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PREFACE vi

SECTION I

I FOR THE NOVICE 3

II FOR THE CANDY-MAKER'S TABLE 8

V CRYSTALLIZATION 27

VI CHOCOLATE COATING 33

SECTION II

I From Potato Paste 52 Green Leaves 56

II Violets Pop-corn Violets 57 Cocoanut Violets 58 Violet Boutonniere 59

X POTATO--MISCELLANEOUS Mocha Walnuts 84 Pecan Creams 85 Raisin Creams 85 Peppermint Chocolates 86 Celtic Almonds 86 Chocolate Bars 87 Vegetable Cream 88

XX STUFFED FRUITS Dates for Candy 128 Sparkling Dates 128 Chocolate Covered Dates 129 Date Brilliants 129 Rhubarb Marmalade 129 Sugared Dates 130 Stuffed Dates 130 Stuffed Prunes 130

VEGETABLE CANDIES Frontispiece OPPOSITE PAGE FASCINATING TO THE CHILD 72 BOXED VEGETABLE CANDIES 98 DECORATIVE AND EDIBLE 118 ANGELICA ARCHANGELICA 132 FOR THE CATERER 138

INTRODUCTION

When Mary Elizabeth Hall first brought her discovery to my attention, I thought that it was indeed one that would revolutionize candy-making, both that of the amateur at home and of the manufacturer. And, in the months that have followed, to this belief has been added the conviction that this revolution is one very much worth while. Why so simple and obvious a discovery was not made long ago is a mystery to me; perhaps its very simplicity and obviousness is proof of its importance.

Of cookery, candy-making is a branch which is entitled to more dignity than it ordinarily receives. Negatively and positively, the importance of sweets to the child can hardly be over-estimated. If he consumes a quantity of impure confectionery, his digestion will be ruined for life; how much of the confectionery bought is rankly impure it is well for the mother's peace of mind that she does not know! On the other hand, if the child is not given sweets, he is deprived of a food element of the greatest value to his development. And for the adult, the value of pure candy is too obvious to warrant comment.

Vegetable candy, to my mind, is ideal confectionery. Of its purity, there can be no doubt. Moreover, it furnishes the valuable element of sugar so combined with nutritious vegetable bases that, because of the bulk, there is no temptation to overeat. This quality of the new confection would seem insurance against the evil effects of gluttony! Before an undue amount of sugar is consumed, the very mass of the vegetable base has satisfied the appetite.

Many sorts of vegetable candy have unusual keeping qualities; indeed, some kinds will retain their flavor and moisture for as long as a year. It is significant to note that almost all non-vegetable confections that can be successfully stored for any length of time contain artificial preservatives; vegetable candy, however, keeps, not because of the addition of alcohol or even benzoate of soda, but because of the excellence of the processes themselves.

Notwithstanding its advantages, vegetable candy is no harder to make than is any other good candy. For success in any sort of cookery, much hard work is necessary; slipshod methods and intuition can not produce food that is up to standard. Of even greater force is this rule when applied to the most delicate brand of cookery--the making of confectionery. Miss Hall has supplemented her major discovery by several other valuable discoveries--or "adaptations," as she modestly styles them. Her use of crystallization, for instance, enables the amateur confectioner to secure results which were previously out of her reach.

More definite, however, is another field for speculation in connection with vegetable candy. It offers to the housewife, house-daughter, and to the teacher a new modeling medium. That from a cheap and easily made base attractive objects may be made--and then eaten--surely is a recommendation of no slight moment. Miss Hall's discovery has placed within easy reach of persons of moderate means and skill a medium through which really beautiful objects can be made in candy. For the first time, the amateur candy-maker can prove for herself that candy-making is not only an art, but that it is one of the fine arts.

WARREN DUNHAM FOSTER.

PREFACE The years of work in candy-making that have made possible this book, I now look back upon with a certain feeling of satisfaction. The satisfaction comes from the knowledge that because of the discovery that is here recorded, the candy of the future will be purer, more wholesome, more nourishing than that of the past has been. Even if the processes that are here set forth fail of the widest adoption, I have still the satisfaction of knowing that just so far as they are adopted will there be greater healthfulness of confectionery.

Another reason for the satisfaction that I feel is my knowledge that my discovery has opened to the home candy-maker a whole new world. Previously many of the better sorts of confectionery--particularly of the decorative kinds--were out of her range, either because of the cost of the necessary ingredients or the difficulty of their purchase or handling; particularly under a heavy disadvantage has been the village or country cook who has not had the service rendered by the specialty stores of the great cities. Now, however, with the ever present potato substituted for marzipan--hard to obtain at more a pound than potatoes cost a peck!--it is the girl or woman with her own garden who has the advantage. Moreover, decorative candies that formerly required more skill than most amateur confectioners possess can now be made by anyone who can model clay or use a cooky cutter. Mothers who formerly were all too often required to gratify their children's longing for candies that told a story--candies modeled or otherwise decorative--by giving them boughten confectionery that contained plaster of Paris, aniline dyes and other ingredients equally harmful, can now in their own kitchen from nourishing and harmless vegetables fashion sweets that are just as beguiling to childish eyes.

Nor is this all. Children invariably have a craving for sweets that if allowed to run its course is almost sure to lead to indigestion and worse. On the other hand, if this craving is not satisfied, the children will be deprived of a food of the utmost value--a food element, indeed, that it is indispensable. Vegetable candy offers an ideal solution of this difficulty. Sugar it of course contains, but the vegetable base supplies no small part of the bulk; consequently children may eat their fill of it and satisfy their natural longing for candy without having gorged themselves with sugar. Moreover, the vegetable base has virtues that are positive as well as negative; it itself supplies valuable food elements and equally valuable vegetable salts.

Many colors and flavors are made available by this discovery. The use of beets, for instance, has added to the candy-maker's palette a very attractive new shade. Each vegetable contributes at least one new flavor. Novel as are candies made from vegetables, they must not be thought faddish. Caramels, marshmallows and bon-bons and all the rest are here; tastes that have already won favor are here, and many new ones as well.

It has been with the home candy-maker in mind that I have written this book. Undoubtedly, however, the discovery will appeal to the professional. I am glad, for the more vegetable candy is made, the less unhealthful confectionery there will be consumed. For the same reason, I hope, too, that women and girls seeking to make profitable their idle hours at home, may embark in a small way in the manufacture and sale of vegetable candy.

No doubt I have been garrulous concerning my own discovery, but I trust that the privilege of garrulity will be granted to the woman who has been a pioneer and who, after suffering the hardships that are always the lot of the pioneer, has, as she believes, opened up a whole new world in candy-making and a very good world at that!

M. E. H.

BOSTON, MASS., June 12, 1912.

KEY TO FRONTISPIECE

CANDY MAKING REVOLUTIONIZED

SECTION ONE

HELP FOR THE NOVICE

Almost all of the difficulties of the novice in the art of candy-making come from lack of practice. Although it is a difficult branch of cookery, experience in its intricacies will overcome many of the handicaps under which the beginner struggles. It should be carefully noted that these handicaps apply fully as much to the old-fashioned sort of candy-making as to the new. The fundamental processes are often the same. If the beginner in candy-making knows and will follow a few simple rules, the measure of success that greets her efforts will be largely increased.

Be accurate. If the rule calls for one-quarter teaspoonful of a flavoring extract, measure that amount by a measuring-spoon; do not take up any spoon that happens to be convenient, and pour in what seems to be about the right quantity. More and more cooks are working by rule and not by intuition; but in candy-making the caution against inaccuracy is especially necessary, for the processes are delicate, and subtleties of flavor and of texture are more evident than in more substantial food.

The weather is of more moment in candy-making than in plain cooking. Do not try to make candy on a muggy day; the results probably will be unsatisfactory. But if forced to disregard this warning, attempt but little, act quickly, and remember that damp weather is the only excuse for the substitution of intuition for rule. Just why humidity and low barometric pressure play havoc with the work of the confectioner need not be discussed here.

In making confectionery, cleanliness to the point of chemical purity is highly desirable. Many successful cooks believe that candy should be made in a pan that has never been used for anything else. That belief, perhaps, may be extreme, but the fact remains that one cannot be too careful in regard to the cleanliness of her utensils. And this necessity for cleanliness holds for any receptacle in which any ingredient is placed. Note particularly that heating lard will leave a taint which will spoil the delicacy of flavor of candy made in the same dish.

Sprinkle a shallow dish with coarse sugar. Roll each piece of fruit in a separate place in the dish, taking care that the sugar is absolutely dry when the fruit is placed in it. If the sugar is damp, it will mat so that the confection is "mussy" to the eye and unpleasant to the palate. Moreover, the scales of damp sugar will jar off, leaving a break in the complete covering which is necessary for the preservation of the fruit. One rotting piece will contaminate another, until the whole boxful is unfit for use. If the sugar is properly applied, candied fruit, well packed, will keep for several weeks without injury.

Pack soft candies in layers separated by waxed papers backed by cardboard. Remember that the best-made confections will be unappetizing when presented or served unattractively.

In pulling taffies or other candies, corn starch may be put to good use. No definite rules can be given, because the temperature and the humidity of each pair of hands--to put the case euphemistically--are different. Each time the material is pulled, the candy-maker should dust her hands as lightly as possible with the corn starch. A moderate amount of it worked into the mass will do no harm, but care must be taken not to use so much that the candy becomes starchy. Moreover, a heavy coating of the starch does not protect the hands any more than does a light dusting.

While the candy is being pulled, it should be handled as little as possible. Let the candy's own weight over the hook do the real work. To avoid "bunchiness," the confectioner must keep the mass moving in uniform thickness--a difficult task, success in which comes only from practice.

FOR THE CANDY-MAKER'S TABLE

For real success in candy-making the amateur needs a few small utensils similar to those that have long been used by confectioners. The advice which follows can be as well applied to old-fashioned candy making as to the new sort.

A copper bon-bon dipper, really nothing more than wire twisted so as to outline a spoon, will be found convenient for any sort of dipping likely to be attempted in the home kitchen. The wire dipper is a much more satisfactory tool than a silver fork, the implement usually recommended for this purpose.

Get fourteen inches of copper wire--preferably number eighteen--heavy enough to bear a few ounces of weight without bending, but soft enough to be shaped easily by the fingers. A quarter-pound spool should not cost over ten cents. Grasp the wire five inches from one end and bend it double at that point. The double strand--which makes the handle--will then be five inches long, and the single four. Out of this single strand, beginning half an inch from the end of the doubled strand, form a loop three-quarters of an inch long. Twisting the wire round the forefinger or a small empty spool will make the loop. Wind the two inches of wire left free about the two parallel strands, carrying it up as far as it will reach.

This skeleton spoon is excellent for dipping bon-bons, fruits or nuts. To hold objects of different sizes, the soft copper wire may be bent easily; and in this respect the home-made dippers are better than the nickeled ones on the market. For dipping creams into chocolate, this dipper is probably the best device which is available for the amateur.

Another help is the so-called rubber mat, useful for modeling wafers and centers. This is nothing more than a sheet of heavy rubber fabric, stamped so that molds are formed. Before using, place the mat in cold water, dry, and then pour the fondant into the depressions until they are entirely filled. When the fondant is dry enough to hold its form, the mat is turned upside down, and the wafers and centers easily freed. After being washed in cold water and carefully dried, the mat is ready for use again.

The advantage of the mat is that all the candies are of the same size and regular in shape, and that no material is wasted. For the girl who intends to get only one mat, the kind with round molds--"truncated cones," to be accurate--is the best to buy, because it may be used equally well for centers or wafers. See Fig. 1 above.

The candy-maker who is prepared to spend more for her equipment may well buy several mats, each with molds of different shapes. Then she should reserve one shape for each flavoring or mixture, so that she can easily distinguish by sight different kinds of creams after they are made. The mats are sold by weight, generally at the rate of a dollar and a half a pound. The one shown in Fig. 1 weighs eighteen ounces.

Either to fill molds or to drop masses upon slabs or waxed paper in the old way, the candy-maker will find a dropping funnel useful. This is a small tin cornucopia with a long handle. Whittle a clean stick so that one end of it will fit into the outlet of the funnel, and plug the hole from above. Fill the funnel with the mass to be dropped, and then raise the stick just long enough to allow enough of the mass to run out to fill the mold--or if the old plan is followed, to form a wafer or cream of proper size. See Fig. 2, on the preceding page.

Intelligent operation of the funnel makes the work more rapid and accurate, and the mass holds its heat longer, and is kept better mixed than if poured or spooned from a dish. Funnels especially made for this purpose cost from twenty-five cents to one dollar; but any tinsmith can easily make one out of an eight-inch piece of heavy tin, shaped so as to form a cornucopia, with the smaller opening not more than three-eighths of an inch in diameter, and attached to a handle at least twelve inches long.

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