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Horehound Candy
3/4 square inch pressed horehound 2 cups boiling water 3 cups sugar 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar Pour boiling water over horehound which has been separated in pieces; let stand one minute, then strain through double cheese-cloth. Put into a granite kettle with remaining ingredients, and boil until, when tried in cold water, mixture will become brittle. Turn into a buttered pan, cool slightly, then mark in small squares. Small square packages of horehound may be bought for five cents.
A straightforward pulled-sugar candy flavored with an infusion of horehound, a bitter mint-family herb once sold in pressed cakes at the druggist. The whole thing hinges on cooking the syrup to the right stage.
- The hinge: hard-crack stage"Brittle when tried in cold water" means hard crack, 300-310F on a candy thermometer. Below that the candy stays tacky and will weld itself to the paper; much above it and the sugar scorches and turns acrid on top of the herb's own bitterness.
- Pressed horehoundThe five-cent square was compressed dried horehound leaf, no longer sold that way. Loose dried horehound from a herb supplier works; figure roughly 1/4 to 1/3 cup of dried leaf steeped in the 2 cups boiling water, though the original's "3/4 square inch" gives no reliable weight to convert from.
- Steeping timeOne minute is a very short infusion by modern practice, and was likely enough only because the pressed cake was dense and strong. With loose leaf, steep 10 minutes for a flavor you can taste through 3 cups of sugar, then strain hard through doubled cheesecloth to catch the fine hairs.
- Granite kettleGranite ware is enamelled steel. Any heavy nonreactive saucepan does; choose one at least three times the volume of the syrup, because it climbs when it boils. Avoid unlined copper or cast iron with the cream of tartar.
- Cream of tartarIt inverts a little of the sugar so the batch stays clear and snaps rather than turning grainy. Do not skip it, and do not stir the syrup once it boils.
- Marking the squaresScore the slab with a buttered knife while it is still pliable but no longer liquid, a few minutes after pouring. Wait longer and it shatters at random; cut sooner and the lines close up.
- Yield and keepingThree cups of sugar gives something over a pound of candy, 60 to 80 small squares. Horehound drops pull moisture from the air, so dust with a little powdered sugar and keep them in a tightly closed tin.