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Divinity Fudge
1 cup Karo, Red Label 3 cups granulated sugar 1/2 cup water 2 egg whites 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup chopped, mixed nuts or mixed dates, figs and raisins 1 teaspoon vanilla Combine Karo, water, salt and sugar, boil until a little tried in cold water is brittle, 300 degrees F. Beat egg whites stiff and gradually beat in the boiling syrup. Whip until it begins to stiffen, add vanilla and fruit or nuts, beat more and pour into a pan slightly oiled with Mazola. When cold cut in squares.
Divinity is a meringue set with boiled sugar, and it lives or dies on two things: the syrup temperature and the weather. Read the temperature note before you start.
- 300F is high, even for divinityMost current divinity recipes stop at 250-260F (firm to hard ball). Cooking to 300F, the hard-crack stage described here by the brittle cold-water test, gives a stiff, dry candy that sets fast and can turn crumbly. If you want the softer, creamier modern texture, pull the syrup earlier; if you follow the book, expect a firm, almost chalky square.
- Karo Red LabelRed Label was the darker, more strongly flavoured of the old Karo grades. Light (clear) corn syrup is the closer match for a white divinity; dark corn syrup will tint it tan and push a molasses note through the vanilla.
- Mazola for the panSimply corn oil, then as now. Any neutral oil or a thin film of butter works for the pan. Both Karo and Mazola appear because this booklet was published to sell them.
- You need a mixerBeating boiling syrup into egg whites in a thin stream, then whipping until the mass holds its shape, is several minutes of hard work. A stand mixer is the practical route; by hand a second pair of hands helps a great deal.
- Add the syrup slowlyPour in a steady thread down the side of the bowl with the beaters running. Dumping it in cooks the whites into threads and the candy will never come smooth.
- Humidity decides the outcomeDivinity often fails to set on a damp or rainy day, because the sugar draws water from the air. Make it when the kitchen is dry, and think twice about attempting it in high summer without air conditioning.
- Knowing when to stop beatingThe mixture is ready when it loses its gloss and a dropped spoonful holds a peak instead of spreading. Past that point it seizes in the bowl; add the vanilla and nuts a little early rather than late.
- YieldAbout 2 pounds of candy, cut in squares. It keeps a week in a tin between layers of waxed paper.
Divinity belongs to the generation of American candies that corn syrup made reliable once glucose was cheap and widely sold, from the 1900s onward: the syrup interferes with sugar crystallisation, which is what lets a beaten egg-white candy stay smooth rather than going grainy. Beaten egg-white candies existed before cheap glucose, in the sea foam and nougat types made with molasses or plain sugar syrup. Folk tradition holds that the name is nothing more than a diner's exclamation, but no documented origin exists. Its appearance here, under "Unusual Recipes" and specifying Karo Red Label and Mazola by name, suggests this book is a product booklet from the Corn Products Refining Company, whose cookbooks did a great deal to teach American home cooks that corn syrup belonged in candy. Divinity became a fixture of Southern Christmas sweet trays and has stayed one.