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Velvet Molasses Candy
Put 1 1/2 pounds sugar, 1/2 pint molasses, 1/2 pint water, 1/4 cupful vinegar, in agate kettle. Heat; when boiling add 1/2 teaspoonful cream tartar; boil till it crisps in cold water. Stir; when almost done add 1/4 pound butter, 1/4 teaspoonful soda. Cool in buttered pan and pull.
A straightforward pulled molasses taffy of the type sold in candy shops before wrapped commercial sweets took over. The whole recipe hinges on the cold-water test, so a thermometer removes the guesswork.
- MeasuresA half-pint is 1 cup, so this is 1 cup molasses and 1 cup water. The 1 1/2 pounds of sugar is roughly 3 1/3 cups granulated.
- Agate kettleAgate (or graniteware) was enamelled steel, chosen because it does not react with vinegar or molasses. A heavy stainless or enamelled pan does the same job; avoid unlined copper or aluminium here.
- "Crisps in cold water"The syrup is boiled to one of the crack stages, where a drop dripped into cold water turns brittle rather than staying pliable. Pulled molasses candies are generally taken off somewhere in the soft- to hard-crack range; a thermometer plus the water test is the safest guide, since undercooked syrup stays sticky and will not hold a pull.
- Cream of tartar and vinegarBoth are acids, which invert some of the sucrose and help keep the candy smooth instead of grainy. The recipe adds the cream of tartar once the syrup boils; adding acid earlier gives it longer to act, which would tend to invert more sugar and yield a softer candy.
- Butter and soda at the endThe soda reacts with the acid in the molasses and foams the syrup slightly, which may contribute to the opaque, tender chew the name "velvet" suggests, though most of the aeration comes from the pulling. Expect the pan to rise sharply for a few seconds, so use a pot at least three times the depth of the syrup.
- Stirring"Stir" applies only near the end, when the syrup is thick and scorches easily. Stirring a boiling sugar syrup early on encourages crystals; wash any grains off the pan sides with a wet brush instead.
- Cooling before pullingPour onto a buttered slab or rimmed sheet and let the edges cool until the mass can be folded toward the centre with a buttered scraper. Pull only when it can be handled comfortably with greased hands, and be aware that partially cooled sugar still holds enough heat to blister.
- Yield and keepingAbout 2 pounds of candy. Cut the pulled rope with scissors and wrap the pieces individually in waxed paper; unwrapped, they fuse into one block within a day in humid weather.
Molasses taffy was among the cheapest candies an American household could make, and it stayed cheap long after refined white sugar became affordable: molasses was a byproduct of sugar production and a standing pantry item for baking and gingerbread. Pulling was social work, and the taffy-pull, where a cooled batch was passed between greased hands until it turned pale and satiny, is one of the better-documented parlour amusements of the period. Compilations like this one collected such recipes at a time when factory-made wrapped confectionery was beginning to make homemade candy a pastime rather than a necessity.