Although the true history of the gumdrop has been misplaced,
gummy candies (more appropriately, jellies) have existed for hundreds of
years. During my renaissance fair
days, I made a receipt (ol’ timey word for “recipe”) called White Leach. This was, in essence, a rose-flavored
milk jell-o jiggler. The gumdrop
itself does appear in one of my Victorian recipe books, Candy Making at Home (1884).
It calls the use of glucose to make gum-drops a “cheap
adulteration.” Moulding trays,
which are boxes filled with cornstarch or powdered sugar into which impressions
are made creating a temporary mould, were used to form the gumdrops. Here is a cut-and-paste of the actual 1884
gum-drop (yes, it was hyphenated at the time) recipe:
Dissolve about one pound of the best
quality of granulated gum-arabic, in three gills of water, by heating it over a
moderate fire, stirring constantly. Do not allow it to boil. Strain, and after you have washed out the kettle, return the
liquid gum, and add twelve ounces of pulverized sugar, and two gills of water. Let this boil down to a very thick
liquid (evaporation being the safer way, however), page 59, so thick that it
will pour only very slowly from the kettle. Stir constantly, being careful not to allow it to burn. Then remove from the fire, flavor and
color (if desired) and put it aside to settle. Meanwhile, prepare the moulding trays, and make indentations
of the usual form for all gum-drops, and when the contents of the kettle are
cold, and honey like, carefully skim the surface of the solution, and fill the
moulds. When they are all filled, sift a little fine sugar or starch powder
over the tops, and put them away to harden. Do not disturb them for two or three days, then remove from
the powder, and if they are sufficiently firm to bear the handling, put them
into a hair sieve, and gently shake until the particles of powder are removed. Then brush them with a broad, and very
soft brush. When thoroughly dry,
they may be crystallized, or left plain.
The usual flavors are Lemon (yellow), Rose (red), Wintergreen (uncolored).
Gumdrops are mentioned by the translator of the 13th
century Kitab al tabikh fi-l-Maghrib
wa-l-Andalus fi `asr al-Muwahhidin, li-mu'allif majhul (The Book of Cooking in
Maghreb and Andalus in the era of Almohads, by an unknown author). A review of the associated recipe,
however, reveals a “chewy” candy.
This could be taffy, not a gumdrop. A chewy gum-arabic candy also appears in this book, but this
is neither moulded nor crystallized.
Calling them gumdrops, then, would be a stretch. These are the only antique mentions of
gumdrops I have come across. If I
ever discover a source for culinary-grade gum-arabic, I will try to create
redactions. At present, though, I
am left with the modern equivalents.
A search of the recipes for gumdrops on the Internet has turned
up two basic procedures for making gumdrops: The gelatin method and the pectin method. Each method seems to follow proportional
ratios between recipes. For the
pectin recipe, the basic ingredients are as follows:
1 cup sugar
1 cup corn syrup
3/4 c liquid (this being either fruit juice or
water)
1-3/4 ounces powdered fruit pectin
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Additional colorings and flavorings as
desired.
Pretty much every pectin-based recipe I have come across has
the same ratio of ingredients, although one fellow commented that the amount of
baking soda should change according to the type of juice used.
The gelatin-based ingredients also follow their own radio
pattern:
1 level tbsp. unflavored powdered
gelatin
1/4 c cold tap water
3/8 c boiling water
1 c sugar
Colorings and flavorings as desired
It is important to note that the colorings and flavorings
must be added in very small quantities so as to not dilute the gumdrop and
prevent it from setting. As for
the shape of the homemade gumdrops, there are silicone gumdrop moulds available
on the Internet, but most of the recipes I have found call for pouring the hot
syrup into a loaf pan lined with greased foil and then cutting the drops into
squares before rolling them in sugar.
