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Confectionery (To prepare Sugar for Candying)

To prepare Sugar for Candying.

The first process is clarifying, which is done thus: Break the white of an egg into a preserving pan; put to it 4 quarts of water and beat it with a whisk to a froth. Then put in 12 pounds of sugar, mix all together and set it over the fire.

When it boils put in a little cold water, and proceed as often as necessary till the scum rises thick on the top. Then remove it from the fire, and when it is settled take off the scum and pass it through a straining bag. If the sugar should not appear very fine, boil it again before straining it. To Candy Sugar.

After having completed the above first process, put what quantity is wanted over the fire, and boil it till it is smooth enough. This is known by it between the forefinger and thumb, and immedipping the skimmer into the sugar and touching observed drawn between, which will crystallize and diately on opening them a small thread will be break, and remain in a drop on the thumb, which smoothness. Boil it again and it will draw into a will be a sign of its gaining some degree of larger string; it is now called bloom sugar, and must be boiled longer than in the former process.

To try its forwardness, dip again the skimmer, shaking off the sugar into the pan; then blow with the mouth strongly through the holes, and if bubbles go through, it has acquired the second degree; to prove if the liquid has arrived at the state called feathered sugar, re-dip the skimmer and shake it over the pan, then give it a sudden flirt behind, and the sugar will fly off like feathers.

It now arrives at the state called crackled sugar, to obtain which the mass must be boiled longer than in the preceding degree; then dip a stick in it and put it directly into a pan of cold water, draw off the sugar which hangs to the stick in the water, and if it turns hard and snaps it has acquired the proper degree of crystallization; if otherwise, boil it again until it acquires that brittleness.

The last stage of refining this article is called caramel sugar, to obtain which it must be boiled longer than in any of the preceding methods; prove it by dipping a stick first into the sugar and then into cold water, and the moment it touches the latter it will, if matured, snap like glass. Be careful that the fire is not too fierce, as by flaming up the sides of the pan it will burn, discolor and spoil the sugar.

French Method.

Put into a pan syrup enough of clarified sugar to fill the mould; boil it until it comes to the state called small feather; skim it well; take the pan To Clarify Loaf Sugar. from the fire and pour it into a small quantity of | compound syrup, and does not retain any of the spirits of wine, sufficient to make it sparkle; let foreign substances with which the syrup is loaded. it rest till the skin which is the candy rises on the surface; take it off with a skimmer and pour it directly into the mould, which keep in the stove at 90° heat for eight days; then strain the candy by a hole, slanting the mould on a basin or pan to receive the drainings; let it drain till it is perfectly dry, then loosen the paper by moistening it with warm water; warm it all round near the fire and turn the candy by striking it hard on the table. Put it on a sieve in the stove to finish drying it, but do not touch it while there, and keep up an equal heat, otherwise there will be only a mush instead of a candy. Spirits of wine will take off grease and not affect the candy, as it soon evaporates.

To make Barley Sugar.

Take a quantity of clarified sugar in that state that on dipping the finger into the pan the sugar which adheres to it will break with a slight noise; this is called crack. When the sugar is near this put in 2 or 3 drops of lemon-juice, or a little vinegar to prevent its graining. When it has come to the crack take it off instantly and dip the pan in cold water to prevent its burning; let it stand a little, and then pour it on a marble, which must be previously rubbed with oil. Cut the sugar into small pieces, when it will be ready for use.

One drop of citron will flavor a considerable quantity.

Bonbons.

Provide leaden moulds, which must be of various shapes, and be oiled with oil of sweet almonds. Take a quantity of brown sugar syrup in proportion to their size, in that state called a blow, which may be known by dipping the skimmer into the sugar, shaking it and blowing through the holes, when gleams of light may be seen; add a drop of any esteemed essence. If the bonbons are preferred white, when the sugar has cooled a little, stir it round the pan, till it grains and shines on the surface; then pour it into a funnel and fill the little mould, when it will take a proper form and harden; as soon as it is cold take it from the moulds; dry it in two or three days and put it upon paper. If the bonbons are required to be colored, add the color just as the sugar is ready to be taken off the fire.

To Candy Ginger.

Put 1 ounce of race ginger grated fine, 1 pound of loaf sugar beaten fine, into a preserving pan, with as much water as will dissolve the sugar.

Stir them well together over a slow fire till the sugar begins to boil; then stir in another pound of sugar beaten fine, and keep stirring till it grows thick; then take it off the fire and drop it in cakes upon earthen dishes. Set them in a warm place to dry, when they will become hard and brittle, and look white.

To Candy Hoarhound.

Boil it in water till the juice is extracted; then boil a sufficient quantity of sugar to a great height and add the juice to it; stir it with a spoon against the sides of the sugar pan, till it begins to grow thick; then pour it out into a paper case that is dusted with fine sugar and cut it into squares; dry the hoarhound and put it into the sugar finely powdered and sifted.

To make White Sugar Candy.

Sugar crystallized by the saturated syrup being left in a very warm place, from 90° to 100° Fahrenheit, and the shooting promoted by placing sticks or a net of threads at small distances from each other in the liquor; it is also deposited from Break the same into a copper pan, which will hold one-third more, put a pint of water to each pounds; when it rises in boiling throw in a little pound of sugar, mix 1 white of an egg to every 6 cold water, which must be kept ready in case it should boil over; skim it the fourth time of rising, continue to throw in a little cold water each time till the scum ceases to rise, and strain it through a sieve, cloth or flannel bag. Save the scum, which, when a certain quantity is taken off, may be clarified. The latter skimming will do to add to fermented wines.

To Clarify Coarse Brown Sugar.

Put 50 pounds of coarse brown sugar into a pan which will contain one-third more; pour in 20 pints of water, well mixed with 5 whites of eggs; pound 5 pounds of small charcoal, mix it in the pan while on the fire, and boil it till it looks as black as ink. If it rises too fast, add cold water, strain it through a bag, and though at first it will be black, continne to strain it until it becomes quite clear, which may be seen by putting the syrup in a glass. Put it back until it comes out as fine as clarified loaf sugar.

To Improve and Increase Sugar.

To 5 pounds of coarse brown sugar add 1 pound of flour, and there will be obtained 6 pounds of sugar worth ten per cent. more in color and quality.

Starch Sugar.

Mix 100 parts of starch with 200 of water, and add to it gradually another 200 of water, previbrought to a boiling heat in a tinned copper vessel; ously mixed with as much of oil of vitriol, and keep the mixture boiling for 36 hours, and occasionally add water to keep up the original quantity; then add some powdered charcoal and also some chalk to get rid of the acid; strain and evaporate it by a gentle heat to the consistence of a syrup, and set by to crystallize.

Birch Sugar.

Wound the trees in the spring of the year by boring a hole under a large arm of the tree quite through the wood as far as the bark of the opposite side; collect the sap which flows from the these are the native sugars of cold countries, and wound and evaporate it to a proper consistence; proper consistence; might be made in England for all the purposes of home consumption.

To make Pear Sugar.

It is obtained by expressing the juice, adding chalk to remove the superabundant acid, and evaporating it to a due consistence; it does not crystallize and is a kind of white treacle. One hundred weight of pears yields about 84 pounds of this juice, which will produce nearly 12 pounds of this substance.

Grape Sugar.

The brown sugar obtained from grapes by the usual process, being previously freed from the acids and sulphate of lime that existed in the original juice, yields by refining 75 per cent. of a white granular sugar, 24 of a kind of treacle with a little gum and some malate of lime.

To Candy Orange-peel.

Soak the peels in cold water, which change frequently till they lose their bitterness; then put them into syrup till they become soft and transparent. Then they are to be taken out and drained.

Lemon-peel.