The Candy Maker"s Guide.
by Fletcher Manufacturing Company.
INTRODUCTION.
In presenting this selection of choice recipes for Candy Makers we have endeavored to avoid everything that is not practical and easy to understand. The recipes given are from the most experienced and notable candy makers of America and Europe, and are such, that, if followed out with care and attention will be sure to lead to success. Practice is only to be had by experiment, and little failures are overcome by constant perseverance.
After the rudiments have been thoroughly mastered, the reader has ample scope to distinguish himself in the Candy world, and will do so with patience and perseverance. We trust our patrons will look upon this work, not as a literary effort, but as instruction from a practical workman to a would-be workman.
FLETCHER MNF"G. Co., 440 & 442 Yonge St., Toronto, Publishers.
Manufacturers of Candy Makers Tools and Machines, and every article required in Confectionery and Candy Making.
ASK FOR OUR CATALOGUE.
SUGAR BOILING.
This branch of the trade or business of a confectioner is perhaps the most important. All manufacturers are more or less interested in it, and certainly no retail shop could be considered orthodox which did not display a tempting variety of this cla.s.s. So inclusive is the term "boiled goods" that it embraces drops, rocks, candies, taffies, creams, caramels, and a number of different sorts of hand-made, machine-made, and moulded goods. It is the most ancient method of which we have any knowledge, and perhaps the most popular process of modern times; the evidence of our everyday experience convinces us that (notwithstanding the boom which heralds from time to time a new sweet, cooked in a different manner, composed of ingredients. .h.i.therto unused in business), it is the exception when such goods hold the front rank for more than a few months, however pretty, tasty, or tempting they may be, the public palate seems to fall back on those made in the old lines which, though capable of improvement, seem not to be superceded. Of the entire make of confectionery in Canada, at least two-thirds of it may be written down under the name of boiled sugar. They are undoubtedly the chief features with both manufacturers and retailers, embracing, as they do, endless facilities for fertile brains and deft fingers for inventing novelties in design, manipulation, combination, and finish. Notwithstanding the already great variety, there is always daily something new in this department brought into market. Many of the most successful houses owe their popularity more to their heads than their hands, hence the importance of studying this branch in all its ramifications. The endless a.s.sortment requiring different methods for preparing and manipulating make it necessary to sub-divide this branch into sections, order and arrangement being so necessary to be thoroughly understood. _When we consider the few inexpensive tools required to make so many kinds of saleable goods, it is not to be wondered at so many retailers have a fancy to make their own toffees and such like, there is no reason why a man or woman, with ordinary patience, a willing and energetic disposition, favored with a fair amount of intelligence, should not be able to become with the aid of THIS BOOK and a few dollars for tools, fairly good sugar boilers, with a few months practice._
There are reasons why a retail confectioner should study sugar boiling.
It gives character to the business, a fascinating odour to the premises, and a general at-homeness to the surroundings. No goods look more attractive and tempting to the sweet eating public than fresh made goods of this kind. A bright window can be only so kept by makers. Grainy or sticky drops may be reboiled; sc.r.a.ps and what would otherwise be almost waste (at least unsightly) may be redressed in another shape, and become, not only saleable, but profitable. _There are many advantages which a maker possesses over one who buys all._ For instance, clear boiled goods should be kept air tight, and are therefore delivered to the retailers in bottles, jars, or tins, on which charge is made, these have to be repacked and returned. Breakages are an important item, so is freight--the cost of the latter is saved and the former reduced to a minimum.
Whatever means are adopted to benefit the retailer and advertise the business by brighter windows, cleaner shops, less faded goods, and healthier financial conditions must contribute to the general prosperity of the trade, from the bottom step to the top rung of the ladder.
It should be the aim of all amateurs to study quality rather than price.
Goods well made, carefully flavored, and nicely displayed will always command a ready sale at a fair price, giving satisfaction to the consumer and credit to the maker. Give your customers something to please the eye as well as the palate, so that every sale may be looked upon as an advertis.e.m.e.nt. Cheap, bulky, insipid stuff is unprofitable and damaging to the trade as well as to the seller. I venture to a.s.sert that more would-be makers have come to grief trying to cut each other in price for rubbishy candies than through any other cause. Look at the number of firms who have a reputation, whose very name command trade at good prices, year after year add to the turnover. What is the talisman? Look at their goods. There is perhaps nothing very striking in them, but they are _invariably good_, busy or slack they are made with care, packed with taste, and delivered neatly in a business-like fashion. Compare this to our makers of cheap stuff; to obtain orders they sell at unprofitable prices, often at a loss, and try to make up the difference by resorting to various methods of increasing the bulk, the result is ultimate ruin to themselves, loss to their creditors, and injury to every one concerned. Few who read these lines will not be able to verify all that is stated. The writer"s advice has always been to keep up a _high degree of excellence, try to improve in every direction, and success is only a matter of patience, energy and civility_.
It is not intended to give a complete list of all kinds of candy known in the trade, that would be absurd and impossible. To be able to make any particular kind will require knowledge only to be gained by experience, so that much depends on the thoughtful endeavor of the beginner.
THE WORKSHOP.
Sugar boiling, like every other craft, requires a place to do it, fitted with tools and appliances. The requisites and requirements can be easily suited to the purse of the would-be confectioner. A work to be useful to all must cater for all, and include information which will be useful to the smaller storekeeper as well as the larger maker. To begin at the bottom, one can easily imagine a person whose only ambition is to make a little candy for the window fit for children. This could be done with a very small outlay for utensils. The next move is the purchase of a sugar boiler"s furnace not very costly and certainly indispensable where quality and variety are required, it will be a great saving of time as well as money, the sugar will boil a much better color, so that cheaper sugar may be used for brown or yellow goods, while one can make acid drops and other white goods from granulated. Dutch crush, or loaf sugar, which would be impossible to make on a kitchen stove from any sort of sugar.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 2.
Steel Candy Furnace.
No. 1--24 in. high, 19 in. diameter. Price, $7.50. No. 2--30 in. high, 23 in. diameter. Price, $12.00.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 206 a.
Excelsior Furnace.
Height 26 in., 4 holes, from 9 to 18 in. diameter. Made entirely of cast iron. Price, $16. Weight 225 lbs.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 12.
CARAMEL CUTTERS--2 Styles.
Each with Steel Shaft and Screw Handles and two sets Blocks.
No. 2--with 13 Steel Cutters, price $6.50
We make this Cutter with longer rod and any number of extra cutters at 50c. each cutter.
No. 1--with 13 Tinned Cutters, price $11.00
With longer rods and any number of extra cutters at 30c. each cutter.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 3.
Copper Candy Boiling Pan.
15 6 $4.50, 16 7 $5.50, 17 8 $6.00, 18 9 $7.00, 19 10 $8, 20 10-1/2 $9.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 16. Price 76c. Improved Slide Candy Hook.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 6.
STEAM JACKET--MADE TO ORDER.]
LIST OF SUGAR BOILING TOOLS REQUIRED FOR A START.
1 Candy Furnace Price, $7 50 1 Copper Boiling pan 156 " 4 50 1 Candy Thermometer " 1 75 1 Marble Slab 48242 " 8 00 1 Caramel Cutter " 6 50 1 Candy Hook " 75 1 Pallette Knife " 50 1 Doz. Taffy Pans " 2 00 1 Pair English Candy Shears " 1 50 ------ Total $33 00
More slab room will be required as trade increases.
We cannot go any further into the mysteries of this art successfully unless we provide ourselves with a candy machine and rolls to enable us to make drops. _They are indispensable_, and if we are to go on, we must have them to enable us to make drops, and every confectioner sells drops. These machines are made to suit all cla.s.ses of trade, big and little. The small ones make just as nice drops as the large ones, and will turn out in the course of a day 2 or 3 cwt., by constant use, so that for retail purposes this quant.i.ty would generally be sufficient.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 12-1/2.
Candy Machine and Rollers for Boiled Sugar.
For Fruit Drops, Acid or Cough Drops Imperials, Etc.
These Machines are made to fit a Standard Gauge, and will admit of any number of Rollers being fitted to one frame. Thus parties having our frames can at any time order additional rollers which will work satisfactorily.
The Rollers are 2 in. diameter, 3-5/8 in. long. Almost every conceivable pattern can be cut on them.