desirable combinations with chocolate. In fact, the vegetable flavors
are quite as adaptable to chocolate coating as are those that have
already won popular attention and favor. Occasionally, in the subsequent
pages, mention is made of the fact that the confection described may
well be covered with chocolate, but more often chocolate coating is not
suggested when it is possible. It is assumed, and no doubt safely
assumed, that the candy-cook, from her experience in the old-fashioned
confectionery, will know what candy can be coated, and what cannot be
successfully coated.
VII
SUGAR
No discussion of candy or candy-making is complete without a statement
concerning sugar--its kinds, value and proper use. Without doubt sugar
is one of the most maligned of foods. It does do damage when eaten at
the wrong time or to excess. From this fact springs one of the great
advantages of vegetable candy; in it the proportion of sugar to the bulk
of the confection is so reduced that the normal craving for sweets is
satisfied without the consumption of a quantity of sugar that insures
disaster.
Experimentation long ago showed that sugar is the quickest source of
energy in the whole list of available foods. No other food approximates
sugar in the ease in which it can be formed into actual body energy.
This fact has long been appreciated by athletes. One case in proof was
that of two school boys seventeen and nineteen years of age, who had
only two hours a day for two months for practice before rowing races in
which both were entered. No change was made in their diet except they
were permitted to eat as much sugar as they wished, sometimes as much as
one-third of a pound a day. One of them, however, did not begin to eat
this excess sugar until the third week of his practicing, when he began
to show the signs of over training--loss of weight and no desire for
either exercise or study. On the third day after beginning the use of
the excess sugar these symptoms disappeared, and he became as vigorous
as the other. Before the time for the race both youths were in the best
of physical condition and were victorious over their antagonists who did
not believe in the use of sugar. Subsequently, observation revealed no
bad after effects. Similar instances could be indefinitely repeated.
The fundamental fact--that sugar gives energy and gives it with great
rapidity--has been made use of by army officers, particularly German.
It must be remembered, however, that sugar is purely an energy-producing
food. It is necessary, then, that there be other foods consumed with it
in order to preserve a proper balance. These other foods, be it noted,
are present in vegetable candy.
The current idea that sugar is fattening is wholly wrong. It is not
sugar that is fattening, but too much sugar. Only when sugar is consumed
in a quantity in excess of that which can be taken care of by the human
commissary department, is it transformed into fat and stored as reserved
material.
The methods of refining sugar have been so perfected within the last few
years that it is safe to say that few food substances in commercial use
are so near to being chemically pure as granulated sugars of good grade.
No less an authority than Blythe says, "Loaf sugar is, as a rule,
chemically pure. It is probably, indeed, the purest of all substances in
commerce, and a large quantity may be burnt up without obtaining a trace
of nitrogen and without leaving any residue. The only sugar that may be
impure are the raw sugars."
It is commonly known that sugar may come from any one of numberless
sources. Sugar of milk is the first sugar with which members of the
human race become acquainted, but one which, of course, is of little
account in candy-making. The sugar of fruits is in an easily accessible
form and one which is of particular value when combined with cane sugar.
Honey as stored by the honey bee formerly was highly prized for food
value, but now that it is so often stored by the factory without any
activity on the part of the honey bee, and now that cane sugar is so
very cheap, it is not so much in demand. For the sugar of candy-making,
there are three sources: the sugar cane, sugar beet and the sugar maple.
For practical purposes, maple sugar may be left out of the discussion.
Ever since sugar has been made on a commercial scale from beets there
has waged a controversy as to the relative merits of beet sugar and cane
sugar. As far as the amateur candy-maker is concerned, however, the
controversy is not of practical interest, for almost all of the sugar
that is sold in small quantities is made from beets. Indeed, it is said
that it is practically impossible for the housekeeper to obtain sugar
made from cane. Moreover, notwithstanding the popular impression that
cane sugar is preferable, scientists insist that in every case the pure
cane sugar, or saccharose, can be crystallized out from either cane or
beet, and that the sugar is identical in chemical composition,
appearance and properties. By no chemical test known to the United
States Department of Agriculture can pure crystallized saccharose from
these different sources be distinguished. The popular impression to the
contrary probably comes from the use of beet sugar that has been
imperfectly purified. It is interesting to note that there are over
ninety grades of sugar known to commerce. The difference between these
grades is often so slight that it is impossible to distinguish without
painstaking laboratory analysis. In this book white sugar and
confectioner's sugar are used wherever possible because they are the
purest kinds. Brown sugar and coffee A., much used in candy-making, are
grades which have not been refined to so high a point.
A word should be said concerning glucose. The complaint which has been
made in connection with glucose has not been made against the substance
itself, but against the way it was used. The amateur candy-maker,
however, often has difficulty in obtaining glucose, even though in some
processes it is most useful.
R. E. Doolittle of the Federal Board of Food and Drug Inspection,
declares that no question of harmfulness has been raised by this board
with respect to the use of glucose in food products. Where glucose is
substituted for sugar and used instead of natural sweetening agents, the
ruling has been made that its presence should be plainly declared upon
the label of the product. The reasons for this action are: (1) where a
manufactured substance is substituted for a natural one it is believed
that the purchaser is entitled to be informed of the substitution; (2)
the cost of glucose is usually somewhat lower than that of sucrose; (3)
glucose consists only in part of a sugar, dextrose, and is inferior to
sucrose in sweetening power.
In this country commercial glucose is manufactured from the starch of
the Indian corn. The starch is suspended in water, the whole placed
into large steam tanks together with some hydrochloric acid, the steam
is turned on to these tanks and the whole brought up to a heavy
pressure. By this means the starch is partially converted into dextrose,
a sugar, and dextrin, a gum. When the conversion has reached the proper
point the pressure is removed, the hot liquid is neutralized with sodium
carbonate, filtered and evaporated to a thick liquid. The resulting
compound contains about 35 per cent. dextrose, about 45 per cent.
dextrin, a small percentage of ash and the rest water.
A word of caution should be given concerning the time of eating sugar.
Obviously if candy is consumed before meals it will destroy the appetite
and interfere seriously with the meal. Obviously, also, it is unwise to
eat heavily of candy before retiring. Notwithstanding her enthusiasm for
vegetable candies the writer feels these cautions should be just as much
observed with vegetable candy as with any other.
The whole question of the amount and form of sugar to be given to
children, is one of utmost importance. Children lose more heat from the
skin for every pound of body weight than do the adults, and because of
this fact, require proportionately more heat. This heat can come only
from food and sugar is the food which produces this heat most directly
and most cheaply. This need for a heat producing food, it could be
urged, could be readily met by the use of fat. The difficulty is that
fat, and particularly fat meat, is generally disliked by the child.
Because of this distaste, his desire for all sorts of sweet things has
undoubtedly a physiological basis. It is necessary, however, to observe
very carefully the digestibility of sugar and sweetened foods in order
to decide to what extent sugar is to replace starch in the dietary. The
effect of sugar upon the appetite for other foods must be given
particular care. Mrs. Mary Hinman Abel, president of the American Home
Economics Association, says that, until a child's stomach is capable of
digesting starch, the needed carbohydrate is furnished in the sugar of
milk. The child a year old who drinks two quarts of milk per day takes
in this way about three ounces of sugar. "As the stomach becomes able
to digest starch," Mrs. Abel continues, "the child is less and less
dependent on the sugar of milk, replacing it with the carbohydrates of
vegetable origin, while the proteids and fat found in eggs, meat, and
cereals take the place of those constituents that were at first
exclusively furnished in milk. Milk, however, remains through childhood
a valuable source of all these food principles.
"The fact that sugar has a high food value is not the only point to be
considered. The child will easily obtain the needed carbohydrates in
other forms and will thrive if the digestion remains sound and its
relish for wholesome food unimpaired. For instance, one often hears it
said that a certain child does not relish milk. In such cases it might
be found that the child's appetite, being sated by sugar in other foods,
is no longer attracted by the mild sweetness of fresh milk, delicious as
it is to the unspoiled palate. It would be well, perhaps, in this
instance, to cut down the allowance of sugar in the hope of restoring
the taste for so invaluable a food as milk. Dr. Rotch insists that the
infant, even in its second year, should never be allowed to taste
sweets. He says, 'When these articles are withheld it will continue to
have a healthy appetite and taste for necessary and proper articles of
food.' Even much later, for the same reasons, the introduction of large
amounts of sugar into the daily food of children is to be carefully
considered. Children do not require a variety of flavors to stimulate
the appetite, but the taste is easily perverted and the backward step is
difficult to take. Those who have studied the food habits of children
seem to agree that sugar should from the very first be withheld from the
dish that forms the staple food of the child--that is, the mush or
porridge of oatmeal or some preparation of wheat or corn. This article
of diet, eaten only with milk or cream, falls into the same class as
bread and milk, and forms the simple, wholesome basis of a meal. The
sugar given the child is better furnished in the occasional simple
pudding, in the lump of sugar, or home-made candy, not that its food
value is better utilized, but the whole food of the child is thus more
wholesome."
Mrs. Mary Hinman Abel concludes her discussion with the statement:
"Sugar is a useful and valuable food. It must, however, be remembered
that it is a concentrated food and therefore should be eaten in moderate
quantities. Further, like other concentrated foods, sugar seems best
fitted for assimilation by the body when supplied with other materials
which dilute it or give it the necessary bulk."
It is this fact, from the point of view of the dietitian, that commends
vegetable candy so highly. The vegetable base gives the necessary bulk
and dilution--in addition to adding other valuable food elements.
SECTION TWO
VIII
DECORATIVE CANDIES
I. FROM POTATO PASTE
Now that the use of vegetable bases is reduced to principles, the
amateur confectioner need have no difficulty in working out in candy
attractive and novel designs suitable to all special days and uses. And
the best of it is--thanks to such a humble vegetable as the potato--she
can follow her own ideas and fashion in confectionery a pattern that is
all her own. Moreover, she can take comfort in the thought that in her
product there is none of the highly injurious ingredients unfortunately
all too common in some decorative candies.
As the foundation for one sort of decorative confectionery, potato paste
must be made. Steam or boil Irish potatoes, drain them, and force them
through a fine sieve,--the finer the better. With one-half cupful of
Irish potato, so prepared, mix one tablespoonful of corn starch.
Gradually and carefully work in enough confectioner's sugar so that the
mixture can be rolled.
The "fine sieve," be it noted, plays a conspicuous and important part in
the making of candy from vegetables. Moreover, it should be borne in
mind that no vegetable particle will either soften in or cook up into
syrup. While cooking, the vegetable particles are just as individual as
though they were in separate vessels; consequently they must be kept
circulating as uniformly as is possible through the syrup in order to
prevent the accumulation of masses of vegetable matter of sufficient
bulk and weight to sink to the bottom of the sauce pan and cause the
mixture to burn. Moreover, should the mixture escape burning, it would
develop gluey spots that would make the finished product lacking in the
smoothness that is the ideal of the candy-cook.
Flavor and color this paste to suit, place it on a surface well dusted
with confectioner's sugar and roll it to the desired thinness. Cut it in
shapes to suit. Cooky cutters or any other tin cutters may be used.
More often, however, the amateur confectioner will prefer her own
design.
Cut a pattern of the desired design from paper, or, if it is to be used
repeatedly, from paste board. Oiling the pattern not only gives it a
firmer edge and prevents tearing but also allows any sugar or paste that
may have adhered to it easily to be wiped off. Lay the pattern over the
paste, and, with a sharp pointed knife, cut along the edges. Lift the
newly cut forms carefully with a thin knife and transfer them for drying
to an oil cloth or, if this cannot be done, to a waxed paper or a tin
very thinly dusted with confectioner's sugar. Do not move them again
until they are dry. If it is desired to pack the candy, cook a
crystal--a "crystal" is a syrup of one part water and three parts
sugar--to two hundred and twenty degrees and after it has cooled five
minutes, dip the confection into it.
It is not essential that the forms be dipped into the crystal nor is the
crystal absolutely necessary to any of the confections that are often
coated with it. All this is explained in Chapter V--Crystallization.
A knife which is of almost constant use in making decorative candies and
which is particularly satisfactory for lifting small forms is a palette
knife such as artists use for mixing their colors. It is thin, flexible
and sufficiently sharp for cutting fondant. Also the blade lends itself
to use in many different positions because its curved shape allows the
hand a degree of freedom not possible with the ordinary knife. The
palette knife is much better for freeing or lifting forms from a flat
surface than a spatula or a case knife.
The imagination of the candy-maker will suggest special designs for
special occasions. The fancy of the confectioner will suggest many
attractive original forms, besides the traditional red and white hearts
for St. Valentine's Day,--note illustration No. 17 in the
frontispiece--the green shamrock for March 17, and the hatchet for
Washington's birthday. Christmas, New Years, Easter, Memorial Day,
Fourth of July, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Hallowe'en and innumerable
local holidays, like Bunker Hill day and Patriots' Day of
Massachusetts,--all of these special occasions offer abundant
opportunity to the candy-maker who realizes that from the paste can be
made representations of anything from a firecracker to a regiment of
soldiers. Cooky cutters may also be used indefinitely; what child would
not like candy in the form of stars, dogs, horses, and trees?
=Green Leaves.=--An excellent illustration of the possibilities of
potato paste is given by green leaves. As the basis for them, color
potato paste green, by the use of green coloring paste, of the harmless
vegetable sort, and flavor fairly strongly with peppermint. Roll the
paste thin, cut out the leaves, using the point of a knife or a tin
cutter, and model the veins. A small, blunt, wooden tool,--even a clean
orange stick will do--should be used to make the depressions that are
the veins. After the leaves have dried on waxed paper, dip into a
crystal cooked to two hundred and twenty-five degrees. Drain them on a
wire rack and dust them evenly with granulated sugar. It is well to use
a thin bladed knife to lift the pieces. See the small box in the middle
of the illustration facing page 98, and No. 1 in the frontispiece.
II. VIOLETS
=Violets.=--In hot weather violets do not take kindly to the "candying"
process, and in cold they are expensive and hard to get. There are no
such limitations, however, to pop-corn and cocoanut. "Violets" made from
them are especially good Christmas candies, because they are decorative
and can be made a month or six weeks in advance--long before the last
rush.
=Pop-corn Violets.=--Using the hard spots for centers, jam and break
well-blown kernels of pop-corn until they resemble violets, as they will
do with more exactness than would be thought. Boil one cupful of sugar
and one-third cupful of water until a syrup is formed; the thermometer
should register two hundred and nineteen degrees. After the syrup is
cool, dip the pop-corn into it, making sure that the liquid forms an
even and complete covering. As a thin crust begins to cover the syrup,
keep pushing it down into the liquid. If this is done the syrup can all
be used before it has time to harden. Immediately after the surplus has
drained off, dredge lightly with powdered sugar, into which has been
worked violet coloring paste, previously moistened with a few drops of
violet extract, or even water. In this case the colored sugar should be
a shade or two lighter than is desired for the finished product, as the
syrup darkens the color.
Note No. 2 of the frontispiece.
=Cocoanut Violets.=--Mix the white of an egg, one-half cupful
confectioner's sugar--the kind sometimes known as XXXX--and one-half
cupful of Irish potato prepared as directed above. This makes more candy
than the home confectioner ordinarily has use for, but directions for a
smaller amount cannot well be given owing to the practical impossibility
of dividing an egg. An easy way out of the difficulty, however, is to
use as much of this mixture as is desired for the violets and to save
the rest for use in making potato fondant, described hereafter.
Flavor this mixture with violet extract. Add the color with the extract,
but remember that a little will go a long way. Use vegetable violet
coloring paste until the color is a shade or two darker than is desired
for the finished product. Stir in cocoanut until all the mass adheres to
the cocoanut. Baker's cocoanut is better than the shredded, but often
the shredded must be used, as the other size is becoming more and more
difficult to obtain. If the shredded is used, break it so that each
piece will not be more than one-half inch long. If the mixture does not
then dry readily, stir in more confectioner's sugar.
To fashion the violets, dip the fingers into cold water, take up a
quantity of the preparation about the size of a violet, and model into
the shape of the flower. A little practice will enable the candy-maker
to form objects that look more like violets than do the flowers
themselves after they have been put through the candying process. Sift
granulated sugar over each flower, shaking off surplus sugar. Dry on
waxed paper. This confection would better be used within two or three
weeks.
=Violet Boutonniere.=--From violets, preferably cocoanut, boutonnieres
very attractive for favors can be fashioned. Have ready a supply of the
violets, candied cress leaves, violet, green or tinsel foil, lace paper
mats,--small paper doilies may be substituted,--and number twenty-two
wire. It is well to cut wires six inches long for they can later be
trimmed or bent to form a stem of from three and one-half to four inches
long. With a fine needle puncture the back of a cocoanut violet and
insert the end of a piece of wire. To make the union firm, place a drop
of thick syrup at the point at which the wire enters the mixture. Seven
violets so treated will be sufficient for one boutonniere. In a similar
manner, wire one less of the crystallized cress leaves. Put all the
wires through the center of the mat. Group the violets about one placed
in the center. As nearly all mats come with an even number of designs in
the edge, it is much easier to arrange the boutonniere if the row of
flowers next the mat contains an even number also. The leaves should be
so arranged in a row underneath the flowers. Before an attractive
arrangement can be made, some little experimenting may be necessary.
Wrap the wires with tissue paper and cover with foil. The making of the
boutonnieres is not so difficult as it sounds, though some knack is
required for the best results.
See the illustration opposite page 72.
III. FROM POTATO FONDANT
=Uncooked Fondant.=--Potato fondant is another base--even more useful
than potato paste--upon which many confections may be built. There are
two kinds--cooked and uncooked. To make the uncooked, boil or steam
Irish potatoes, drain, and force them through a fine sieve. In all
candy-making with potatoes, these directions are of the utmost
importance. Unless the potato is carefully forced through a fine sieve,
the candy made from it will have hard and gluey spots after it has dried
out. Mix one-half cupful of the potato so prepared with the unbeaten
white of one egg. Add gradually confectioner's sugar until the whole
mass assumes the consistency of bon-bon cream. Several uses for potato
fondant will be described below, but it may be substituted for French
fondant in any of the confections of which that is a part.
=Cooked Potato Fondant.=--With one-half cupful of potato, prepared as
for the uncooked fondant, very thoroughly mix two cupsful of sugar and
thin with two-thirds of a cupful of milk. Place the mixture on an
asbestos mat over the fire and cook until thick--to the sticking point.
Pour the mass on a cold, damp marble and "cut in" like plain fondant.
Knead small quantities at a time until the whole batch is smooth. Pack
in tins lined with wax paper.
The fondant can be used without additional sugar and does not stick to
the hands. It is particularly useful as a covering.
=Modeled Candy.=--Modeled candy is easy to make, good to look at and
good to eat. When shaped to imitate fruit or vegetables, it is useful as
table decoration, and is always welcome for children's parties. Indeed,
there is no sort of candy that is surer of a warm welcome by young or
old!
The difficulty has been, however, that modeling with almond paste
requires the use of ingredients that are very expensive and very often
difficult to obtain. This has made experimenting in modeling rather
expensive for the unskilled home candy-maker. Potato fondant, on the
other hand, is inexpensive and so easily obtained that the amateur need
not count the cost of failures while she experiments. By following the
directions carefully very little practice in the modeling will give her
a facility that removes her from the class of unskilled modelers. If she
prefers to use almond paste, the home candy-maker may do her practicing
with potato fondant. Moreover, many young women have studied clay
modeling and to them the modeling of candy is indeed simple. While the
modeled candy that is sold in candy stores often--though not
always--contains harmful substances, potato fondant is absolutely
wholesome.