How to Make Candy. Anonymous
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graining. About as much cream of tartar as may be laid on a sixpence, and added to seven pounds of sugar, with the water, or equal quantities of cream of tartar and alum in powder, added when it boils, will also keep it from candying. If sugar is poured on a slab that is too hot, it is very apt to grain; this is frequently the case after several casts have been worked off in rotation; therefore, when you find it inclined to turn, remove it to a cooler spot, if possible, and not handle it any more than is necessary.
Sugar that has been often boiled or warmed is soon acted upon by the atmosphere, whereby it becomes clammy, and soon runs, as it is weakened by the action of the fire. Acid causes the same effect.
If it has passed the degree you intended to boil it at, add a little water, and give it another boil.
BLANC MANGE.
Take four ounces of sweet almonds, blanched, half an ounce of bitter almonds; pound them in a clean mortar; moisten them gradually with orange flower-water; mix this with one quart of fresh cream and one ounce of clarified isinglass; put into a saucepan, constantly stirring till it boils; then pass through a fine sieve, and form into a mold, and put on ice.
Blanc Mange may be flavored with vanilla, Mocho coffee, marischino, pistachios and strawberries; in which case the bitter almonds should be left out.
CANDY—BONBON—CONSERVE.
The articles that come under this head are made by the sugar being brought to the ball, when it is grained by rubbing it against the sides of the pan. From this all fancy articles are made, such as fruit-eggs, cups, vases, etc.
Burnt Almonds.—Take some fine Valencia or Jordon almonds, and sift all the dust from them; put a pint of clarified syrup into the pan for each pound of almonds, and place it with the almonds on the fire; boil to the ball, then take it off and stir the mixture well with a spatula, that the sugar may grain and become almost a powder; whilst each almond has a coating. Put them into a coarse wire or cane sieve, and sift all the loose sugar from them, and also separate those which stick together. When cold, boil some more clarified syrup to the feather, put in the almonds, give them two or three boils in it, take them from the fire, and stir them with the spatula as before, until the sugar grains; sift and separate them, and keep them in glasses or boxes. A third coat may be given them in the same manner as the second, if they are required large.
Burnt Almonds—Red.—The same as the last, using prepared cochineal to color the syrup while it is boiling.
Common Burnt Almonds.—These are made with raw sugar and skimmings, if you have any. Put some water with the sugar to dissolve it; when it is near boiling, add the almonds, and let them boil in it until it comes to the small ball; or when the almonds crack, take them from the fire, and stir them with a spatula until the sugar grains and becomes nearly a powder; put them into a sieve, and separate the lumps.
Artificial Fruit, Eggs, etc.—Prepare molds with plaster of Paris from the natural objects you wish to represent; make them in two, three, or more pieces, so as to relieve freely, and have a hole at one end into which the sugar may be poured; let them be made so as each part may be fitted together exactly; and for this purpose make two or three round or square indentions on the edge of one part, so that the corresponding piece, when cast, will form the counterpart, which may at all times be fitted with precision. Let the object you would take the cast from be placed in a frame made either of wood or of stiff paper, embed a part of it in fine sand, soft pipe-clay, or modeling wax, leaving as much of the mold exposed as you wish to form at one time, and oil it with sweet oil; mix some of the prepared plaster with water, to the consistency of thick cream, and pour over it; when this is set, proceed with the other portions in the same manner until it is complete. Let them dry and harden for use.
Take a sufficient quantity of syrup (clarified with charcoal or animal black) to fill the mold, and boil to the small ball; rub some of it against the side to grain it; when it turns white, pour it into the molds; take them out when set, and put them into the stove at a moderate heat to dry. The molds must be soaked for an hour or two in cold water previously to their being used, which will be found better than oiling them, as it keeps the sugar delicately white, which oil does not. Color your articles according to nature with liquid colors (see Colors) and camel's-hair pencils or the usual pigments sold in boxes may be used. If a gloss is required, the colors should be mixed with a strong solution of gum-arabic or isinglass, to the desired tint. Eggs and fruit may be made as light and as apparently as perfect as nature, by having molds to open in two, without any orifice for filling them. Fill one half with the grained sugar, immediately close the mold, and turn it round briskly, that it may be covered all over equally. To accomplish this, it is necessary to have an assistant, that it may be done as speedily as possible.
Coltsfoot or Hoarhound Candy.—Make a strong infusion of the herbs (see Infusions under the head of Syrups), and use it for dissolving the sugar, instead of taking syrup; raw sugar is mostly used for those candies. Boil it to the ball, grain it and finish as ginger candy.
Filberts and Pistachios.—These are done the same as burnt almonds, but they are usually denominated prawlings, the nuts being only put into the sugar for two or three minutes before it is taken from the fire and stirred.
Ginger Candy.—Take clarified syrup and boil it to the ball; flavor it either with the essence of ginger or the root in powder: then with a spoon or spatula rub some of it against the side of the pan until you perceive it turn white; pour it into small square tins with edges, or paper cases, which have been oiled or buttered, and put it in a warm place, or on a hot stone, that it may become dappled. The syrup should be colored yellow, while boiling, with a little saffron.
Lemon Prawlings.—Made the same as orange prawlings.
Orange Prawlings.—Take four or five Havana oranges, and cut off the peel in quarters, or small lengths; take off all the pith or white part of the peel, leaving only the yellow rinds, and cut in small pieces, about an inch long, and the size of pins. Have about a pint of clarified sugar boiling on the fire; when it comes to the blow, put in the pieces of peel, and let them boil until the sugar attains the small ball; take them off, and stir them with the spatula until the sugar grains and hangs about them; sift off the loose sugar; when cold, separate and keep them in a dry place.
Peppermint, Lemon and Rose Candy are made after the same manner as Ginger Candy, coloring the lemon with saffron, and the rose with cochineal.
CHOCOLATE.
Cacao Nuts.—The cacoa or cacoa nuts, of which chocolate is made, is the seed of the fruit of a tree common in South America and the West Indies. The seeds of the nuts, which are nearly of the shape of an almond, are found to the number of from thirty to forty in a pod. The pods are oval, resembling a cucumber in shape. The different sorts are distinguished by name, according to the places which produce them; thus, the cacao of Cayenne, Caraccas, Berbice, and the islands of St. Magdalen and Domingo. These all differ in the size of their almonds or seed, quality and taste. The most esteemed is the large Caraccas, the almond of which, though somewhat flat, resembles the shape of a large bean. The next are those of St. Magdalen and Berbice. The seeds of these are less flat than those of the Caraccas kind, and the skin is covered with a fine ash-colored dust. The others are very crude and oily, and only fit to make the butter of cacao. The kernels, when fresh, are bitter, and are deprived of this by being buried in the ground for thirty or forty days. Good nuts should have a thin brittle skin, of a dark black color; and the kernel, when the skin is taken off, should appear full and shining, of a dusky color, with a reddish shade. Choose the freshest, not worm-eaten, or moldy on the inside, which it is subject to be.
Equal parts of the cacao of Caraccas, St. Magdalen and Berbice mixed