=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 ma.s.s begins to set, drop it quickly on waxed paper in small drops. Act promptly, for the ma.s.s 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 quant.i.ties 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 ma.s.s 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 gla.s.s sheet. If the candy is moist, dip the hands into x.x.xX 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 ill.u.s.tration 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 ma.s.s 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 ill.u.s.tration 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.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Boxed Vegetable Candies]
=Crystallized Carrot.=--For this confection, proceed exactly as directed in the previous chapter for crystallized parsnip, subst.i.tuting, 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 subst.i.tute 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 ill.u.s.tration facing page 98.
=Garden "Ginger."=--Take white carrots, preferably of fine texture, boil them five or ten minutes, sc.r.a.pe 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, subst.i.tute 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 subst.i.tuted 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 b.u.t.ter, 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 ma.s.s 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 ma.s.s 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.