I Am a Rock (Candy)

Rock candy has existed for a long time, at least 200 years.  However, rock candy as we know it (sugar crystals on a string or stick) seems to have first appeared in the late 1800s.  At that time, it was made with whisky and sold as a cough remedy.  The confection made its first appearance in the very early 1900s.  I will get my sources and update this posting later.

Are gumdrops Victorian?

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 13^th 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.

Ordering supplies

I just ordered tartaric acid for making acid drops, which is a type of Victorian-era candy.

Receipt shock

So far, I have found three sources that discuss the grades of chocolate used in candy making.  I have created a spreadsheet to keep track of chocolate brand recommendations.  Anybody can see that chart at this link (which should open in a new window).  So far, four brands come out on top:  Callebaut, Scharffen Berger, Valrhona, and Guittard.  There is actually a company that carries all of these brands.  It is Chocosphere (which should open in a new window).  Although the price per pound is very reasonable, one has to purchase 2.2 pounds of each different chocolate.  Depending on the brand, there are as many as seven different chocolates.  That means I would have to spend over $300 just to try all the type of all these brands.  That is why I am writing this blog right now; I am hoping it will break the logjam in my head so I can make a decision as to what to purchase.

Book remarks

Okay, I just scanned through the table of contents for Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats (1832).  While there are many cake (including cheesecake), pie, pudding, and jelly recipes, there are no specific candy-making recipes.

Definitions, definitions

Wow.  Finding out what something is called can be almost as hard as figuring out how to make something.  Here are some terms I have been researching in order to determine whether or not they fall within the Victorian (1830-1900) period.  As some chocolate sites have stated, there is no governing body to make sure the names are used correctly.  Therefore, some misuse has muddied the definitions for certain candy terms.  Here, then, is some of what I have discovered.

Bon-bons are technically a filling "the size of a dollop" that is coated with hard chocolate.
Praline is a bon-bon filled with a nut mixture.
Truffle is a bon-bon filled with a ganache mixture, although the outer coating could be something other than hard chocolate, such as cocoa powder.  This, by the way, is known as a Swiss truffle.
A European truffle is made with syrup, cocoa powder, milk powder, fats, and other ingredients to form an emulsion.
An American truffle is a mixture of chocolates with butterfat and, in some cases, hardened coconut oil.

The bon-bon was created in Italy around 1865.  The praline was created in Belgium around 1912.  The truffle was created in France in 1895.  So, what does all of this mean?

Small chocolate-coated candies existed as early as 1865.  To this point in my research, however, I have not come across any specific Victorian techniques or recipes for dipping chocolate candies.

Books, books, and more books.

I have just spent about the last 2 hours going through links on the internet to download about 40 Victorian-era cookbooks available as on-line facsimiles or pdf files.  The downloads include Art of Confectionery (1866), Candy Making at Home (1884), Complete Confectioner (1844), a different Complete Confectioner (1849), Pastrycook & Confectioner's Guide (1889), and Treaties on the Art of Boiling Sugar (1865).  And to think, I was just trying to do a little research on chocolate truffles.