Candy and Sherlock Holmes

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.

Oh, Fudge!

Okay, the history of fudge.  Darby's Famous Fudge claims the first recorded sale of fudge was in 1886.  Yeah!  Right in my Victorian timeline!  Horray!  Another website has the actual first fudge recipes!  I kind of like the story that it is called fudge because somebody "fudged" making a caramel recipe.  Now I just need to find actual Victorian fudge recipes, and this one is in.

Fannie Farmer 1896

Another find at the thrift store (this time the Association for Retarded Citizens [ARC]) was a facsimile of the 1896 Fannie Farmer cookbook.  Fannie Farmer was part of the Boston Cooking School.  Unlike Home Candy Making, this facsimile does not include the original cover or title page and, therefore, does not show the original copyright, although there is a new title page that gives the original copyright as 1896.

The first thing I noticed while going through the table of contents was a section of “ices, ice creams, and frozen desserts”.  This means by 1896 freezing was available in people’s homes (How come the first commercial refrigerator wasn’t on the market until the 1910’s?), which tends to corroborate Home Candy Making’s refrigerator claim in 1889. 

Fannie does not refer to candy making but, rather, uses the word confections.  Her confection section is 15 pages long and includes 47 recipes and/or variations.  It includes a chart of temperatures for the 11 stages of boiled sugar and talks about how professionals know by sound when syrup is at the correct temperature.  There is also a mention that fondant is the basis of all French candy.  A-ha!  I have my first connection to fancy Victorian French candy making.  Scientifically speaking, Fannie also states cream of tartar is added to prevent sugar from granulating.

This is the second cookbook I have read that uses a granite pot to make candy.  I wonder if there is some chemical reaction between granite and boiling sugar that makes these folks not worry so much about the sugar turning back into crystals, with the addition of cream of tartar, too.

Something else I just noticed.  Neither Common Sense, Home Candy Making, nor Fannie Farmer’s cookbook mentions fudge when it comes to making candy, although there seems to be a plethora of Victorian fudge recipes on-line.  Truffles were also not mentioned.  Great.  Just what I needed.  Another thing to research.  I have also noticed the use of rose as a flavoring in candies, something I would think of as very Victorian.  I can’t wait to try a few rose candies on unsuspecting students.

Well, lots of research coming up, and I still have to get my homework for the week done.  I’m going to be a very busy fellow.

Change of heart

Since I found a Library of Congress date in the Common Sense book, I thought I would check for one in the Home Candy Making book I am questioning.  There is an actually copyright date of 1889.  The reprint is supposed to be a direct scan of the original rather than a re-typeset edition.  To satisfy my morbid OCD, I will find out when copyright came into existence.  My research should determine it was between 1871 and 1889.  If that is does turn out to be the case, I will have to take the Home Candy Making book as a Victorian source.

Well, there were copyright laws in the US since 1790.  So I now have one book that was only registered with the Library of Congress and another that was copyrighted but not registered with the Library of Congress.  To hell with this; I want to make candy!

Saleratus, anyone?

I love thrift stores.  I found a facsimile of Common Sense in the Household at Goodwill, which has a Library of Congress registration date of 1871.  I got this for $1.  The original book was over 550 pages of recipes and hints, including how to get dried ink out of a white shirt.  For my purposes, I looked in the candy section.  There are only two candy recipes:  Molasses candy and sugar candy.

The first interesting thing is the use of “saleratus”.  I think this is baking soda, but I will search the Internet for a proper definition.  What this tells me, however, is that at some point written recipes switched from using the term saleratus to baking soda.  This could help with dating some recipes, like that Cornell reprint I am debating.

Here is the poop on saleratus.  It is a soda, but not sodium bicarbonate.  According to my search, it is more likely potassium bicarbonate.  Here is one site that describes it, even mentions how it was mixed with water.  The Merriam-Webster site says it is "a leavening agent consisting of potassium or sodium bicarbonate."  Joe Pastry even says somebody sold both potassium bicarbonate and sodium bicarbonate under the name saleratus.  When I make these recipes, I will try baking soda and hope it works.  Otherwise, I will need to find a seller of potassium bicarbonate.

The next interesting thing is the assumptions.  This is definitely not a beginners manual.  What exactly is “pull white” supposed to mean?  How much water is the saleratus supposed to be dissolved in before adding to the candy?  What is supposed to be used for “flavor to taste”?  Measurements are still not all exact, such as “butter the size of an egg.”  There are also no temperatures; the candy should “crisp in cold water”.  Yet another oddity, the molasses candy is stirred frequently but the sugar candy is boiled without stirring.  Does something in the molasses keep the sugar from crystallizing?

The last interesting thing is that the author calls the molasses candy “taffey” (author's quotes, not mine) when cut into squares but without pulling.

I think I am going to do the molasses candy as my first experiment.  There are only 5 ingredients with no real special equipment involved.  I know this isn’t fancy French creams, but a guy has to start somewhere.

How can candy be so complicated?

I just finished reading a book reprint from the Cornell University Library titled "Home Candy Making" with a date of 1889.  However, on page 8, it says to not store candy in the refrigerator.  A refrigerator . . . in 1889?  I had to investigate.

The history of the refrigerator is about as stable as radioactive uranium.  Depending on what website I view, refrigerators in homes existed as early as the 1830s or as late as the 1910s.  Since I could not pin that down, I went out to check on when electricity was available in homes.  The general consensus is homes did not have electricity until about the 1890s.  Another website says the refrigerator "as we know it now" did not come into existence until the 20th century, although the word refrigerator was coined in 1805.

Since the author of this book is identified as the principal of the Philadelphia Cooking School, it is possible she had access to refrigerators before most homes would have had them, as refrigeration in breweries and railroad card goes back to the 1840s.  (The refrigerator coil was actually invented in the 11th century by a Muslim scientist to aid in distillation of essential oils.)

I am now not sure if I should rely on this book as authentic.  I hope I can, because it contains some other interesting facts:  Candies were made "marble" size, candies were not dipped in chocolate, there were no thermometers used, and all colorings were homemade.  So, do I believe the Cornell University Library or put this book aside?

Lots of odds and ends . . .

My mind and research has been racing, and I wanted to take some time to get some stuff down in print.

As for the outfit question from my last post, I came up with a solution.  Johnny Depp again comes to the costume rescue:

Time to buy Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  (Love the high-heel boots.)

Back to business.  I now have in my possession reprints of two Victorian-era cookbooks.  A candy making book written is 1889 and the Fanny Farmer Cookbook from 1898.  I'll be able to use these to get started.

Other candy books I have been reading say I need to keep my work area at 68 degrees with under 40% humidity.  During shopping on Saturday, I'm going to have to buy a couple of those thermometer/barometer thingies, one for the work area and one for the kitchen.

I also have started looking into tempering chocolate, which, by the by, was invented about the same time that French creams were invented.

I've also begun thinking about the definition of candy.  What is candy?  How does it differ from a confection?  My theory is a true candy involves boiled sugar, but I have to do more research to figure this out.

I'm hoping within a week or two to have my first cooking experiments done.