Candy-Making Revolutionized Confectionery from Vegetables

Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

When Mary Elizabeth Hall first brought her discovery to my attention, I thought that it was indeed one that would revolutionize candy-making, both that of the amateur at home and of the manufacturer. And, in the months that have followed, to this belief has been added the conviction that this revolution is one very much worth while. Why so simple and obvious a discovery was not made long ago is a mystery to me; perhaps its very simplicity and obviousness is proof of its importance.

Of cookery, candy-making is a branch which is entitled to more dignity than it ordinarily receives. Negatively and positively, the importance of sweets to the child can hardly be over-estimated. If he consumes a quantity of impure confectionery, his digestion will be ruined for life; how much of the confectionery bought is rankly impure it is well for the mother's peace of mind that she does not know! On the other hand, if the child is not given sweets, he is deprived of a food element of the greatest value to his development. And for the adult, the value of pure candy is too obvious to warrant comment.

Vegetable candy, to my mind, is ideal confectionery. Of its purity, there can be no doubt. Moreover, it furnishes the valuable element of sugar so combined with nutritious vegetable bases that, because of the bulk, there is no temptation to overeat. This quality of the new confection would seem insurance against the evil effects of gluttony! Before an undue amount of sugar is consumed, the very mass of the vegetable base has satisfied the appetite.

Many sorts of vegetable candy have unusual keeping qualities; indeed, some kinds will retain their flavor and moisture for as long as a year. It is significant to note that almost all non-vegetable confections that can be successfully stored for any length of time contain artificial preservatives; vegetable candy, however, keeps, not because of the addition of alcohol or even benzoate of soda, but because of the excellence of the processes themselves.

Notwithstanding its advantages, vegetable candy is no harder to make than is any other good candy. For success in any sort of cookery, much hard work is necessary; slipshod methods and intuition can not produce food that is up to standard. Of even greater force is this rule when applied to the most delicate brand of cookery—the making of confectionery. Miss Hall has supplemented her major discovery by several other valuable discoveries—or "adaptations," as she modestly styles them. Her use of crystallization, for instance, enables the amateur confectioner to secure results which were previously out of her reach.

Aside from its virtues from the hygienic, dietetic and practical points of view, the new confectionery has much to commend it. By utilizing the common and cheap vegetables of the home garden, it gives to the girls and women on the farm and in the village an opportunity that previously was not theirs. This discovery means that they can now make the finer sorts of candy, the fashioning of which was formerly out of the question to women who did not have at their command the resources of the specialty stores of the large city—and plenty of money to spend in them....