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Molasses Candy
Boil one quart molasses in a rather deep vessel. Boil steadily, stirring from sides and bottom. When a little, poured in a glass of cold water, becomes brittle, it is done. Pour in a buttered dish and pull as soon as cool enough to handle, or you may stir in, when it is nearly done, some picked kernels of the common black walnut. Boil a little longer, pour on a buttered dish, and cut in squares just before it gets cold.--Mrs. S. T.
A two-ingredient candy at most, and the whole thing hinges on reading the cold-water test correctly. Molasses foams violently as it approaches temperature, which is why the original insists on a deep vessel.
- The temperature behind the water test"Brittle" in a glass of cold water is the hard-crack stage, 300-310F on a candy thermometer. Below about 290F the candy stays tacky and will not hold a pull; much above 315F molasses scorches and turns acrid.
- Use a tall, heavy panBoiling molasses foams up well above its original volume, which is what the original's 'rather deep vessel' is guarding against. A 4- to 6-quart heavy-bottomed pot is sensible, and a thin pan will let the sugars catch on the bottom.
- Which molassesMolasses in this period might be a sugar-refining byproduct or a syrup boiled directly from cane or sorghum; the nearest modern equivalent is unsulphured dark molasses. Blackstrap is more bitter and mineral and gives a harsh candy; avoid "molasses-flavored" table syrups, which are largely corn syrup and behave differently.
- StirringStir from the sides and bottom early on, as directed, but ease off near the end. Excess agitation in hot syrup encourages crystallisation and a grainy candy rather than a glassy one.
- The buttered dishA well-buttered rimmed sheet pan, or a marble slab if you have one, works better than a shallow dish. The thinner the pour, the faster it cools to a handleable 120-130F.
- PullingButter your hands generously and work as soon as the mass stops burning to the touch. Pulling folds air in and turns the candy from dark brown to pale tan; ten minutes of steady stretching is usually enough. It goes stiff quickly, so two pairs of hands help.
- Black walnutsThe nut called for here is the American black walnut, stronger and more resinous than the English walnut on supermarket shelves. English walnuts will stand in if you cannot find them, though the flavour is much milder; toast them first and warm them before adding, so they do not drop the syrup temperature.
- Cutting and storingScore the nut version into squares while still warm and snap along the lines once cool. Molasses candy is hygroscopic; wrap pieces individually in waxed paper and keep them airtight, and do not attempt any of this on a humid day.
- YieldA quart of molasses gives roughly two to two and a half pounds of finished candy, plenty for a large gathering.
Molasses was the cheap sweetener of the nineteenth-century South, costing a fraction of loaf sugar, and candy made from it belonged to the category of amusement as much as confectionery. The "candy pulling" was a recognised social occasion in rural America: guests buttered their hands and worked the cooling mass in pairs, and the fact that it required company is part of why the recipe survives in so many community cookbooks. Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1877) was assembled by Marion Cabell Tyree from contributions by named Virginia housekeepers, which is why this one carries the initials "Mrs. S. T." rather than a title. The black walnut in the second version points to home foraging rather than the market -- Juglans nigra grows wild across Virginia, and its hulls stain hands so badly that shelling was traditionally an outdoor job.