Sweet for Your Life - Candy Candy Candy
Remember Candy Buttons and Teaberry Gum and Reeds Root Beer & Butterscotch Candies - the candy from the past? It sure takes you back. Candy is so popular that even my neighbor, Candy Medina is named after it. And, you may have heard of Candy Perry.
Today there are many choices at the candy bar San Francisco. It is a literal big rock candy mountain. Here are some examples: Good News Bar and Wonka Bar and Sugar Baby and Certs and York Peppermint Pattie and Caramel Squares and Sno-Caps.
Although cocoa was grown as early as 1270 BC, candy most likely originated much earlier as a simple coating of honey on fruits and nuts as well as flowers and seeds. The honey not only gave them an extra sweetness, but it helped to preserve them for storage.
In New England, candy made from molasses and maple syrup as well as sugar coated nuts (comfits) were known in the 1600’s and 1700’s. Some early medicines eventually took the form of candy - marshmallows, licorice, peppermint and hard candies for example. Early American cookbooks actually include recipes for candies and other sweets like Barley sugar (a precursor to toffee) and apples and quinces and lemons and apricots|Candied Lemon and orange peel|candied Melon citron candied|candied Anglelica|candied Cassia|Orange marmalade|Apricot marmalade|Red quince marmalade|White quince marmalade|Raspberry paste|Currant paste|Gooseberry paste|Orange chips|Apricot chips|Ginger tablet|Kisses & meringues a sweet frothy confection made of egg white, some with hazel nut or cocoanut centers|Coconut candy|Lemon flavored rock candy|Cream candy|Common twist - an early form of candy cane|Peppermint|rose candy|horehound candy|Molasses candy or taffy}.
Here is a sample recipe of one:
“Pralines 1 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup milk 1 tablespoon butter 1 cup pecans 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Mix all ingredients except vanilla. Bring to a boil and boil for exactly 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from heat, add vanilla, and beat until smooth and creamy. Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper. Makes 2 to 3 dozen.” —A Cooking Legacy, Virginia T. Elverson & Mary Ann McLanahan [Walker and Company:New York] 1975 (p. 167)
Try it, you will probably be surprised at how good it is.
