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations [Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co.:London] 1875[1879]
"For our Rye and Rock Candy [Reliable for all throat and lung complaints] we use only Bumgardner's Virginia Rye Whisky and finest string Rock Candy, $1 per bottle.--H.B. Kirk & Co., 69 Fulton St and 709 Broadway"
---classified ad, New York Times, January 13, 1879 (p. 5)
[NOTES: this is the earliest print reference we find combining rock candy and string. April 19, 1879 we find articles referencing a lawsuit againt this company and product as unsafe. It describes the item as rye whisky dissolved into rock candy. In 1882 we find ads for "Rock Candy Cough Cure," marketed to people suffering from consumption.][1880]
"Dryden & Palmer of Norwalk, Connecticut, has manufactured rock candy since 1880 and claims to be the only company still doing so."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York 1999 (p. 274-5)
[NOTE: Dryden & Palmer still exists: company history.][1901]
"75. Rock Candy
Boil an given quantity of loaf sugar, granulated or other, to the feather; the pour it into any vessel in which threads may run accoss. Put into a warm place and allow it to remain five or six days. When crystallization has ceased, pour off the remaining syrup and rinse out the inside with cold water, and put back into the drying room or within the screen to further dry. To color it, use a carmine, saffron or blue. The first two are most admired. Special kettles, provided with holes for passing the strings through, are sold by the makers of confectioners' tools. These holes are covered with paper, pasted on to prevent the syrup from going through. The object of the strings is to hasten the crystallization."
---The Candy Maker: A Practical Guide, Excelsior Library, No. 64, c. 1901 [Excelsior Publishing House:New York] 1901, issued quarterly since March 3, 1896 (p. 532-533)[1929]
"[sugar] reaches us in a variety of forms, either in lumps, as crystals, in powder form or crystallized on strings in the form of rock candy."
---"The story of sugar," Simpson Daily Leader-Times [Kittanning PA], January 23, 1929 (p. 7)[1956]
"First graders at Southside are making 'rock candy.' Finding the recipe in their Weekly Reader, they mixed their sugar solution and placed it in glasses. They are witingfor the rock-like crystals to form. Many of the chilren have sent in their subscriptions for the summer Weekly Reader."
---"Grade School News," Oelwein Daily Register [IA], May 5, 1956 (p. 13)[1958]
"A California reader reports that he has made a fruitless search of cook books and public libraries for a recipe for old-fashioned rock candy...Mrs. Ruth P Casa-Emellos, The New York Times home economist, explains that rock candy is simply sugar evaporated into large crystals or crystalline masses. The necessary ingredients are a supersaturated sugar solution, a pices of string and plenty of time. To make rock candy, the home economist suggests boiling two cups of sugar in one cup of water to 242 degrees F. on a candy thermometer or until a bit of the solution, dropped into cold water, forms a soft ball. Remove the colution from the heat, allow it to cool, then pour it into an earthenware or glass container. Suspend a string into the solution, first tying one end to a strip of wood that can be rested across the mouth of the container. Or, insert a long, clean twig into this solution. The string or twig is necessary so that the sugar crystals will have something to which htey can cling as they form. All that is left to do is to wait, and it is only fair to warn that it will be a long wait. It wil take several weeks before all the liquid has evaporated and the crystals have formed into rock candy. The rock candy can be crystal clear or it can be tinted in delicate hues by adding a few drops of food coloring to the hot liquid."
---"Food: Letter Box, Recipe for Rock Candy is Offered...," New York Times, February 8, 1958 (p. 13)
Related candies? lollipops and lemon drops
Rum balls
Food historians generally place the origin of rum balls (bourbon balls, brandy balls, apricot balls) in the
1940s, one decade after no-bake confections became popular. Like stuffed dates, they were popular American homemade winter
holiday gifts in the 1950s-1960s. Presumably, the confection recalls earlier
days when holiday sweets of composed of nuts, spices, sweeteners and spirits (think: confits, sugarplums, fruitcake,
rum cake) were standard fare.
Our survey of early American recipes confirms rum was a popular baked goods ingredient. This particular spirit, like its cousins brandy, port and madeira, served double duty as food flavoring and preservative agent. The difference between the old recipes and today's products? Method. Traditional colonial/early American products featuring alcoholic ingredients were baked. Contemporary American Rum Balls are not. While it is totally possible rum ball-type recipes have been around for hundreds of years, we have no print proof. All historic points on the culinary history compass place rum balls in the mid-20th century.
"There was one other liquor-accented sweet recipe that swept the country in the Sixties and
that was bourbon or rum balls. Because they involved no cooking and were based on
ultrafashionable graham cracker or cookie crumbs, nuts, and alcohol, bourbon balls were the
perfect sweet morsel of the era. The were, and are, addicting...These little cookie confections
are usually reserved for the Christmas season."
---Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads, Sylvia Lovegren [Macmillan:New York]
1995 (p. 257)
[NOTE: This book contains a recipe for rum balls.]
[1945]
"Rum Balls
(About 40)
1/2 pound vanilla wafers
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup pecans, finely chopped
1/2 cup light corn sirup
1/4 cup rum
Grind or foll wafers very fine. Mix dry ingredients. Add nuts, sirup, and rum. Stir until stiff. Roll into balls the size of a walnut. Coat hands with confectioners' sugar while shaping the balls. Let stand about1 hour, to dry somewhat. Roll about 1 hour, to dry somewhat. Roll in confectioners' sugar. These may be stored in a tin container or cooky jar and will keep well for several weeks. No baking is required."
---"Contest Editor Picks Favorite Cooky Recipes," Mary Meade, Chicago Daily Tribune, September 23, 1945 (p. E7)[1954]
"Magic Bourbon or Rum Balls
(Makes 48 Candies)
3 cups finely crushed vanilla wafers (3/4 oz package)
1/2 cup Bourbon or Rum
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 1/2 cups ((15-ounce can) Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
Confectioners' sugar or sprinkles
Combine wafer crumbs and nuts. Add sweetened condensed milk and Bourbon (or Rum); blend well. Chill about one hour. Dip palms of hands into confectioners' sugar. Shape by teaspoonfuls into small balls. Roll in confectioners' sugar or colored sprinkles. Store in covered container in refrigerator. Candies can be moist and fresh for several weeks."
---"Give a Gift of Homemade Candy," Pittsburgh Courier, December 25, 1954 (p. SM10)[1955]
"Rum candy
1 cup seedless raisins
1 cup pitted dates
1 cup dried figs
1/4 cup rum
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup pistachio nuts
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
The day before you plan to make the candy, but the fruit in a bowl, heat the rum, and pour it on. Let stand. To make: Drain the fruit. Put fruit and nuts through the food chopper. Mix well with the hands. Form into small balls. Combine the sugar and cinnamon. Roll the balls in this spicy mixture. Let stand until dry. (Yield: about 32 candies)"
---Gifts from your Kitchen, Carli Laklan and Frederick Thomas [M. Barrows:New York] 1955 (p. 77)[1955]
"Walnut Bourbon Balls
2 1/2 cups finely crushed packaged vanilla wafers (about 5 doz.)
2 tablsp. Cocoa
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup finely chopped walnuts, or walnuts and shredded coconut
3 tablsp. corn syrup
1/4 cup bourbon
Confectioners' sugar.
Mix well wafer crumbs, cocoa, 1 cup sugar, nuts. Add corn syrup, bourbon; mix well. Form into 1" balls; then roll in sugar. Store in covered container a day or so to ripen. Makes 3 1/2 doz."
---Good Housekeeping Cook Book, Dorothy B. Marsh [Good Housekeeping:New York] 1955 (p. 480)
[NOTE: The 1963 edition of this book also includes a recipe for Brandy Balls, but no Rum Balls.]
Related food? Rum raisin ice cream.
The basic ingredients for taffy/ toffee were readily available to European cooks during the Roman occupation. Treacle (a uncrystalized syrup produced during sugar refining) was routinely employed to make cakes and gingerbread during the Middle Ages. Karen Hess notes treacle was considered to have medicinal value, which explains why it became the sweetener of choice during these times. (Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery, transcribed by Karen Hess [p. 200-1]). C. Anne Wilson confirms "Molasses was rather slow in coming into general use as a sweetener, due perhaps to the influence of the apothecaries and treaclemongers." (Food and Drink in Britain From the Stone Age to the 19th Century [p.304]). Northern European cooks typically used butter [rather than oil] for cooking because it was readily available.
What is taffy?
The earliest written reference to taffy in the Oxford English Dictionary dates back to
1817: "R. Wilbraham, Cheshire Glossary, Taffy,...a treacle thickened by boiling and made into hard cakes."
Salt water taffy appeared at the end of the 19th century.
"Taffy. A confection made from sugar, butter, and flavorings that has a chewy texture obtained by
twisting and pulling the cooked ingredients into elasticity. The British term for such candy is
toffee or toffy, possibly from tafia, a cheap West Indian rum made from molasses and used
originally to flavor candy. The Oxford English Dictionary notes that taffy...seems to refer
to an older form of the candy. By the 1870s taffy bakes and taffy pulls, at which young people would
gather to stretch the candy between them, had become social occasions."
---The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani
[Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 321)
"In the 1840s...candy pulls became popular, being called taffy pulls by the late 1870s, when taffy
also came to be a slang word for flattery. Taffy (British toffee) was simple to make, from
molasses or brown sugar and butter, and the taffy pulls entertained young and old alike and were
a suitable face-to-face pastime for courting couples. Salt water taffy became associated with the
Atlantic City Boardwalk by the 1880s, and the box of neatly wrapped pastel rows of taffy became
its typical souvenir."
---Listening to America, Stuart Berg Flexner [Simon & Schuster:New York] 1982 (p.
138)
"taffy...flattery, 'sweet talk' (from the candy), 1879."
---Listening to America, Stuart Berg Flexner (p. 86)
Taffy/toffee recipes
In 19th century American and British cookbooks, the names toffee and taffy appear to be used
interchangeably to denote similar recipes. This confection also sometimes masked as "molasses
candy" or "pulled molasses candy." Some of these recipes instruct the cook to "pull" the candy,
others simply to cut it in small squares. Some refer specifically to "Everton Toffie," named for a
town near Liverpool, England.
[1845]
"Everton Toffie
No. 1:--Put into a brass skillet or small preserving pan three ounces of very fresh butter, and as soon as it is just melted add a pound of brown sugar or moderate quality; keep these stirred gently over a very clear fire for about fifteen miutes, or until a little of the mixture, dropped into a basin of cold water breaks clean between the teeth without sticking to them: when it is boiled to this point it must be poured out immediately, or it will burn. The grated rind of a lemon, added wehn the toffie is half done, improves it much; or a small teaspoonful of powdered ginger moistened with a little of the other ingredients as soon as the sugar is dissolved and then stirred to the whole, will vary it pleasantly to many tastes. The Real Everton toffie is made with a much larger proportion of butter, but it is the less wholesome on that very account. If dropped upon dishes first rubbed with a buttered paper, the toffie when cold can be raised from them easily.
Butter, 3 oz.; sugar, 1 lb.; 15 to 18 minutes. Or sugar, 1 lb.: butter, 5 oz.; almonds, 2 oz.: 20 to 30 minutes.
---Modern Cookery for Private Families, Eliza Acton, facsimile 1845 edition with an introduction by Elizabeth Ray [Southover Press: East Susse] 1993 (p. 469)[1847:USA]
"Molasses Candy (Taffy)...Put a pint of common molasses in a stewpan, over a slow fire, let it boil, stir it to prevent its running over the top, or if necessary, take it off; when it has boiled more than half an hour try it, by taking some in a saucer; when cold, if it is brittle and hard, it is done; flavor with lemon, sassafras, or vanilla, and pour it quarter or half an inch deep in buttered tin pans. Shelled peanuts, (ground nuts) or almonds may be stirred into it, enough to make it thick, or but a few. Molasses candy may be made a light color by pulling it in your hands, having first rubbed them over with a bit of butter, to prevent the candy sticking to them, during the process."
---Mrs. Crowen's American Lady's Cookery Book, Mrs. T. J. Crowen [1847] (p. 341-342)[1861:UK]
"To Make Everton Toffee
Ingredients.--1 lb. of powdered loaf sugar, 1 teacupful of water, 1.4 lb. of butter, 6 drops of essence of lemon.
Mode.--Put the water and sugar into a brass pan and beat the butter to a cream. When the sugar is dissolved add the butter, and keep stirring the mixture over the fire until it sets, when a little is poured on to a buttered dish; and just before the toffee is done, add the essence of lemon. Butter a dish or tin, pour on the mixture, and when cool, it will easily separate from the dish. Butter[Scotch, an excellent thing for coughs, is make with brown instead of white sugar ommitting the water, and flavoured with 1/2 oz. of powdered ginger. It is made in the same manner as toffee.
Time.--18 to 35 minutes. Average cost, 10 d.
Sufficiently to make a lb. of toffee."
---Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management, Isabella Beeton, abridged 1861 edition edited by Nicola Humble [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2000 (p. 313)[1861:USA]
Taffy
3 lb. sugar
1 pint water
1/2 tsp. citric acid
Juice of 3 lemons OR 4 oranges
Butter (for pans)
Three pounds of sugar dissolved in a pint of water, in which half a teaspoon of citric acid has been dissolved; remove the scum as fast as it rises. Boil until it will crack when dropped in cold water; remove from the fire, and add the juice of three lemons or four oranges. Mix it well and boil very gently, until it is as hard as before the lemon was added; pour it in square buttered pans. It should be about an eighth of an inch thick when cold. Before it hardens mark it off neatly in small blocks that it may break regularly.
--- Civil War Cooking: The Housekeeper's Encyclopedia, Mrs. E. F. Haskell, 1861.[1875:UK]
"Toffee.
Melt three ounces of fresh butter in a small brass saucepan over a clear, bright fire. As soon as it is dissolved, stir into it one pound good brown sugar, and keep stirring until it is done enough. In order to ascertain when this point is reachedd, let a cup of cold water be placed close at hand, and keep dropping a little of the toffee into it. When the toffee thus dropped hardens immediately, and breaks between the teeth without sticking to them it is done, and must be poured out at once or it will burn. The flavour of this toffee may be pleasantly varied by stirring into it a teaspoonful of slightly moistened powdered sugar, or the grated rind of one lemon. Pour the toffee upon a buttered dish, and put it in a cool place to set. Time to boil, fifteen to twenty-five minutes. Probable cost, this quantity, 8d."
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations [Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co:London] 1875 (p. 980)
[NOTE: Book also includes recipes for Almond Toffee (p. 980) and Everton Toffee (p. 205).][1890s:UK]
"Plain Toffee.
14-lbs. White Sugar
1/2 oz. Cream of Tartar
2 Quarts Water
Process: This is an easy and sapital recipe to begin with. The process is practically the sanme as for all other clear goods, but the ingredients being few there is little chance of their getting complicated. If the reader has a thermometer it is hardly possible to make a mistake, besides it will make the instructions more intelligible; should he not possess this appliance, we must as that the instructions 'How to Boil Sugar', should be committed to memory, as it would be tedious and a great waste of time and space to keep explaining how to tell they different degrees through which the sugar passes before it comes to the point requred for the different goods given in this book For this and other reasons I will assume the learner to be working with one. Put the sugar and water in a clean pan place it on the fire and stir it occasionally till melted; when it comes to a boil, add the cream of tartar and put a lid on the pan; allow it to boil in this way for ten minutes remove the lid and immerse the bottom part of the thermometer in the boiling liquid and allow it to remain in this position until it records 310 degrees, then quickly take out the thermometer, lift off the pan and pour contents into frames, tines, or on a pouring plate, which have been previously oiled. If on pouring plate, mark the boil into bars or squares while warm with a knife or toffee cuter; when quite cold, it is ready for sale."
---Skuse's Complete Confetioner, 7/6 [W.J. Bush & Co.:London] 1890s (p. 23)
[NOTES: (1) This is a professional confectionery text. (2) Additional toffee flavors include lemon, Everton, Fig, Walnut, Barcelona & Cocoanut. Butter Scothch, Eggsa and Bacon and Stick Jaw are also classed as Toffees.][1936:UK]
"Treacle Toffee
Put a 1/4 lb. of fresh butter into a tinned saucepan, and when partially melted add 1/2 lb. of treacle and 1/2 lb. or Demerara sugar, and mix well together. Boil for 8 to 10 minutes, then test it by dropping a little in cold water. If it immediately hardens and is brittle, pour all on to a buttered dish. Before it is hard it can be marked into squares with the back of a knife, and it will then break evenly. If liked, almonds can be pressed in before the toffee hardens. Toffee can be pulled until it is any desired light colour, or even white. It is then, while soft, made into rolls or sticks about half an inch thick, and cut into short pieces with scissors."
---Cookery Illustrated and Household Management, Elizabeth Craig [Odhams Press:London] 1936 (p. 459)
About salt water taffy
Salt water taffy is popularly
attributed to Fralingers, on the Atlantic City NJ boardwalk, 1883.
Our survey of historic newspaper articles reveals there were several claimants to the origination of
this seaside treat. Not surprisingly? The issue became a matter of court record.
"Mr. Fralinger retired from business several years ago. Though he was widely known as the 'Salt Water Taffy King,' the claim that he
was the originator of the taffy has been disputed. He was one of the first to manufacture it however, and probably did more than
anybody else to popularize it."
---"Joseph Fralinger Dies," New York Times, May 14, 1927 (p. 19)
"Fralingers,'s Inc., the oldest original business on the Boardwalk, has been making and selling saltwater taffy since 1885 at the
same location, Tennessee Avenue and the Boardwalk, where Joseph Fralinger set up his stand a century ago. Mr. Fralinger did not create
saltwater taffy, but he was, by all accounts, its most successful merchandiser...According to Arthur H. Gager 3d...the founder of the family business
first took note of taffy in a letter to a relative, written in 1883 in which the candy was referred to as 'Ocean Wave,' 'Sea Foam,'
and 'Salt Water Taffy.' How it got the name saltwater taffy is a pleasant Atlantic City fable. It is said that a Mr. Cassidy and
a Mr. Bradley--nobody knows for sure--had a taffy stand and that one night a northeaster hit the Boardwalk, overturning
everything and washing the sea over his stock. The next day a girl came by, tasted a piece of the candy and asked, 'Is this
saltwater taffy?'...Mr. Gager says is that the name was coined 'simply because of the proximity of the water to the Atlantic
City beach and the Boardwalk.'"
---"100 Years the Tons of Taffy Later...," Fred Ferretti, New York Times, June 12, 1985 (p. C3)
Who were the other contenders & what was the outcome of the legal battle?
"About sixty years ago a man had a small candy store on the Atlantic City waterfront--which, in those remote days, had no grand
Boardwalk, as it now has, raised many inches above the sea. One morning when he opened up for business he found that a recent hight
tide had flooded his stock during the night. 'As he stood tearing his hair, a little girl came in with some pennies in her hand.
'Please, sir, half a pound of taffy,' she said. 'Here's some salt water taffy,' groaned the storekeeper, handing her a package of
sea-soaked candy. Munching delightedly, she returned to her parents on the beach. 'It's salt water taffy,' she said: the man told
me so.' They started munching also, with a delight equal to hers. 'The candy merchant's mother happened to witness the scene. At
once an idea sprang, full-fledged, into her brain. She rushed to her son's flooded shop. 'When you make your next batch of candy,
mix it with salt water!' she told him.'He did. Others did..."
---"Topics of the Times, New York Times, October 25, 1947 (p. 18)
"John Ross Edmiston Sr.,...claimed to have originated 'saltwater taffy,'...Mr. Edmiston, born at Tyroe, Pa., was graduated from
Lebanon (Pa.) Business College and had been a penmanship teacher. He used the name of salt water taffy shortly after he
opened a confectionery store in Atlantic City in 1884. Mr. Edmiston first opened his shore store at the ocean end of the boardwalk
at South Carolina Avenue. He had been making the candy for some time when his customers insisted that he give it a name. One day,
the sea splashed into his stand, wetting a quantity of the candy which was cooling on a slab. Fearful lest the salt water had ruined
his batch, Mr. Edmiston found that the water had not penetrated into the candy and the thought struck him to call it 'salt water
taffy.'"
---"John Ross Edmiston Sr. Claims He Was Originator of 'Salt-Water Taffy...'", New York Times, Septebmer 18, 1939 (p. 24)
"With millions at stake in royalties and the future of their industry in jeopardy, about 500 candy manufacturers in this country,
chiefly along the Atlantic seaboard, have won the right, after months of litigation, to continue using the trademark 'salt
water taffy.' The decision was given by the United States Supreme Court. The right to exclusive use of the trademark was
claimed by John R. Edmiston of Wildwood, N.J. in 1923. He contended he was the originator and the only one to manufacture
'salt water taffy' for ten years prior to 1905. His petition for registration of the trade-mark was granted by the United States
Patent Office officials. Edmiston then notified all other manufacturers of the confection to cease using the trade-mark and served
notice that he would collect royalties on all taffy made since 1895. These royalties would have run into millions. The fisght for the
confectioners was made by James Brothers of this city, beginning in August, 1924, resulting in a decision that the term 'salt water taffy'
cannot be registered."
---"'Salt Water Taffy' Makers Win Fight Against Patent," New York Times, March 30, 1925 (p. 19)
"Candy interest are following with close attention a temporary victory for manufacturers who contend that John R. Edmiston of Wildwood,
N.J., has not the exclusive right to use the trademark 'Salt Water Taffy.' The examiner for interferences of the Patent Office
has ruled that Mr. Edmiston is not entitled to sole use of this trade name. When Mr. Edmiston filed application for his trade mark some
years ago, the Patent Office decided that the name was 'descriptive' and therefore he would have to apply under a proviso that for
ten years previous to 1905 he had, to the best of his knowledge and belief, been entitled to the trade name. Under such an
application thirty days are left open for any one to file an opposition, but this was not done. Under a proviso, however, contendants
may at any time apply for a cancellation of the registration, and this application has been made by James Brothers of Atlantic
City, representing a large number of candy manufacturers. The examiner for interferences now has ruled against Mr. Edmiston. The
latter has until April 15 to appeal from this decision to the Commissioner of Patents...The Edmiston appeal has not yet been
filed."
---"Denies Sole Right to 'Salt Water Taffy,'" New York Times, April 12, 1925 (p. 13)
We also found this tasty Prohibition-era tidbit:
"Ocean City's fifth candyless Snday since the enforcement of Lord's Day regulations, was ameliorated today by the free distribution
of 1,000 boxes of salt water taffy to confectionery-hungry excursionists. John C. Funk, manager of the Arcadia restaurant, staged
the candy barbecue. The situation was further relieved when Willian F. Shriver and J. Frank Shellenhberger...dispensed ice
cream and soda water for the first time on Sunday since the blue ordinance was enforced. Since that time they had kept their
places closed on Sunday."
---"Ends Candyless Sundays: Restaurant Man Gives Free Taffy in Blue-law Town," New York Times, July 30, 1923 (p. 4)
Does salt water taffy really contain salt? Sometimes.
[1919ish]
"Genuine Atlantic City Salt Water taffy.
Mix four pounds of sugar and one tablespoonful of corn starch, then place in a kettle and add:
4 pound corn syrup
1/4 pound Nucoa Butter
1 1/2 pints water
Cook to 256 degrees F., then add one tablespoonful salt, pour on slab and when cool enough, pull on hook for a long time. Spin into strips as with stick candy, cutting into pieces about 3/4 inch long. Wrap each piece in thin wax paper and you have the genunine salt water taffy such as originated, and is made and sold on the boardwalk at Atlantic City.
[NOTE: Nucoa brand "butter" was really a margarine.]"Salt Water Taffy
4 pounds "C" sugar
2 pounds corn syrup
1/2 pound butter
1 1/2 pints water.
Cook to about 260 degrees F., the add tablespoon of salt and 2 ounces glycerine. Pour on slab and when cool, pull well on hook adding vanilla flavor when pulling. Pull out in round sticks about the size of stick candy, cut in small pieces with shears and wrap in wax paper."
---Rigby's Reliable Candy Teacher, W.O. Rigby, 19th edition [1919?] (p. 146-7)[1940]
"Atlantic City Salt-Water Taffy
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2/3 cup corn syrup
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup salt sea water
Flavoring
Mix sugar and cornstarch, put into a saucepan, and add syrup butter, and sea water; sitr until boiling point is reached, then boil until it forms a firm ball (254 degrees F.) when tried in cold water, and pour on a greased tin or marble. When cool ennough to handle, pull until it is a light color, adding desired flavor while pulling. Stretch out in a roll 1 inch thick and cut with scissors into desired lengths. Wrap in wax paper. If you have no genuine Atlantic Ocean water handy you might add 1/4 teaspoon salt to any other water, although that would be a misdemeanor in New Jersey."
---America Cooks: Favorite Recipes form 48 States, The Browns, Cora, Rose and Bob [Garden City Books:Garden City NY] 1940 (p. 569-570)[1970]
"Salt water taffy.
You can divide taffy, tinting and flavoring each portion differently
2 c. Sugar
1 c. Light corn syrup
1 1/2 c. Water
1 1/2 tsp. Salt
2 tsp. Glycerin
2 tblsp. Butter
2 tsp. Vanilla
Combine sugar, syrup, water, salt and glycerine in a 3-qt. Heavy saucepan. Place on low heat and stir until sugar dissolves. The cook without stirring to the hard ball stage (260 degrees F.). Remove from heat and add butter. When butter is melted, pour into a buttered shallow pan (about 13X9"). Whe cool enough to handle, gather into a ball and pull until rather firm. Add vanilla while pulling. Stretch out into a long rope and cut in 1 or 2" pieces. Wrap each piece in waxed paper when hard; twist paper at both ends. This will keep candy from becoming sticky. Makes about 1 1/4 pounds. NOTE: You can tint taffy while pulling it. Different flavors may be added, also in the pulling, instead of the vanilla. Pink taffy usually is flavored with wintergreen, white with vanilla, green with spearmint."
---Homemade Candy, Nell B. Nichols, Farm Journal field food editor [Doubleday & Company:Garden City:New York] 1970 (p. 154)
Butterscotch
The history of butterscotch is closely connected to that of toffee/taffy. It is essentially the same
recipe tempered with lemon flavoring. Exact recipes (molasses, white sugar, brown, sugar, corn
syrup) vary greatly according to time and place. Food historians have several theories regarding
the name of this candy and its connection to Scotland; none of them conclusive. Theodora
Fitzgibbon (Scottish culinary expert) includes a recipe for butterscotch in her Scottish
Cookery (p.260), without comment.
Butterscotch recipes through time:
[1855]
"Everton Toffie...No. 2.--Boil together a pound of sugar and five ounces of butter for twenty minutes; then stir in two ounces of almonds blanched, divided, and thoroughly dried in a slow iven, or before th fire. Let the toffie boil after they are added, till it crackles when dropped into cold water, and snaps between the teeth without sticking."
--- Modern Cookery for Private Families, Eliza Acton [London] Southover Press edition with introduction by Elizabeth Ray [1993] (p. 469)[1877]
Buckeye Butter Scotch & Butter Taffy
Buckeye Cookery, Esther Woods Wilcox[1890s]
"Butter Scotch.
8-lbs White Sugar
1 lb Fresh Butter1 Quart Water
Lemon FlavouringProcess.--Melt the sugar in the water by an occasional stir when the pan is on the fire, then add the cream of tartar and boil up to 300; lift the pan on to the side of the furnace and add butter in small pieces broken off by the hand; slip the pan on the fire again adding the lemon falvor; let it boil through, so that all the butter is boiled in, then pour into frames; when partly cold, mark the cutter into small squares; when cold, divide the squares; wrap each in wax paper, then tinfoil; sold generally in 1/2 d, 1 d, and 3d packets, the latter containing 6 halfpenny pieces. N.B.--There is good butter scotch and better butter scotch, but no bad butter scotch; this quality may be imporved by the addition of a larger proportion of butter..."
---Skuse's Complete Confectioner [London] (p. 24)[1918]
"Butter Taffy
2 cups light brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup molasses
7/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons
vinegar
1/4 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanillaBoil first five ingredients until, when tried in cold water mixture will become brittle. When nearly done, add butter, and just before turning into pan, vanilla. Cool, and mark in squares."
---Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, Fannie Merritt Farmer[1929]
"Butterscotch Squares
1 2/3 cups light brown sugar
2/3 corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1/4 teasoon salt
Oil of lemonPut sugar, corn syrup, and water in a saucepan, stir until is dissolved, bring to boiling point, and boil to 280 degrees F., or until it cracks in cold water. Add butter and salt, and boil to 290 degrees F., or until it reaches the hard crack when tried in cold water. Remove from fire, flavor with oil of lemon, and pour out between bars on slightly moistened slab, mark the squares, and bread up when cold."
---The Candy Cook Book, Alice Bradley [Little, Brown:Boston] 1929 (p. 128) [NOTE: This book also has recipes for Butterscotch Wafers, Cream Butterscotch Balls (or Scotch Kisses, Cream Butterscotch With Nuts (walnuts or pecans), and Chocolate Butterscotch Creams]
Related confection? Blondies (aka butterscotch brownies). ABOUT CARAMEL
The term "caramel" has two meanings: the highest stage of heated sugar (also caramelized/caramelization) and a confection (candy). According to the food historians, caramelization was practiced in France in the 17th century. Pralines are an example of a caramelized confection. Caramel candies, as we think of them today, surfaced in the 18th century. The are related to toffee. In addition to candy, caramel has several other applications. These include: flavoring (caramel custard), sauce (popular with ice cream), and coating (caramel corn).
"Caramel is sugar which has been cooked until it turns brown. The word caramel is a
comparatively late introduction into English: it is first recorded in 1725. It came via French from
Spanish caramelo, but its previous history is speculative; its most likely source is perhaps late
Latin calamellus, a diminutive form of Latin calamus, 'reed, cane' (the implied reference being to
'sugarcane'). The sweets caramels, a soft form of toffee, are made with sugar and milk, butter, or
cream."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 57)
"The five terms--lisse or smooth, pearl, blow, feather, and casse or break--remained
standard [confectionery terms] during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They were split
into lower' and higher', which then became regarded as degrees in their own right. The term
caramel was added. Confusingly for the modern reader, this indicated the degree just
before the sugar begins to colour. It is now regarded as the hard crack stage. Such attention to
detail implies that confectionery became very accomplished during the eighteenth century, but,
despite this, written instructions were often inconsistent and blase...Confectioners remained
circumspect about boiling sugar higher than feather...Higher degrees came into use gradually. In
the sixteenth century, only apothecaries were confident with them. In the next, Rose translated
one recipe which required sugar boiled to casse or break. In the eighteenth, sugar boiled to the
highest degree, grand casse, or caramel, had a limited use. Massailot said that
caramel was proper for Barley-sugar and certain small Sugar-works call'd by that name.' His
compatriot J. Gilliers, writing in 1751, described caramel as sugar boiled to casse. It was
coloured, and used for figures to decorate the table. Other confectioners used caramel for
decorative purposes and do not seem to have made many boiled-sugar sweets of the type now
familiar. Only at the beginning of the next century did Jarrin make it clear that he included
browned sugar in the term caramel."
---Sugar-plums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect
Books:Devon] 2004 (p. 57-60)
"Toffee recieved a boost in the 1880s when caramels, a North American innovation, were
introduced. Caramels relied
on slowly boiled sugar and milk to give a delicious flavour. Skuse wrote that these sweets were
sold very freely on the
lowest and poorest quarters of London, at two-pence per ounce; in the West End the same goods
fetch double that price.'
They were also suitable for mass production. Coconut oil substitutes were developed to replace
the dairy products, and
automatic stirrers replaced human endeavour at the boiling pan. Confectioners began experiments.
In 1890 John
Mackintosh opened a shop in Halifax. Shortly afterwards, he created Mackintosh's Celebrated
Toffee, drawing both on
English toffee and American caramel formulae."
---Sweet and Sweet Shops, Laura Mason [Shire Publications:Buckinghamshire] 1999 (p.
18-9)
What did British confectioners think of American caramels at the turn of the 20th
century?
"Caramels. When first brought over from America, these goods were certainly a treat. The were
rather dear, but they
were good; the public appreciated them. Very soon the demand was universal, then competition
stepped in with the
usual result--the prices lowered, the quality suffered, until anything cut into the shape were called
caramels.
Consequently, the demand lessened; still they were forced on the market cheaper and cheaper,
worse and worse, until
only those who liked plenty of money bought the vile concoctions. The very name has almost
become a synonym for
rubbish. However, several makers had kept up the standard of excellence, so that only those
which are identified by a
particular brand or name find favour with the retail shopkeepers who study the interest of their
customers, but the
mischief has already been done to the great bulk of the general trade; the public has lost
confidence, and are afraid to buy
that which they woudl like, having so often got that which they did not like, bearing the same
name and having the same
appearance as their former favorites. To remedy this state of things as far a possible, we
recommend the making of an
excellent article from good and fresh ingredients, using a distinctive name or brand, and, above all,
keep the quality up to
the standard. Better please old customers with prime goods than try to deceive new ones with
cheap and common
confectionery goods."
---Skuse's Complete Confectioner, 7/6 [W.J.Bush & Co.:London] 189? (p. 60-1)
Caramel recipes through time
[1864]
Definition of carmel and
recipes
[NOTE: these confections are classed as "caramels," not called caramels].
[1884]
Chocolate
caramels, Caramel, for
coloring Soups, etc. & Caramel
custard.
[1896]
To
make
caramel, Caramel
frosting & Caramel
Charlotte Russe
[1911]
Definition and uses of Caramel,
distinct from Caramel
candies.
Some popular snack foods are coated with caramel:
Cracker
Jacks (1893)
Karmel Korn
(1929)
Related foods? Pralines and toffee apples. Also: Carmel cake & Carame cream.
Toffee apples
The practice of coating fruit in sugar syrup dates to ancient times. Honey and sugar were used as
preserving agents. Food historians generally agree that toffee apples (aka taffy apples, caramel
candied apples, candy apples, lollipop apples) probably date to the late 19th century, although difficult to prove in print. Both
toffee and caramel are traced to the early decades of the 18th century.
Inexpensive toffee/caramels became available by the end of the 19th century. Culinary evidence
confirms a variety of recipes, from hard colored sugar to soft chewy caramel coating.
What is "candied fruit?"
"The use of cane sugar slowly spread outward from Bengal. In the seventh century
A.D., the Chinese emporer Tai-Hung sent workmen to Gur to learn the art of
sugar refining, and by the tenth century camel caravans were carrying "sand sugar"
north through the empty deserts to Europe. This newsly arrived cane sugar was
initially regarded as a spice, and in medieval Europe was used principally as a
medicine. It was enormously expensive and was therefore only available to the
wealthiest households. Nevertheless, sugar gradually began to be more widely
appreciated for its appetizing sweetness in sweetmeats, confectionery, and
desserts, while it was increasingly valued also as a preserving agent for fresh fruits.
Sweetmeats had appeared on the menu of the most sumptuous feasts and banquets
of the Romans, the Athenians, and in Byzantium, and the most wealthy and noble
households of the European Middle Ages adopted these delicacies for their own
tables. These sweetmeats were considered a digestive to clear the palate...Good
hosts weven placed little decorated comfit boxes filled with sugared almonds,
pralines, nougats, candied spiced preserves and lemon peel, marzipan made with
ground almond paste, egg whites, and sugar, and crystallized fruits, flowers, and
angelica for the delectation of their guests in the privacy of their chambers. It was
believed that sugar helped their digestion...Candying, probably developed in the
Middle East, is a very slow process of replacing the natural juices of the fruit with
the sugar solution or syrup. As in some fruit-drying processes, citrus peel and
some hard fruits are first soaked in strong brine or acid solution to draw out some
of the liquid before boiling and to encourage the fruit to absorb more sugar. Once
candied, the fruits can be "crystallized" by painting them with egg white and
dusting liberally with sugar...Once sugared, the fruit or flower is the left to dry out
in a warm,well ventilated place."
---Pickled, Potted, and Canned: How the Art and Science of Food Preserving
Changed the World, Sue Shepard [Simon & Schuster:New York] 2000 (p.
168-9)
One the THE best books on the history of confectionery (all kinds) is Laura Mason's Sugarplums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets [Prospect Books:Devon] 2004 ISBN 1903018285. This source traces the origins of candy evolving from honey and refined sugar. Candying, Ms. Mason notes, was a method employed in ancient times for fruit preservation. Candied fruit could be dried or stored with syrup in airtight containers. While the book does not specifically address candied apples it does contain a passage which is on point:
"Preserved fruit had been a status symbol for centuries. Before canning, freezing and air freight, sugar was the only medium of conservation available...Originally, the technique was used for more than merely keeping the fruit from rotting. Fresh fruit was regarded as suspect by physicians, who thought it mostly 'cold' in humoral terms. In the seventeeth century, Tobias Venner thought quinces, peaches, and apricots cold and dry, apples and pears cold and moist with a 'crude and windie moisture'...Preserving with sugar (which was moderately hot) made delicious sweetmeats that tempered the coldness of the fruit...Fruit sweetmeats, including a few using honey, can be traced back to the earliest collections of recipes. The confectioner faced with a glut of fruit had three options: preserve it whole (in syrup or candied); cook to a homogenous paste; extract the fruit and boil it with sugar to make a jelly. In skilful hands all three were exploited for decorative, beautifully coloured and flavoured sweetmeats. Preserving whole involved a serious attempt to conserve the integrity of fruits to that they appeared as natural as possible. All recipes for preserves or "suckets' begain by cooking fruit gently, and then steeping in syrup over several days. The syrup was concentrated by boiling a little more each day...Finallly, fruit and syrup were transferred to gallipots or glasses and sealed with bladder or paper until needed. Drained, the preserves could be sprinkled with fine sugar, or candied by dipping them in sugar boiled to candy eight so encasing each piece in a sugar shell. This method uses syrups boiled to relatively low temperatures. Candied fruits are still made with varying degrees of skill in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and their former colonies. The quantities of sugar required, as well as the time and expertise, make these expensive and luxurious sweetmeats even now." (p. 109-111)
About toffee apples
"Toffee apple. A popular confection on Britian, especially in the autumn, when they used
to be
prominent, with their vivid red color, at autumn fairs. A whole, fresh apple, on a thin stick,
is
dipped in a high-boiled sugar syrup which has been colored red; and allowed to set before
wrapping in cellophane. The Oxford English Dictionary gives on quotations
relating to
toffee apples earlier than the beginning of the 20th century. However, the use of the term
as a
soldier's slang for a type of bomb used in the first World War suggests that they were
already well
known, and probably have a longer history than the quotations allow. In the phrase 'toffee
apple'
the word 'toffee' means simple boiled sugar, not the mixture of sugar and dairy produce
which is
what the word usually refers to. This may be another indication of an older origin of the
toffee
apple...There is some similarity between toffee apples and the Chinese dessert items which
consist
of pieces of banana or apple fried in batter and then coated in a caramelized syrup.
Whether there
is any historical connection is not clear."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford]
1999 (p.
798)
"Toffee-apples seem to be an early twentieth-century invention; they are first mentioned in
the
Christmas 1917 issue of the BEF Times."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002
(p. 345)
Mrs. D.A. Lincoln's Boston Cooking School Cook Book [1884] provides instructions for "Candied or Crystallized Fruit of Nuts" which approximates the formula described by Mr. Davidson. It does not, however, mention the use of apples
The oldest recipe we have for toffee apples is this:
"Apples on a stick.
Take small apples and stick in each one at the top, a small wooden skewer, such as butchers use to pin roasts. Now cook a batch of Molasses Taffy to 280 degress F. Then dip the apple in the hot batch so as to cover it completely. Let the surplus syrup drip off, then stand them on a slab until cold."
---Rigby's Reliable Candy Teacher, W.O. Rigby, 19th edition [USA] 1919? (p. 215)
[NOTE: this book contains two recipes for molasses taffy, p. 144 and 145.][1924]
"Lollipop Apples
Select very small red apples, wash and dry them, put a stick or skewer in each, and dip them in the glace."Glace
Glace or glace sugar is used for the dipping of nuts and fruits and for the making of various hard candies. It is an exceedingly pure form of candy, very easily made, yet requiring careful watching, as it quickly clouds, and obviuosly, when not clear, its beautiful effect is lost. It is from glace that the spun sugar nests used chiefly for their decorative purposes are made. The remains of glace, after dipping nuts and candies, may be very delicately coloured, flavoured with a few drops of cinnamon, clove, lemon, or any other desired extract and dropped or poured on to an oiled slab or platter in the form of small candies.
1 pound sugar, 1/8 pound cream of tartar, 2/3 cupful water
Place all the ingredients in a small saucepan, stir only until the sugar has dissolved, then cook to 320 degrees. Remove immediately from the fire and drip whole or half nuts and candy centres, one at a time, into the syrup, gently, so as not to disturb it and make it cloudy. Lift them out immediately with the candy fork and turn on to an oiled slab or platter or table oilcloth to set."
---Mrs. Allen on Cooking, Menus, Service, Ida C. Baley Allen [Doubleday, Doran & Company:Garden City NY] 1924 (p. 790-1)
"Turkish delight is a gelatinous sweet of Turkish origin, coated in powdered sugar. It is variously flavored
and coloured, although the variety most commonly seen in the West is made with rose water, and is
consequently pink. It is cut into cubes, and was originally called in English lumps of delight', a term
Dickens needed to explain in 1870: "I want to got the the Lumps-of-Delight shop," "To the-?" "A Turkish
sweetmeat, sir"' (Mystery of Edwin Drood). The name Turkish delight itself is first recorded in 1877. The
Turkish term for the sweet is rahat lokum, a borrowing from Arabic rahat al-hulqum, which literally means
throat's ease."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 351-2)
This article confirms the popularity of Turkish confectionery in Europe: "A King's Confectioner in the Orient," Priscilla Mary Isin/Petits propos culinaires, February 2002 [includes selected historic recipes]
Related confection? Fruit leather.
About culinary research & about copyright
Research conducted by Lynne
Olver, editor The Food
Timeline. About this site.
