With Halloween almost here and Christmas just around the corner, we thought this would be a wonderful time to delve into the world of old candy traditions and recipes!
Early American candy
Sugar candy (including molasses and maple), candied fruits & flowers (a Renaissance-era favorite), sugar coated nuts (comfits), marzipan (almond paste), brittles, and toffee were all enjoyed by Americans in 17th and 18th centuries. Period cooking texts typically group candy with "sweet meats" or confectionery. Sweet meats also included preserves, jams, jellies, syrups, small cakes/cookies, ice cream and sherbet. Some of the candies we Americans enjoy today (liquorice, marshmallows, hard candies, peppermint) were originally used for medicinal purposes. "Recipes" for these items were often included in medical texts as well as cookbooks. A wide variety of different types of sugar were used to make these candies.
Sugar candy (including molasses and maple), candied fruits & flowers (a Renaissance-era favorite), sugar coated nuts (comfits), marzipan (almond paste), brittles, and toffee were all enjoyed by Americans in 17th and 18th centuries. Period cooking texts typically group candy with "sweet meats" or confectionery. Sweet meats also included preserves, jams, jellies, syrups, small cakes/cookies, ice cream and sherbet. Some of the candies we Americans enjoy today (liquorice, marshmallows, hard candies, peppermint) were originally used for medicinal purposes. "Recipes" for these items were often included in medical texts as well as cookbooks. A wide variety of different types of sugar were used to make these candies.
What kinds of candy did the first Americans eat? Native Americans in the northern regions were adept at tapping maple trees for syrup . European settlers introduced the foods they enjoyed in the Old World. The following confections were known in Medieval and Renaissance Europe:
Liquorice
Marshmallows
Marzipan
Pralines
Sugar plums & comfits
How & where were these candies made?
Confectionery was another art practiced by efficient housewives. It took several forms. Whole fruits or berries cooked and stored in syrup were called preserves. Mashed, they became marmalade, conserve, or jam. "Dried" (that is, candied like modern crystallized fruit) they were confections or sweetmeats. When their juices were mixed with syrup and reduced sufficiently to form hard candies, they were chips; when mashed pulp was used in the same way, they were called pastes.
Confectionery was another art practiced by efficient housewives. It took several forms. Whole fruits or berries cooked and stored in syrup were called preserves. Mashed, they became marmalade, conserve, or jam. "Dried" (that is, candied like modern crystallized fruit) they were confections or sweetmeats. When their juices were mixed with syrup and reduced sufficiently to form hard candies, they were chips; when mashed pulp was used in the same way, they were called pastes.
Strained juices were also used to make jelly, as in modern practice, and there were fruit and berry syrups. Brandied fruits were prepared by adding brandy to the syrup in which whole fruits were stored. Mrs. Randolph's selection of recipes, reflecting Virginia tastes at the end of the [18th] century, emphasized preserves-- peaches, pears, quinces, cherries, strawberries, gooseberries, raspberries, and sweet tomato marmalade. Her preserving kettle was made of bell metal, "flat at the bottom, very large in diameter, but not deep," with a tight-fitting cover and "handles at the sides of the pan, for taking it off with ease wthen the syrup boils too fast."
Other desirable equipment included a large chafing dish with long legs "for the convenience of moving it to any part of the room," a ladle "the size of a saucer, pierced and having a long handle" for "taking up the fruit without syrup," small glasses or pots of a maximum two-pound capacity, and "letter paper wet with brandy" to cover the containers...Mrs. Custis' "Book of Sweetmeats" reflected the elegance and artificiality of tastes in Queen Anne's court.
In addition to the conventional preserves, she included the more elaborate confectionery that usued flowers and herbs, roots and nuts as well as fruits and berries in a variety of crystallized preparations and hard candies to decorate dessert tables...Walnuts and almonds, eryngo and ginger roots, angelica stalks and roots, and marjoram and mint leaves were sometimes crystallized. Mrs. Custis also chopped or mashed them and stirred them into a manus Christi syrup, which was dripped into "rock candies" or "cakes" about the size of a sixpence.
Fruit juices carefully strained produced clear drops and cakes. The pulp of fruits and berries, treated like almond paste in marchpane, made pastes in a great variety of flavors and colors: apricots, peaches, pears, plums, quinces, pippins, raspberries, gooseberries, barberries, cherries, oranges, lemons. Even more decorative was Paste Royall, printed in molds and then gilded.
A survey of candy recipes published in cookbooks used by early American cooks...
[1753]
Red crisp almonds or Prawlings (pralines)
Iced almonds (iced with sugar)
Candied cherries
Candied orange peel
Candied ginger
Barley sugar (a precursor to toffee)
March-pane (marzipan)
Pastils (soft gum-like candy)
Comfits
[1749-1799]
Candied flowers (roses, marigolds, violets, rosemary--yes! Real flowers!)
Candied gingerSuckets (candied fruits, oranges and lemons were most popular)
Sugar candy (boiled refined sugar)
Losenges (diamond shaped sugar candy...think of today's throat lozenge...flavored with orange, lemon, rose water)
Fruit pastes (dried, thin sheets of pounded fruit...think of today's "Fruit Roll-ups"...made with real apricots, peaches, raspberries, gooseberries, apples, plums, quinces, oranges, lemons)Marchpan (aka marzipan; almond paste which was often colored and deoratively shaped)
[1792]
Lemon and orange peel candied
Melon citron candied
Anglelica candied
Cassia candied
Orange marmalade
Apricot marmalade
Red quince marmalade
White quince marmalade
Raspberry paste
Currant paste
Gooseberry paste
Orange chips
Apricot chips
Ginger tablet
[1847]
Kisses & meringues (sweet, frothy egg white confections; some have hazel nut or cocoanut centers)
Coconut candy
Lemon candy (rock candy)
Cream candy
Common twist (like candy canes/sticks)
Peppermint, rose or horehound candy
Molasses candy (taffy)
Candied orange or lemon peel
Be sure to check out our recipe section for some wonderful Old Thyme Candy recipes!
