Home › Christmas Dinners › Cherry Foams
Cherry Foams
2 cups granulated sugar 1/2 cup water 1/4 teaspoon vanilla 2 egg whites, beaten stiff candied cherries Boil granulated sugar in water without stirring until the syrup will thread. Add vanilla, and pour slowly upon the beaten whites of the eggs, beating continuously until stiff enough to drop from a teaspoon upon buttered paper. Before candies cool, press 1/2 candied cherry into the top of each. If preferred, beat the cherries into candy, and when creamy pour it into buttered pans.
This is divinity, made without the corn syrup that most later recipes call for. The syrup stage is the whole recipe, so treat the thermometer as the instruction that matters.
- Thread stage is the weak point"Will thread" describes syrup at roughly 230F, at the soft end of the scale. Modern divinity is usually taken into the firm-ball range, about 250-260F; syrup much below that tends to give a soft, sticky mass, and the original compensates with long beating rather than a hotter syrup.
- Do not stir, and mean itBoiling without stirring prevents sugar crystals forming on the pan sides and seeding the whole batch grainy. Wash down the sides once with a wet brush and leave the spoon out of it.
- Beaten stiff, then beaten longerPour the syrup in a thin steady stream against the side of the bowl, not onto the beaters, and keep beating for five to ten minutes after. A stand mixer does what the original expected of a strong arm; the candy is ready when a spoonful holds its peak instead of slumping.
- Weather governs itDivinity will not set on a humid day. Sugar syrup pulls moisture from the air, and a damp kitchen produces candy that stays tacky no matter how long it is beaten.
- Buttered paperParchment needs no butter and releases cleanly. Wax paper does work but the candy grips it.
- Egg whitesThe whites are set by the heat of the syrup rather than cooked separately. Syrup taken to the full firm-ball temperature raises the mixture high enough to be reasonable; if you want certainty, use pasteurized whites.
- The cherriesCandied glace cherries, halved and pressed on while the surface is still soft. The second option beats them into the candy instead, which will tint and slacken the mixture, so pour it into pans before it stiffens.
- YieldTwo cups of sugar with two whites should give roughly two to three dozen dropped pieces, or about a small square pan if poured. Store airtight; it dries and hardens within a few days in open air.