Woman's Institute Library of Cookery Volume V Part 22

(10) Give the method for making jelly by the mean-boiling method.

(11) What is meant by: (_a_) short boiling? (_b_) long boiling?

(12) Give two tests for determining when jelly has cooked sufficiently.

(13) (_a_) How should gla.s.ses be prepared before filling them with jelly? (_b_) How are gla.s.ses closed for storing?

(14) (_a_) What are preserves? (_b_) What kind of fruits should be selected for preserves?

(15) Describe the best method of making preserves.

(16) How do conserves differ from preserves?

(17) How do marmalades differ from conserves?

(18) Describe jam.

(19) How does fruit b.u.t.ter differ from jams?

(20) What are: (_a_) pickles? (_b_) relishes?

CONFECTIONS

NATURE AND COMPOSITION

NATURE OF CONFECTIONS

1. CONFECTIONS are such sweetmeats as candy and similar articles, which have for their foundation sugar, sirup, honey, and the like. As is well known, the most important variety of confection is candy, and this is the one that is usually meant when the term confections is mentioned.

Confections, however, are not so limited as might be imagined upon first thought, for many delicious dishes whose main ingredient is nuts, fruits, coconut, or pop corn are also placed in this cla.s.s. To be sure, most of these contain sweetening material of some sort in greater or smaller quant.i.ties. Therefore, in its broadest sense, confections may be regarded as preparations having for their chief ingredient sugar or substances containing it, such as mola.s.ses, honey, etc., usually mixed with other food materials, such as nuts, fruits, chocolate, starches, and fats, to give them body and consistency, and flavored and colored in any desired way.

2. The making of confections, and of candy in particular, is both a useful and a delightful pastime that can be indulged in even by those who are only slightly skilled. In fact, with a certain amount of knowledge of the methods used and a little practice, surprising results can be obtained by the amateur candy maker. Then, too, it is a comparatively simple matter to copy the confectioner's work. A considerable variety of candies can often be made from a simple foundation material if a little originality or ingenuity is applied.

Since it is an easy matter to prepare foods of this kind and since they can be made at home more cheaply and of more tasty and wholesome materials, it is a decided advantage to make them rather than buy them, particularly if they are used extensively in the home. However, not so much fear need be felt now as formerly with regard to commercially made candies, for much has been done in recent years to compel the use of wholesome materials in candies, especially the cheaper ones that children are apt to buy. The pure-food laws require that no such adulterants as are not food materials and no harmful flavorings, colorings, nor alcoholic beverages be used in making confections. As can well be understood, this is a valuable protection. Consequently, at the present time, the harm, if any, resulting from eating candy comes from either the excessive or the wrong use of it.

3. The taste for confections of all kinds is one that is acquired, and it is often developed to harmful extremes. Therefore, these foods, like most others, should be indulged in only in moderation. They will then prove not only valuable, but entirely unharmful. The greatest precaution that should be observed in their use is in giving them to children. Very young children should not have candy at all, it being much too concentrated for digestive organs that are used to handling only diluted food materials. As they grow older and their diet begins to include more foods, a small quant.i.ty of wholesome sweets will not be harmful if it is given at meal time. Adults with normal digestion may eat a reasonable amount of candy and other confections without injury.

4. To a.s.sist in the making of confections in the home, the principles of candy making, as well as those which must be understood for the making of such other foods as are commonly called confections, are given in this Section. In addition, there are included explicit directions for the making of simple candies and confections and of some of the varieties that are more difficult to make. The various operations are not hard to perform, and good results may be expected if each step is carried out as directed. The operations requiring skill and dexterity, such as the coating of bonbons and chocolates, must be repeated several times if results that approach those of the professional confectioner are to be attained. Still, surprisingly good results may be obtained the first time the work is done if directions are followed explicitly.

COMPOSITION OF CONFECTIONS

5. CARBOHYDRATE IN CONFECTIONS.--So far as their composition is concerned, confections are largely carbohydrate in the form of sugar.

This food material may be one of several different varieties. As is well understood, the high percentage of carbohydrate, which in some cases may be very close to 100 per cent., greatly increases the food value of this variety of foods. Where the percentage is very high, the candies are necessarily hard, for all or nearly all the moisture is driven off in the making. In this case, as in other foods, the more water there is present, the more reduced is the total food value.

6. FAT IN CONFECTIONS.--To a certain extent, fat is found in these high-carbohydrate foods. It is supplied largely by the use of milk, condensed milk, cream, b.u.t.ter or b.u.t.ter subst.i.tutes, nuts, and chocolate. While these materials are usually added to produce a certain flavor or consistency, they form at the same time an ingredient that greatly increases the food value of the finished product.

7. PROTEIN IN CONFECTIONS.--Protein is not found extensively in confections unless nuts, chocolate, milk, or other foods containing it are used in their preparation. But, even then, sweets are usually eaten in such small quant.i.ties that the protein in them does not figure to any great extent, so that, at best, confections are not considered as a source of protein at any time. However, chocolate-coated nuts, as will readily be seen, are a rather high-protein food.

8. MINERAL SALTS IN CONFECTIONS.--Refined sugar does not contain mineral salts, so that unless other ingredients containing this food substance are added, no mineral salts will be present in confections. It is true that some of the ingredients used, such as milk, fruits, nuts, mola.s.ses, honey, maple sirup, etc., contain certain minerals; but just as confections are not taken as a source of protein, so they are not characterized by the minerals in them.

CONFECTION MAKING

INGREDIENTS USED IN CONFECTIONS

FOUNDATION MATERIALS

9. SUGAR.--The most important ingredient used in the making of confections is sugar. It is therefore well that the nature of this ingredient be thoroughly understood. Its chief commercial varieties are _cane sugar_ and _beet sugar_, both of which produce the same results in cookery operations. When sugar is mentioned as an ingredient, plain granulated sugar is meant unless it is otherwise stated. Whether this is cane or beet sugar makes no difference. The fineness and the color of sugar are due to its refinement and the manufacturing processes through which it is put, and these are indicated by various terms and trade names, such as _granulated, pulverized_, and _soft_ sugars.

The grading of granulated sugar is based on the size of its crystals, this sugar coming in three qualities. The coa.r.s.est is known as _coa.r.s.e granulated_; the next finer, as _standard granulated_; and the finest, as _fine granulated_. There is also a fourth grade known as _fancy fine_, or _extra-fine, granulated_, and often called _fruit_, or _berry, sugar_.

10. So far as candy is concerned, the coa.r.s.eness of the sugar does not make a great deal of difference, although the finer sugars are perhaps a little better because they dissolve more quickly in the liquid and are a trifle less likely to crystallize after cooking. When sugar is to be used without cooking, however, its fineness makes a decided difference.

Sugars finer than granulated are known as _pulverized sugars_ and are made by grinding granulated sugar in a mill that crushes the crystals.

These pulverized sugars are known on the market as _coa.r.s.e powdered, standard powdered_, and _x.x.xX powdered_, the last being the one that should always be purchased for the making of confectionery where the use of uncooked sugar is required. One of the chief characteristics of sugars of this kind is that they lump to a great extent, the finer the sugar the larger and harder being the lumps. Before sugar that has become lumpy can be used, it must be reduced to its original condition by crus.h.i.+ng the lumps with a rolling pin and then sifting the sugar through a fine wire sieve. As explained in _Cakes, Cookies, and Puddings_, Part 1, sugars of this kind are not suitable for cooking purposes, such as the preparation of cooked icings, etc. These are made from granulated or other coa.r.s.e sugar, while the uncooked ones are made from x.x.xX, or _confectioners', sugar_, as it is sometimes called. Then, too, fine sugars cost more than do the granulated sugars, so it is well to remember that nothing is gained by their use.

11. The third variety of sugars, which are known as _soft sugars_, are purchased by the retail dealer by number. There are fifteen grades of this sugar, ranging from 1 to 15, and the number indicates the color of the sugar. No. 1 is practically white, while No. 15 is very dark, and the intervening numbers vary in color between these two shades. The lightness of the color indicates the amount of refinement the sugars have had. The dark-brown sugars are stronger in flavor and indicate less refinement than the light ones. When brown sugar is required for any purpose, it is usually advisable to use one of the lighter shades, because they are more agreeable in taste than the very dark ones.

12. MOLa.s.sES.--The liquid that remains after most of the sugar has been refined out of the cane juice is known as mola.s.ses. The juice from beets does not produce mola.s.ses; therefore, all of the mola.s.ses found on the market is the product of cane juice. A mola.s.ses known as _sorghum mola.s.ses_ is made by boiling the sap of sorghum, which is a stout cereal gra.s.s, but this variety is seldom found on the general market, it being used locally where it is manufactured. The dark color and the characteristic flavor of mola.s.ses are due to the foreign materials that remain in the juice after the removal of the sugar. Mola.s.ses is not so sweet as sugar, but it is much used as an ingredient in the making of many delicious confections. As in the case of soft sugars, the lighter the mola.s.ses is in color, the more agreeable is the flavor of the confections made from it.

13. GLUCOSE.--Another substance much used in the making of confections is glucose. It is usually manufactured from the starch of corn and is put on the market under various trade names, but generally it is called _corn sirup_. Many persons have long considered glucose a harmful food, but this belief has been proved untrue. Glucose has come to be absolutely necessary in some candy making in order to produce certain results. The glucose that the confectioners use is a heavier, stickier substance than the sirups that can be purchased for table use or for cooking, but these do very well for most candy-making purposes. However, none of the glucose preparations are so sweet as sugar, maple sirup, or honey.

14. Glucose will not crystallize nor make a creamy substance; neither will it permit any substance that contains more than a very little of it to become creamy. A creamy candy containing a small amount of it will remain soft longer than that made without it; also, it will cream without danger of the formation of large crystals. Because of these characteristics, which are responsible for its use in candy making, a mixture containing glucose will not "go to sugar." Taffy-like confections and clear candies contain a large proportion of glucose, while any that are intended to be creamy, such as bonbons and the centers for chocolates, have only a small amount, if any, glucose in them.

15. MAPLE SIRUP AND MAPLE SUGAR.--Maple sirup and maple sugar, because of their pleasing flavor, are used extensively for candy making. Maple sirup is, of course, the basis for maple sugar, for by boiling the sirup to evaporate the water and then stirring it, maple sugar results. When the sirup is used for candy making, it must be boiled, but it seldom requires any liquid other than that which it already contains. On the other hand, maple sugar requires liquid in some form, for it must first be dissolved in a liquid and then boiled with it.

16. HONEY.--Honey that has been pressed from the comb and is in the form of a heavy sirup is used in the making of various confections. It provides a delightful flavor much different from that of sugar, and when it is cooked it acts in much the same way as glucose.

FLAVORINGS

17. KINDS OF FLAVORINGS.--Flavorings are very important in the making of confections, for it is on them that much of the appetizing effect of these foods depends. In fact, unless good flavorings are secured and then used discreetly, tasty results cannot be expected.

The flavorings used in candy making are in reality divided into two cla.s.ses--_natural_ and _artificial_.

18. NATURAL FLAVORINGS.--Under the head of natural flavorings come those which are made from the fruit or the plant that produces the desired flavor. They are known as _oils_ and _extracts_.

19. The oils are obtained by pressing out the natural flavoring substance from the material containing it. They are usually very strong, so that only a little is needed to flavor a comparatively large quant.i.ty of food. Peppermint, wintergreen, and cinnamon are the oils that are used the most.

20. EXTRACTS are prepared by using alcohol to extract the flavoring substances from certain materials. The alcohol acts as a preservative, so that the finished extract nearly always contains a high percentage of this material. Vanilla and such flavorings as lemon and orange are examples of extracts that are usually made in this way. A few companies manufacture a product in which glycerine instead of alcohol is used as the preservative. Flavorings so prepared are in the form of a thick, sirupy substance rather than a liquid and are usually sold in a tube.

21. ARTIFICIAL FLAVORINGS.--Flavorings cla.s.sified as artificial flavorings are of two kinds: those having for their basis substances extracted from coal tar and those prepared by various chemical combinations. They are also known as _synthetic flavors_. With regard to both healthfulness and taste, they are not so desirable as the natural flavorings.