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Hard Candies
Cover the bottom of a well buttered, shallow pan with nut kernels--hickory, walnut, pecan, blanched almond, strips of cocoanut, bits of figs, dates and the like. Boil together a lb. of sugar and 1/2 cupful of cold water until it becomes brittle when dropped into cold water. Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to the candy when it is done and pour it over the fruits and nuts in the pan. When cold, mark into squares and strips.
A plain hard-crack sugar syrup poured over nuts and dried fruit, essentially a nut brittle without butter or soda in the candy itself. The whole recipe turns on one judgement: the cold-water test.
- The hinge: hard-crack stage"Brittle when dropped into cold water" is hard crack, 300-310F (149-154C) on a candy thermometer. Pulled well short of that and the sheet will be tacky and chewy rather than snapping; much over and the sugar will begin to caramelize and taste scorched.
- Quantities in modern termsA pound of sugar is about 2 1/4 cups granulated; 1/2 cupful of water is 4 fl oz. The recipe does not specify a pan size; a shallow pan large enough to hold a single layer of nuts is what is wanted.
- Cocoanut"Strips" suggests coconut pared from the meat of a whole nut rather than a prepared shred. Unsweetened dried coconut chips are the closest substitute.
- The lemon juiceAcid can invert part of the sugar and discourage crystallization, though added this late its effect is limited and it also seasons the sheet. The recipe adds it once the syrup is at temperature; expect it to spit on contact with syrup that hot.
- Hickory nutsCommon in American kitchens of the period, often gathered wild. Pecans or walnuts stand in directly.
- Butter the pan generouslyThere is no fat in the syrup itself, so the pan coating is the only thing between the candy and permanent adhesion. A pan lined with parchment or a silicone mat is more reliable than butter alone.
- Marking into squaresThe text says to mark when cold. In practice a sheet scored with an oiled knife while still warm and pliable, but no longer molten, breaks more cleanly along the intended lines.
- Yield and keepingRoughly the weight of the sugar plus whatever nuts and fruit are used; the recipe does not quantify them. Store in an airtight container with waxed paper between layers; humidity is what turns it sticky within a day.