Ginger Candy

Clarified syrup, boiled to the ball; flavour either with essence of ginger, or powdered root; then with a spoon or spatula rub some against the side of the pan until it turns white; pour into small square tins, with edges or paper cases which have been oiled or buttered, and put in a warm place or on a hot stone, that it may become dappled. The syrup should be coloured yellow, whilst boiling, with a little saffron.

Lemon Prawlings

As orange.

Orange Prawlings

Take 4 or 5 China oranges, and cut off the peel in quarters, or small lengths; take off all the pith or white part of the peel, leaving only the yellow rinds, and cut into small pieces, about an inch long, and the size of pins. Have about a pint of clarified sugar boiling on the fire; when it comes to the blow, put in the pieces of peel, and let boil until the sugar attains small ball; take off, and stir with the spatula until the sugar grains and hangs about them; sift off the loose sugar: when cold, separate and keep in a dry place.

Peppermint, Lemon, and Rose Candy are made as ginger candy, colouring the lemon with saffron, and the rose with cochineal.

Plum Candy

To 3 lb. sugar put 1 pint water, boil to bare crack, take from the fire, and beat with a spatula as in whisking eggs; as soon as it begins to froth or rise in the pan, pour into tins previously buttered and covered with split almonds, currants, or stoned raisins, and immediately cover it with the pan turned upside down. It may be coloured in the boiling with cochineal, or saffron. Flavour the white with peppermint, or essence of bitter almonds; pink, with otto of rose; and yellow, with essence of lemon or ginger.

Sweet-Flag Candy

Sweet-flag candy is relished by all lovers of sweetmeats, and it is a valuable aid to digestion. Being eaten greedily by children, it is often better than other medicine. A bit held in the mouth when one is caring for the sick will often counteract the effect of contagious germs. To prepare it, take fresh, healthy roots of sweet-flag, and after a careful washing, cut in slices 1/2 in. thick. Put into a sttw-pan or bright basin, and pour a little more cold water over than will cover them. Set on the stove and heat slowly; when the water boils, turn it off. If the candy is desired for medicine, quite enough of the strength has been removed, but for a sweetmeat it is better if boiled up and the water turned off 4 or 5 times. Now measure the sliced roots, and to each 2 cupfuls allow 1 1/2 cupfuls of white sugar; turn on water enough to cover, return to the stove and simmer slowly, stirring often until the water has quite boiled away; then turn out on buttered plates, and stir frequently until dry.

The long simmering after the sugar is added makes the roots quite tender, and the candy will keep fresh and nice for years. (Country . Gentleman.)

Chocolate. Frosting

Take sufficient nuts to cover the bottom of an iron pot 2 or 3 in. deep, place on the fire to roast, stirring constantly with the spatula that the heat may be imparted equally. A coffee-roaster answers for this purpose, taking care not to torrefy them too much, as the oil of the nut suffers thereby, and it becomes a dark brown or black, grows bitter, and spoils the colour of the chocolate. Musty or mouldy nuts must be roasted more than the others, so as to deprive them of their bad taste and smell. It is only necessary to heat them until the skin will separate from the kernel on being pressed between the fingers. Remove from the fire, and separate the skins. If a large quantity, put them in a sieve which has the holes rather large, but not so much as to allow the nuts to pass through; then squeeze or press in your hands, and the skins will pass through the meshes of the sieve; or, after being separated from the nuts, they may be got rid of by winnowing or fanning in a similar manner to corn. When separated, put again on the fire, stirring constantly until warmed through, without browning.

When they are heated enough, the outside appears shiny; winnow again, to separate any burnt skin which may have escaped the first time.

Making

Have an iron pestle and mortar, a stone of close grain and texture, and a rolling-pin of the same material or of iron. The stone must be fixed so that it can be heated from below with a pot of burning charcoal. Warm the mortar and pestle by placing on a stove, or by charcoal, until they are so hot that you can scarcely bear your hand against them.. Wipe the mortar clean, and put a convenient quantity of prepared nuts in it; pound until they are reduced to an oily paste into which the pestle will sink. If required sweet, add 1/2 to 1/3 of its weight of powdered loaf-sugar; mix well together, then put in a pan in the stove to keep warm. Take a portion and roll or grind well on the slab with the roller (both being previously heated like the mortar) until it is reduced to a smooth impalpable paste, which will melt like butter in the mouth. Put in another pan, and keep warm until the whole is similarly disposed of; then place again on the stone, not quite so warm as previously, work over again, divide into pieces of 2, 4, 8, or 16 oz each, and put in moulds. Give a shake, and the chocolate will become flat; when cold, it easily turns out.

The moulds may be of tin or copper, and of various devices.

Bayonne or Spanish chocolate is generally the most esteemed. Its superior quality is attributed by some to the hardness of the stone employed in making it, which does not absorb the oil from the nuts. No pestle and mortar is used, but the nuts are levigated on the stone, which is fixed on a slope; and in the second pounding or rolling, the paste is pressed closely on the stone, so as to extract the oil, which runs into" a pan containing the sugar to be used; the oil of the cacao and the sugar are well mixed with a spatula, again mixed with the paste on the stone, and finished.