I was eating dinner, doing a sudoku, and watching Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey, Jr., when a scene came up that made me actually pay attention again. Sherlock is trying to identify a scent. He first postulates "candy floss . . . "
Candy floss is equated to what we in the US know as cotton candy. Apparently, this existed in the Victorian era, although the exact origin of candy floss is not well documented. However, an American invented the first electric cotton candy machine in 1897. The idea, therefore, must have existed prior to the invention.
Sherlock then guesses "molasses . . . " We all pretty much know what molasses is. It is the juice obtained from raw sugar during the refining process. Brown sugar is white sugar with molasses added back in.
Sherlock next asks "barley sugar . . . " Barley sugar is a candy made with barley water and sugar. More on this later, because I intend to try to make some.
Watson finally interrupts "toffee apple." According to what I found on the internet, candied apples have various names. Candy apple or toffee apple is an apple coated with a hard candy shell, whereas taffy apple or caramel apple is an apple coated with a soft coating. So, to the Victorian English, toffee was a hard candy and taffy was a soft candy. This is why the molasses candy recipe I am going to make says it can either be allowed to simply set or can be pulled into a "taffey". One method produces a hard candy, and pulling produces a soft candy.
Fascinating. I never though I would get some of my research from a Sherlock Holmes movie. It makes me want to go back and re-read all my Holmes books to see if I missed anything.
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