fondant pink and flavor it with rose. Roll fondant so prepared into
small balls, and place upon each side of each a split almond. Each piece
should then be made to imitate as clearly as possible the shape of the
real almond. The ideal result is a confection that is very little larger
than the real almond with a thin layer of cream between translucent nut
meats. After a little experimentation, persuasive fingers can accomplish
this result. When fashioned, dip the candies into a crystal syrup cooked
to two hundred and twenty-five degrees and roll in granulated sugar.
Walnuts or pecans can be treated in the same way with white or colored
fondant. The result, however, will not be so distinctively dainty and
will be little improvement upon the mocha walnuts and pecan creams
described above.
=Chocolate Bars.=--As the basis, take cooked potato fondant which has
been well kneaded. Form it into a sheet about one-quarter of an inch
thick. Cut therefrom bars an inch and a quarter long by a quarter of an
inch wide. Dip them in chocolate and let them dry.
A pleasing variation is made from the same base--cooked potato fondant.
Knead into it melted chocolate. A portion of the resulting mass may be
formed into balls and the rest rolled into a long piece as slender as a
pipe stem. This small cylinder should be cut into two inch lengths and
the ends pointed. Another method is to make small balls and give these a
very thin coating of white fondant. In any case, dry on a corn starch
bed and coat with chocolate.
=Vegetable Cream.=--Vegetable cream is another base with which much can
be done in vegetable candy-making. In itself, it is good to eat and can
be made to take many different and useful forms. To make it, mix two
cupsful of sugar, one cupful of Irish potato--boiled or steamed, drained
and forced through a sieve--one teaspoonful of butter, and one-half
teaspoonful of salt. Boil to two hundred and twenty-eight degrees. Have
ready one-fourth cupful each of preserved garden "ginger" and spiced
beets drained from their syrup; cut very fine, and spread upon a marble
slab. Over beet and "ginger" pour the cooked mixture, and "cut in" as
for fondant. "Gingers" are described upon page 101 and spiced beets upon
page 111.
Below, there are suggested five ways of using the cream. Many others,
however, will come to the mind of the experienced candy-cook.
Vegetable cream may be formed into balls and rolled in granulated sugar.
The balls so prepared may then be rolled in shredded cocoanut, cut fine,
or the balls without the sugar may be covered with the cocoanut.
Another possibility is to dip the balls into chocolate. Nuts may be
added, either by rolling the balls in the meats cut into little pieces,
or by pressing the meats into the balls and treating with the crystal
syrup, or by using a drop or two of the crystal to glue the nut meat to
the ball and then coating. Moreover, the balls may be used in their
simple form without any covering at all.
No matter what is done with them, of course, they must be dried off
before serving.
XI
SWEET POTATO
Sweet potatoes used as the basis for candy-making should be baked.
Boiled sweet potato changes color during the succeeding processes and
retains an amount of water that is likely to cause trouble. After
baking, the potato should be forced through a fine sieve. Make sure that
the sifting process is done so thoroughly that all fiber is removed.
=Sweet Potato Patties.=--For the patties, boil until very thick one
pound of granulated sugar, one cupful of sweet potato prepared as above;
one-half cupful of desiccated cocoanut, and one-half cupful of water.
When the mixture has cooked, add one-half cupful of bon-bon cream, cut
into small pieces. Stir thoroughly. As the mass begins to set, drop it
quickly on waxed paper in small drops. Act promptly, for the mass sets
quickly. The drops will not be smooth.
To improve the looks of these patties, they may be dipped in a crystal
syrup, cooked to two hundred and twenty degrees; and then dusted with
granulated sugar. If they are not wanted immediately, they may be packed
for any length of time not exceeding six weeks provided they have been
finished with the crystal and granulated sugar.
=Sweet Potato Knots.=--Cook until very thick equal quantities of
granulated sugar and sweet potato--prepared as before--and add a few
drops of oil of cinnamon. If another color is preferred to the natural
amber, add coloring paste to suit. Immediately spread the mixture over a
tin sheet upon which has been sifted confectioner's sugar. The tin
should be of such a size that the mass will be about one-quarter of an
inch thick. When it has dried so that it will not stick to the fingers,
with a long, thin knife, cut narrow ribbon-like strips about six inches
long. Fashion them into bowknots. Be sure that there is not undue
thickness at the center. The tools described in the second
chapter--particularly page 16--will be useful as will also be the glass
sheet. If the candy is moist, dip the hands into XXXX sugar. Dry on
oilcloth or waxed paper. When firm, dip into a crystal which has been
cooked to two hundred and twenty-five degrees and allowed to stand for
five minutes. Dry on a screen.
Their attractiveness can be seen at a glance at the foreground of the
illustration opposite page 138, and by looking at No. 18 in the
frontispiece.
=Sweet Potato Pastilles.=--They are made from the same mixture as are
the knots. While the mixture is still hot, drop it in small drops upon a
cold bare marble, and dust them with granulated sugar. When they have
dried for several hours, or, if possible, over night, lift with a thin
knife, place two drops together by their bases, dredge again with
granulated sugar to cover the edges, and dry.
XII
PARSNIP
Crystallization forms the basis of candy-making with parsnips. By means
of a modification of the old fashioned French hand method, it is
possible to make a confection that is good in itself, useful as the
basis for other confections, and of unusually long keeping qualities.
Parsnip candy, though the invention of to-day, has a pleasing old
fashioned taste and appearance.
=Candied Parsnips.=--In method of preparation and keeping qualities,
they resemble the candied flag root of our grandmothers. They are useful
to trim a box of candy. Peel the parsnips and leave them in cold water
for two or three hours. Cut cross-wise into very thin slices, drop the
slices into boiling water, and let them boil five minutes. After they
have thoroughly drained, put them into a syrup made by boiling together
one part of water and three parts of granulated sugar. Make sure that
the syrup really is a syrup--that the sugar and water have thoroughly
united. Add the parsnips and boil for ten minutes.
Next comes the use of a novel modification of hand crystallization--a
process that the amateur candy-maker may well afford to make herself
master of, because it is useful for many confections. Obtain a pan with
sloping sides into which the drying rack will drop half way. As the pan
must be used for candy-making and nothing else and as the greatest
strength is not necessary, a suitable dish can probably be obtained from
a ten-cent store. Stir carefully with a wooden paddle in order to make
sure that all the pieces are separated and that the hot syrup comes into
contact with all the surfaces of the confections.
Pour the hot mass over the rack--in position in the pan--and immediately
put a board over the pan. Make sure that the vegetable is evenly
distributed. The wood absorbs the moisture while a tin cover would make
trouble by causing the steam to condense and drop back onto the candy.
Leave the pan undisturbed for twenty-four hours. Then lift the rack out,
pour the syrup into the kettle and cook to two hundred and twenty
degrees. Return the vegetable to the syrup and stir carefully; each
piece must be immersed. The small pieces of candy will be heated through
in so very short a time that it is necessary only to make sure that each
piece has been thoroughly immersed in the hot syrup. Make sure that the
rack is clean and free from particles of the syrup. Thereupon, again
pour it over the rack arranged in the pan as before. Repeat the process
four times, each time cooking the syrup two degrees hotter. The result
is a slow crystallization which covers the candy so that it is perfectly
preserved and very good to taste and look upon. Although the work must
be distributed over six days, only a very few minutes are required
except upon the first day.
=Parsnip Boutonniere.=--The candied parsnip forms the basis of one of
the most decorative of all boutonnieres. For each of them have ready,
besides a supply of the parsnips, candied as above, artificial fern,
sometimes sold under the name "imitation air plant," a lace mat, a
number twenty-two wire, and one yard of ribbon one-half inch wide, the
preferred color. See the illustration opposite page 72.
Mix one cupful of sugar and one-third cupful of water, and color the
same as the ribbon. Cook the syrup thus made to two hundred and
twenty-five degrees. Into this hot syrup drop the crystallized parsnips,
and allow them to remain a few minutes. After they have become
thoroughly and evenly colored, pour them upon a wire screen. After they
have dried, attach to about two dozen of them pieces of wire about six
inches long. It is well to place a drop of thick syrup at the point at
which the wire enters the candy.
Cut the ferns into lengths of from two to four inches. Mix the wired
candies through the bunch of ferns, occasionally twisting a strand of
fern around the wires so that all wires will be hidden. Slip the lace
mat up over the wires and the ends of the ferns, wrap wires with tissue
paper and cover with tinsel foil, either silver or gilt, and tie the
center of the ribbon around the stem directly under the mat and form a
rosette. About five inches from the point tie the ends together in a bow
knot.
XIII
CARROT
To the art of candy-making, the use of carrots has brought a harmless
new color. Formerly the peculiar yellowish orange of the carrot candy
was a shade that the confectioner, amateur or otherwise, could not hope
to attain without the use of artificial substances.
The statement that carrots are valuable in candy-making for their color
must not be thought to mean that the confections made from them are not
very good to eat. Quite the contrary; carrot candies have a very
pleasing flavor.
=Carrot Rings.=--To make them, peel medium sized carrots and let them
stand several hours in cold water. Cut cross-wise into slices about
one-quarter of an inch thick and with a small round cutter or sharp
knife remove the center pith. Drop the rings into boiling water and cook
until tender. After they have thoroughly drained, drop them into a
syrup made by boiling one part of water and three parts of sugar to two
hundred and twenty degrees. Boil until the rings become
translucent--probably about ten minutes. Dry on a wire rack, taking care
that the rings do not touch. The next day, heat the syrup to two hundred
and twenty-five degrees and again dip the rings and dry as before. If
desired, when they are dry, fill the centers with bon-bon cream or
marzipan. When this center has become firm, dip the candy into a syrup
cooked to two hundred and twenty-eight degrees. Even if the centers are
not filled, it is well to make this third dipping; the thermometer
should, however, register two hundred and thirty degrees instead of
merely two hundred and twenty-eight.
[Illustration: Boxed Vegetable Candies]
=Crystallized Carrot.=--For this confection, proceed exactly as directed
in the previous chapter for crystallized parsnip, substituting, of
course, the carrots for the parsnips.
=Carrot Roll.=--From ordinary cream fondant or from cooked potato
fondant, make a thin strip about an inch wide. Place upon it small
pieces of the crystallized carrot, prepared as directed above, and roll
so that there is formed a long tube filled with the candied
vegetable. Cut this tube into pieces as long as desired--half an inch is
about right--and after drying until quite firm dip into a crystal cooked
to two hundred and twenty-five degrees. If the pieces are not firm when
they go into the crystal bath they are likely to soften and lose their
roundness.
"=Gingers.="--Preserved ginger is a delightful confection, but it is
expensive, and cannot be obtained in every town. There is a substitute
that when properly prepared has an added charm, because it is the
product of the candy-maker's own art. Note the box at the extreme right
of the illustration facing page 98.
=Garden "Ginger."=--Take white carrots, preferably of fine texture, boil
them five or ten minutes, scrape off the outside layer, cut the carrots
in quarters, lengthwise, and remove the cores. Then remove the point and
cut the remainder into slices about the size of the pieces of preserved
ginger. Boil the pieces in fresh water until they are tender, but change
the water frequently to destroy all vegetable taste and odor. Yellow
carrots can be used, but in that case the resulting confection will
differ from preserved ginger in color, although not in taste.
To every pound of cooked carrots add two pounds of granulated sugar, one
quart of water, two ounces of green ginger root shaved fine, and the
juice and grated rind of one lemon. Boil the mixture for fifteen
minutes, and repeat the boiling the next day, and surely once or twice
more; at any rate, until the syrup is very thick. If the boiling was
continuous for five hours, the moisture would be eliminated, but the
texture of the "ginger" would probably be ruined. The short cookings
give the carrots the opportunity to absorb the cooling syrup slowly. If
less water were used,--in order to reduce the time of cooking,--the
carrot would harden too rapidly to take up enough syrup.
If the "ginger" is not wanted for immediate use, it can be stored in the
syrup. The confection may be finished at once and packed dry, but the
better method of preservation is in the liquid. The open season for
carrots is very short and for the "ginger" is the whole year long!
To finish, heat the syrup thoroughly and then drain. After the liquid
has stopped dripping, roll each piece of the "ginger" in granulated
sugar, place the pieces on a wire tray, making sure that no two pieces
touch, and put the tray in an oven very slightly heated. When the
confection is dry it is done.
=Variations.=--Three variations are possible. If a sharper taste is
desired, add a few grains of Cayenne pepper the last time the syrup is
boiled. If a moister product is preferred, omit the lemon-juice and
rind. If green ginger cannot be obtained, substitute one ounce of ground
ginger. Ground ginger, however, must be boiled in a fine cloth bag;
otherwise particles of it will adhere to the pieces of carrot.
XIV
BEAN
=Candied Green Beans.=--Select well filled pods of green beans; wash,
and then cook until tender in water to which a little soda has been
added. Drain.
To a pound of beans so cooked, add one gill of water, one pound of
sugar, and one tablespoonful of vinegar. Boil this mixture for fifteen
minutes, and let it remain in the syrup over night. The next day, drain
the syrup from the beans and cook it to two hundred and twenty degrees.
Place the beans upon the screen of the crystal pan, pour the syrup over
them, and cover with a board. Repeat the process next day.
When wanted for use, drain the syrup from the beans. Cook the syrup to
two hundred and thirty degrees, return the beans to it, allowing them
thoroughly to heat through. Turn them onto the screen, making sure that
they are well spread. Cover with a board, and, after a few hours,
spread singly.
=Bean Taffy.=--Bean taffy easily takes first rank among all
taffies--vegetable or otherwise. The taste is good beyond words, and the
consistency is pleasingly "chewy" without being tenacious to the point
of teeth pulling!
Lima beans are the best to use as the basis because the skins can easily
be removed, but ordinary dried beans may be substituted if care is
taken. Cover the beans with cold water, let them stand over night, and
the next morning boil them until soft, and force through a fine sieve to
remove all the skins.
Boil together two cupsful of granulated sugar, one-half cupful of water,
a tablespoonful of butter, and one-half cupful of the beans, prepared as
above. After the mixture has boiled thoroughly, add one cupful of milk.
Add the cupful of milk, one-third at a time. Stir the mixture and let it
boil a few minutes after each addition of milk. When the thermometer
registers two hundred and forty-two degrees, pour the mass onto an oiled
marble between oiled candy bars so that it will set about one-quarter
inch thick. As with ordinary taffy, cut into pieces of the desired size.
=Nut Bean Taffy.=--Cut Brazil nuts cross-wise into shavings about
one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness--about the thickness of the pieces
of shaved cocoanut. Spread as many of them as are desired upon oiled
marble between oiled candy bars. Pour over the nuts the mass described
above. Treat as before.
XV
BEET
To the candy cook, the discovery that beets make good confectionery
brings a new flavor and a new color--one as desirable as the other, and
that is saying a great deal! In candy made from beets there are several
new shades of red which previously could not be obtained even by the use
of artificial coloring matter.
In case the beet color is desired for candies made upon other bases, it
can be had very easily. The beets should be boiled until the water is
colored red. Then this water may be substituted for the water called for
by other receipts in vegetable candy-making. The beet color will be
given but the beet flavor will not be. The result is a pleasing color
without the use of anything that is artificial.
=Frosted Beet Slice.=--Boil to two hundred and thirty-two degrees two
cupsful of sugar, one tablespoonful of grated raw beet, one-third
cupful of water, one teaspoonful of vinegar, and one teaspoonful of
butter. Remove from the fire and stir in one-half cupful of broken
walnut meats. When the mass begins to thicken, pour it between oiled
candy bars on an oiled marble so that it will form a layer
three-quarters of an inch thick. When cool, cover one-quarter of an inch
thick with a frosting made of one cupful of sugar, one-quarter cupful of
water, and one-eighth teaspoonful of cream of tartar, boiled without
stirring to two hundred and thirty-four degrees and then flavored with a
few drops of vanilla and lemon and beaten until creamy. When set,--a
quick process--cut the mass into pieces about one-half inch wide and one
and one-half inches long. If the confection is to be kept, crystallize
at two hundred and twenty-five degrees. The looks are improved if the
confection is then rolled in granulated sugar. Dry on a wire screen for
twelve hours or so.
Note No. 10 in the frontispiece.
=Beet Puffs.=--Cut one medium sized beet into thin slices, cover with
one-half cupful of cold water and cook in a double boiler until soft.
Drain, and to the liquid thus obtained add one pound of sugar; boil two
or three minutes. To this mixture, add one-half cupful of the cooked
beet cut into fine pieces. Cook this mass to two hundred and forty
degrees. Have ready the whites of two eggs, salted and beaten to a stiff
froth. Remove from the fire and after the steam has ceased to rise, beat
the mixture into the whites of the two eggs. Using a pecan meat to push
with, drop this mixture from a teaspoon in small puffs on waxed paper,
leaving the pecan imbedded. This mixture is very foamy and adhesive,
sets very quickly and must be handled rapidly. These directions will
yield about five dozen puffs.
A few drops of rose water may be added if a more delicate flavor is
desired.
=Beet Cubes with Variations.=--Beet cubes possess remarkable color
value. To make them, boil to two hundred and thirty degrees two cupsful
of granulated sugar, one tablespoonful grated raw beet, one-half cupful
of water, one teaspoonful of butter and one cupful of shredded cocoanut.
Pour the mass between oiled candy bars upon greased marble so that it
will form half an inch deep.
Four things may be done with this mass. It may be cut into cubes. If
wanted for future use it may be dipped into a crystal syrup to hold the
moisture. Children will like it poured into oiled cup-cake tins or any
other mold. If molded, care should be taken that the finished confection
is not more than half an inch thick. If the cubes are dipped into
bon-bon cream they will be of unusual beauty because of the pink showing
through the fondant casing.
=Crystallized Beets.=--Crystallized beets are fully as pretty as candied
rose leaves. They are particularly valuable in trimming boxes of
candy--especially "all vegetable" boxes.
To crystallize beets, use the process described for parsnips in Chapter
XII. After the last crystallization, however, the pieces should be
separated, dusted with granulated sugar, and dried on a wire screen,
instead of being left on the rack.
If it is desired to increase the illusion, add rose water to the syrup.
=Spiced Beets.=--Boil beets and cut them into cubes of about one inch.
Mix one cupful of sugar and one-third cupful of vinegar. Spice highly.
Cinnamon, cloves and allspice should be used, and whatever else the
fancy of the candy-maker dictates. Boil the mixture until it syrups, add
the beets and cook ten minutes. Remove the mass from the fire, cover and
set away for two days. Drain the syrup from the beets, boil the syrup to
two hundred and twenty degrees and pour it boiling over the beets. Cover
the mass and set it aside. Repeat this process on several successive
days.
=Spiced Beet Bon-bons.=--Take spiced beets and drain off the syrup. Cook
the syrup to two hundred and thirty degrees. With a wooden paddle beat
it at one side of the saucepan until it begins to look creamy.
Thereupon, add the beets, stir the whole mass briskly and turn it onto a
sieve. Dry the cubes on a rack, roll each in fondant, dry for two hours
and dip in bon-bon cream.
XVI
TOMATO
=Tomato Marshmallow.=--Very often marshmallows--even the sort sold in
candy stores of the better class--contain gums and glucose which the
amateur would find difficult to handle even if she felt no scruple in
their use. Tomato marshmallows, however, are pleasing in consistency and
more attractive in flavor than the old-fashioned kind. Moreover, they
are easy to make, although it is necessary to give more detailed
directions than would be required in the description of the process with
which the home candy-maker is more familiar.
Dissolve three tablespoonsful of granulated gelatine in one cupful of
hot water. Cook and strain ripe tomatoes; to one-half cupful of the
strained tomato add one cupful of sugar and cook the mixture to two
hundred and thirty degrees. Have ready in a deep saucepan, three cupsful
of sugar, moistened with one-quarter of a cupful of water. Upon it
strain the tomato syrup, stir well, thin with a cupful of water, and
cook to two hundred and forty degrees. Set the mass off the fire, add
the gelatine water previously prepared, mix thoroughly and strain into a
fresh bowl. Have ready the whites of two eggs beaten to a stiff froth.
With a French egg whip or a common wooden paddle, beat the cooked mass
hard until it is white and does not separate. When it becomes foamy and
spongy, gradually add the beaten egg whites and keep beating until the
whole mass is very stringy and will almost set on the paddle. Sift upon
the mass one tablespoonful of corn starch; stir well. Pour the candy
between candy bars on a marble well dusted with XXXX sugar. Leave ten or
twelve hours, cut into squares, roll well in XXXX sugar, spread the
other side up and dry off. Instead of pouring the marshmallows between
candy bars, they may be molded in corn starch. Store in a tight box.
The receipt sounds more laborious than is the process. The repeated
boilings are necessary to perfect the product. The acid of the tomato
destroys the granularity of the sugar. Straining the mixture eliminates
the particles of tomato which, not having blended thoroughly into the
syrup, would cause trouble by sticking to the bottom of the saucepan in
the later higher cooking.
=Chocolate Marshmallow.=--Marshmallows, made as directed above, are the
basis for them. Dip them in coating chocolate; the method of treatment
is the same as with ordinary chocolate marshmallows.