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Candies and Candy Making: Stir
Butter a large saucepan which will hold about four times the quantity of molasses to be used. Stir frequently, especially when nearly done, to keep it from burning or boiling over. To test it, pour a spoonful into cold water; if it is hard, brittle, and snaps like a pipestem without bending, it is done, otherwise the boiling must continue. It is, however, quite customary to mix with molasses about as much brown sugar to make it boil more quickly, and some persons add a little butter or glycerin to make it pull easier. Others stir in teaspoonful of baking soda dissolved in an equal amount of water or a little vinegar when the candy is nearly done to make it more brittle. The flavoring matter, if any, should be added just before the candy is taken from the fire and may be quickly stirred in or merely dropped on the top of the mass.
Nuts of all kinds may be stirred into the candy just before removing it from the stove, or they may be placed in the buttered pan and the candy poured over them. The flavoring matter will be worked in when the candy is pulled. When done it should be poured out on a large buttered platter or pan so as to be about inch thick to cool. As the edges cool they should be turned in and as soon as it will bear the hands the pulling should commence.
Or boil together in a buttered saucepan over a slow fire for 2 hours, stirring frequently, 1 quart of molasses and 14 pounds of lightbrown sugar. Now stir in the juice of a large lemon and 12 drops oil of lemon, and continue the heat until the sirup ceases to boil. Test by dropping a little in water, when, if done, it should be crisp and brittle. Pour in a buttered pan to cool.
Or 2 quarts of Porto Rico molasses, 1 pound of brown sugar, the juice of 2 large lemons or a teaspoonful of strong essence of lemon. Or 2 cupfuls of molasses, 1 cupful of sugar, butter the size of an egg, 1 tablespoonful of glycerin. Test by letting a few drops fall in cold water.
If they keep their shape and are brittle it is done, but do not boil too much. Stir in 1 teaspoonful cream of tartar or soda just before removing from the fire. Butter-scotch. - To make butterscotch the ingredients may all be boiled together, or the butter and flavoring matter may be added to the sirup after it has boiled about twenty minutes, or when nearly ready to take from the fire. The sirup should boil to the hard-snap stage. To test when it is done, either use the confectioners' test with the fingers, or test by dropping in cold water or on a cold plate, when it will harden if boiled sufficiently.
The following recipes are recommended:
Boil to a hard snap½ cupful of sugar, cupful of molasses, cupful of butter, tablespoonful of vinegar, teaspoonful of soda, stirring sufficiently to prevent burning. Flavor to taste, after removing from the fire. Butter a tin and pour out the sirup in a thin layer, which may be checked off in any desired shape when nearly cold with a sharp knife. Wrap in a piece of waxed paper. This is among the best reci pes and very easy to make.
Or boil 1 pound of sugar in 1 pint of water to the soft ball, stir in 1 tablespoonful of butter, boil to the hard snap, remove from the fire and flavor to taste.
Boil to the soft ball 2 pounds of light-brown sugar, 2 pints of water.
When done it should be crisp and not hard when dropped in water. Now stir in 2 tablespoonfuls of butter, boil to the hard snap, remove and flavor to taste. وو Boil to the soft ball 1 pound of "soft A" or "coffee" sugar, 1 teacupful of water, stir in 2 ounces of butter, boil to the hard snap and flavor with lemon juice and oil of lemon or otherwise, as desired.
Or boil about 20 minutes or to the hard-snap stage 1 cupful of brown sugar, ½ cupful of water, 1 teaspoonful of vinegar, and a piece of butter the size of a walnut. When it will harden in water pour out to cool.
SIRUP CANDIES Sirup candies may be made of any desired flavor by boiling a sirup the same as for molasses candy. Clarify it by adding a little carefully picked gum arabic dissolved in hot water.
The impurities which are taken up by the gum rise to the surface and can be removed with the skimmer.
Continue to boil and skim until the sirup becomes perfectly clear and is hard and brittle when dropped into cold water. This will require half an hour or more steady boiling over a slow fire. Remove from the fire and as soon as the boiling subsides stir in vanilla, wintergreen, hoarhound, peppermint, rose, or any other flavoring matter as desired. Pour out in buttered tins to cool, and when nearly cold mark into squares or any desired shape with a sharp knife.
The following recipes are recommended:
To 3 pounds of dark-brown sugar add 1½ pints of water and ounce of gum arabic dissolved in a little hot water.
Or boil together 1 quart of sirup, 1 pound of granulated sugar, 1 teaspoonful of butter, 1 tablespoonful of glycerin.
Or 2 pounds of granulated sugar, cupful of water, cupful of vinegar, butter the size of an egg, 1 tablespoonful of glycerin. Just before taking from the fire stir in 1 level teaspoonful of soda and pour 2 teaspoonfuls of vanilla, wintergreen, or any other flavoring matter over the top. Pull until white and glistening, and cut to any desired shape with sharp scissors.
Maple Sirup Candy. - Boil down any desired quantity of maple sirup until it will harden and crack if dropped into cold water. When it is done, and just before removing from the fire, stir in a teaspoonful of butter for each cupful of sirup. This gives a hard candy.
Or it may be made soft and waxy by less boiling.
Or melt down 2 pounds of maple sugar in rather less than a pint of warm water. Boil until it hardens in cold water, and stir in 3 or 4 tablespoonfuls of pure cider vinegar. In both cases pour in buttered pans to the depth of about 1 inch to cool.
Twist Candy.-Boil without skimming over a slow fire 1½ pounds of granulated sugar and pint of water, for half an hour. Remove from the fire and as soon as the hands will bear it pull it the same as molasses candy until it is white and glossy. Work it into fancy shapes and cut it to any desired size with a sharp scissors.
Sugar Candy.-Boil together without stirring 2 cupfuls of white coffee sugar, cupful of good cider vinegar, and cupful of water, until it hardens in cold water. Pour over it any desired flavoring matter, cool on a smooth buttered surface and pull until it is white and glossy, but without twisting. Do not use butter on the hands, but have them clean and dry.
To make nut candy, place the nuts or popcorn in the dish, and pour this fondant over them.
CANDIES AND CANDY MAKING Rock Candy.-A special kettle is required to make fine rock candy.
This kettle should be broad and shallow, the width being three or four times the depth. Place in the bottom of the kettle a circular rim of smooth tin about 2 inches high and closely fitting to the inside of the kettle all around. Near the top of this make ten or twelve holes in a circle all around at equal distances from each other, and string across threads from one side to the other on which the candy may crystallize.
Prepare the sirup in a separate vessel, and when it is done pour it into the kettle so that it will reach an inch above the threads. Place the kettle on the stove at a moderate heat and leave it to crystallize, shaking it from time to time. It will require about six days. When the crystals have formed pour off the remaining sirup and dash in a little cold water to clean the crystals from the sediment left in the bottom of the kettle. Remove the rim with the rock candy adhering to the threads, and set it in a clean vessel in a hot oven until it is dry and fit for use.
To prepare the sirup clarify refined granulated sugar, filter and boil until it is ready to crystallize, which will be at 35 degrees on the sirup test.
PASTILS OR CANDY DROPS Special utensils are required for this purpose-namely, a round-bottom sugar boiler with pointed spout and a large piece of wrought iron or other metal with a hole in the center large enough to receive the bottom of the sugar boiler. The object is to prevent the heat from reaching the sides of the boiler and burning or discoloring the paste. The sugar for drop candy is not boiled but heated or baked, hence only a very small quantity of water is to be used.
As a general rule, 2 ounces of water with the necessary liquid flavoring will take up about 15 ounces of sugar, or 2 ounces of fruit juice or pulp will be required for 15 ounces of sugar without the addition of any other liquid. Small quantities only should be made at a time, to facilitate making the whole into drops before it hardens.
Pound the best quality of lump sugar and sift first through coarse and afterwards through a fine sieve.
Place a little over 31 ounces of sugar in an earthen vessel and add ounce of water, to which the necessary flavoring matter has been added. If the sirup is too liquid, the drops will not form properly, and if too thick the sirup will not pour easily.
Mix the sugar to a stiff paste and place it over a moderate fire. As soon as the sides begin to bubble, showing that the sirup is melting on the bottom, stir it a minute or two in the middle, and the moment it will run remove it from the fire, stirring constantly, and drop pastils the size of large peas in close rows upon a sheet of tin. To cut off the pastils the right size, hold the pan in the left hand and use a curved wire similar in shape to a hairpin. Let stand for two hours, then hold the sheet over the stove, moving it back and forth to finish drying. But do not have the heat strong enough to remelt the candy, and remove them as soon as they are hard and brilliant, as otherwise they will lose their flavor.