Cut up four or five vanilla beans, place them in a mortar with a small quantity of sugar, and pound them to a powder; sift it through a fine sieve, and mix up with two pounds more of sifted sugar on a slab. Form a hollow in the center, and pour in sufficient dissolved gum - or about one-half pound of gum Arabic dissolved in one breakfast cupful of water - to make a stiff paste, and roll it out to about one-eighth of an inch in thickness. Sprinkle the surface with starch powder, and fine sugar, smooth it with the palm of the hand, cut it up into lozenges, place them on wooden trays on the stove, and allow them to dry. Pack them away in tin boxes for use.

Strawberry Marzipan

Blanch one pound of sweet almonds, and boil one and one-fourth pounds of powdered sugar to the ball (see Sugar Boiling), put the blanched almonds into a mortar, and pound them to a fine paste, mixing them with the sugar. Crush in a muslin bag one-half pound of picked strawberries, squeeze out the juice, and add to it the paste of the almonds and syrup; mix it thoroughly together, put the mixture in a pan, and place hot ashes under it. Continue stirring until the mixture is sufficiently done, that is when a small piece laid on the back of the hand may be taken off again without sticking. Spread it on a slab, and when perfectly cold cut it into any desired shapes.

Pistachio Paste

Blanch, drain and put into a mortar one pound of pistachios, pound them to a pulp, adding a little orange-flower water to prevent oiling, after which rub them through a fine hair sieve onto a plate. Put one ounce of gum tragacanth previously well soaked and squeeze through a cloth on a marble slab and work it with the hand until it is of a white and elastic appearance, when it may be mixed in with the pistachio pulp and half a pound of finely-sifted icing sugar, beating thoroughly all the while and adding more of the sugar until the paste becomes quite firm, compact, and elastic.

Brazil-Nuts Pralines

Put one pound of shelled Brazil-nuts into a pan over the fire with a little water and one pound of loaf sugar and let them boil until they begin to sparkle, then remove the pan from the fire and with a wooden spoon stir the nuts well until the sugar begins to feel gritty; put them over a slow fire in order to dissolve the sugar again and keep on stirring that the nuts may get well covered with sugar, and when they turn reddish and are sufficiently well covered with sugar take from the fire, pour them onto a sieve, cover the sieve with a clean cloth and place it in the oven; this will dry the sugar on the nuts and cause them to look glossy.

Colored Sugars

Rub the required quantity of powdered sugar through a fine sieve onto a piece of paper, turn it into a round-bottomed pan, place it on the stove to warm, stir it well until the sugar is nearly dry, turn it out, and it is ready for use.