By supplying a more wholesome sort of confectionery, vegetable candy--at least in the eyes of its friends!--has decreased the need of household remedies for indigestion and similar ailments. On the other hand, the newly discovered candy-making brings a definite contribution to the family medicine chest. From onion can be made tablets that have the virtues a.s.signed to our foremothers' cough syrups and even are good to eat, according to those who like the flavor of the onion.

Onion cold tablets, then, are offered both as confectionery and as a household remedy. It should be borne in mind, however, that no household remedy, however good, or tried, takes the place of the physician. The family health is too precious a commodity to be entrusted to unprofessional hands.

To make the tablets, cut into thin slices two ounces of raw onion--about half of a good sized onion,--work the onion into two cupsful of sugar and let the mixture stand for two hours. Add two-thirds of a cupful of cold water, place the ma.s.s on the fire, and let it come just to a boil. Strain the syrup so made into a granite saucepan, and add one teaspoonful of vinegar and the amount of red pepper that the point of a knife will hold. Place the mixture on the fire, and when the ma.s.s begins to boil, put a wooden cover over the pan. Continue the boiling for several minutes; thoroughly "steam down" the side of the pan. By "steaming down" the side of the pan is meant confining the steam which rises from cooking so that it will free the sides of the pan from the acc.u.mulation of the ma.s.s that is cooking.

Remove the cover, insert a thermometer, and cook the ma.s.s to three hundred and thirty-five degrees. Thereupon stir in one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, remove the ma.s.s from the fire, add one teaspoonful of salt, and baking soda the size of a large pea. Thoroughly mix the ma.s.s, and pour it between candy-bars on a well oiled marble slab. As the confection sets, mark it off in squares, and be sure to run the knife under the whole sheet to free it from the marble. Unless the sheet is so freed from the marble it will be sure to stick so that it can be handled only with difficulty. When the ma.s.s is cooled, it will easily break into the squares into which it has been marked. For preserving, pack the tablets in tin boxes.

For those who do not like so much red pepper, the quant.i.ty may be regulated to suit. The amount of onion used may also be increased or diminished as the taste of the candy-maker dictates.

XIX

ORIENTAL PASTE

This confection is easily made from purely vegetable ingredients, and has the pleasing consistency and flavor of the Turkish pastes. The gelatine that is used comes from an aquatic plant--instead of from the usual source. It can now be obtained in specialty stores and in some of the grocery stores of the larger cities.

Cut one-half of an ounce of j.a.panese gelatine into fine pieces, and pour over it two cupsful of warm water. Ordinary gelatine can not be subst.i.tuted. Let it stand for at least two hours. The results will be much better if the soaking is allowed to take a whole night. Set this gelatine water on the fire and stir it until it comes to a boil and the gelatine is wholly dissolved.

Mix one pound of sugar and one-half of a pound of glucose; into them strain the gelatine. Set the resulting mixture on the fire and cook it until it is very stringy as it drops from the paddle. When stirring, sc.r.a.pe the bottom of the kettle well as the mixture sticks very easily.

Run a half pound of figs through a grinder. When the gelatine ma.s.s is cooked, as above, remove it from the fire, add a few drops of oil of lemon or a teaspoonful of lemon extract, and thoroughly mix in the figs.

Dust a marble slab with confectioner's sugar, place candy bars in position, and pour the ma.s.s between them so as to form about one-half inch thick. If the candy is allowed to cool a little before it is poured out, and is carefully stirred, the figs will not separate and come to the top. Dust the top with the sugar and let it remain over night.

To finish the confection, cut it into squares by simply pressing the knife down through it. Roll the pieces in confectioner's sugar, and pack them in an air-tight box.

=Seaweed.=--This gelatine called for by this receipt is also known as j.a.panese isingla.s.s, agar-agar, and kanten. It is peculiar to j.a.pan. It is made from seaweed, the great unused resource of the western world.

The Orient alone to any extent uses seaweed as a food, and, of the Orient, only j.a.pan shows appreciation of its agricultural and commercial value. Kanten is the product of five hundred manufacturing plants in j.a.pan, with an annual output of over three million pounds. The usual commercial gelatine is made from animal tissues--skin, ligaments, tendons, or the matrix of bones, particularly of horns and hoofs.

Seaweed as a source for gelatine appeals somewhat more to the imagination!

Kanten is made from the gelidium family of seaweed which grows in deep water upon the rocks. Coolies dive for the seaweed. They wash and dry it by the seaside, and sell it at seven or eight cents a pound to the factories for gelatine manufacture. The perfect purity of kanten is proved by its use as a culture medium in bacteriological work.

Gelidium grows on both coasts of America from Canada to the Gulf. This is true, also, of red laver which is largely used as a food in j.a.pan and unknown here. In j.a.pan it is baked or toasted until crisp and used in sauces and soups. It is palatable, and nutritious, being rich in proteids. Red laver is not abundant in j.a.pan and is being cultivated.

Sea farming is becoming an important industry under the supervision of the government. The red laver beds are now rented out by the season to the sea farmers with average crop returns of one hundred and fifty dollars per acre.

Kelp, also, is utilized in j.a.pan, not alone for glue, sizing and iodine, but as a food--kombu. In this country, it is sometimes used to fertilize the low-lying, barren lands near the sh.o.r.e.

In the marketing of the vegetable sea food known as Irish moss, New England comes to the fore. This is a delicious food product used much as corn starch for blancmange, jellies, custards, and puddings.

In a book relating to candy-making, why this information concerning the unappreciated food value of seaweed? Because the discovery of the possibilities that cheap and common vegetables can well serve as the basis for the best candy may well be supplemented by the utilization of seaweeds, valuable as a food, but now wasted. In the midst of her work, the candy-cook may well stop to think that it is by putting cheap and common things to new uses that the race will make material progress.

XX

STUFFED FRUITS

=Dates for Candy.=--For the basis of dates as candies, Fard dates are perhaps the best because they are generally whole with unbroken skins.

If Persian dates are to be used instead, they should be of the sort that come packed in single layers or in small boxes. The skins of Persian dates are tender and when taken from boxes holding fifteen or twenty pounds are torn by the sharp pick used to handle them. When cream fillings are used, however, softer dates can be subst.i.tuted if they are carefully handled.

=Sparkling Dates.=--Wash, steam, pit, and dry. Fill them with rhubarb marmalade, and close them very tightly. Brush the whole outside surface with the unbeaten white of an egg, and roll the dates so coated in coa.r.s.e granulated sugar. If Fard dates cannot be obtained, select as perfect Persian dates as possible. Fill them with rhubarb marmalade as for the Fard dates, but do not use the egg coating. Simply roll in the sugar.

=Chocolate Covered Dates.=--Proceed as above up to the point at which the dates are rolled in sugar. To make the chocolate confection, roll the dates in confectioner's sugar, instead of in the coa.r.s.e granulated.

After they have dried, coat them as usual with chocolate.

=Date Brilliants.=--Wash, steam, and pit dates; fill them with either vegetable cream or cream fondant. Dip them singly in a crystal syrup, cooked to two hundred and twenty-five degrees. Dry them on a rack. For fillings, a great variety is possible. Add finely chopped nuts or granulated cocoanut to the vegetable cream, or use rhubarb marmalade, tart jam, or orange marmalade.

=Rhubarb Marmalade.=--The fillings suggested for date brilliants are all within the knowledge of the candy-cook, except, perhaps, rhubarb marmalade. As the basis for it, wipe clean with a damp cloth stalks of rhubarb. They must not be put into water. Peel them and cut them into very thin slices. Cover each pound of rhubarb with one and one-quarter pounds of granulated sugar. Let the mixture stand over night. In the morning, boil it for ten minutes, or a little longer if the rhubarb is not soft. Grind one-third of a pound of dried figs; remove the rhubarb and sugar from the fire; to them add the figs and stir until they are thoroughly mixed. Boil ten minutes more. The marmalade should be put into gla.s.ses while hot, and sealed at once.

=Sugared Dates.=--Prepare dates and fill as for date brilliants; dip them in syrup, and, while still damp, dust with granulated sugar.

=Stuffed Dates.=--Fill with any cream or marmalade and roll in granulated sugar, dates washed, strained, steamed and pitted.

=Stuffed Prunes.=--The sort of prunes that come in boxes are better to use than the ordinary ones because they are of a better quality, and are separated in the curing. Barely cover the prunes with cold water, and allow them to stand over night. One method is to pour the water off the next morning, pit the prunes, and use them as they are. If the prunes are moist and firm to begin with, the soaking is probably all that is necessary. Otherwise the second method is the one to be followed. If so, after the prunes have been soaked, place them over the fire and allow them to come to a boil quickly. This application of heat is sure to plump out prunes that have become dry, or have been over-cured. The difficulty, however, is that there is danger that the juice will be started, and much of it lost, and that the skins may be broken. The second method will destroy the raw taste to which some persons object.

No matter which method has been followed, fill each prune with tart jam, orange marmalade, rhubarb marmalade, or with potato fondant, cooked or uncooked, with or without the addition of nuts. To finish, coat each prune with the unbeaten white of an egg, and roll in granulated sugar.

If it is desired, they can be rolled in confectioner's sugar, dried and coated with chocolate.

XXI

ANGELIQUE

=Rings.=--Angelique is a vegetable that is of the greatest use as an accessory in the making of many sorts of vegetable candy. That fact, however, should not obscure the equally important fact that its flavor is excellent and that it may well be used as a base. Rings made from it are very good if filled with any one of the four mixtures described below. And, as the reader will see by looking at No. 15 of the frontispiece, they are good to look upon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Angelica Archangelica]

As a beginning, no matter what filling is to be chosen, cut crystallized angelique cross-wise into sections a quarter of an inch wide. If these sections are flattened by packing or cutting, separate the sides so that they form circles, the more nearly perfect the better.

The fillings may be either potato fondant, plain or colored, and flavored to taste; potato fondant with chopped nuts worked into it; equal parts of potato fondant and almond paste; or rhubarb marmalade, with confectioner's sugar worked into it if it appears too moist.

When the fillings are in place, each ring should be dipped separately into a crystal, cooked to two hundred and twenty degrees, and then should be allowed to drain on a wire rack. The next day the process should be repeated. When the rings have become thoroughly dry, they will be found very useful for almost any sort of serving or packing. The outside is firm, and the centers soft.

=Orange Rings.=--Rings made from candied orange peel may be treated similarly. Cut the peel into rings by using one-half and one quarter inch cutters. Thereafter both process and fillings are the same. An interesting combination can be made by arranging three small orange rings in a cl.u.s.ter, and holding them in position by the syrup. In addition to the filling, a pignolia nut may be placed in each ring.

See No. 19 of the frontispiece.

=Angelique as a Plant.=--Angelique or angelica is so called because in early centuries it was thought to be a specific for poison and pestilence. It is an aromatic garden herb, of an order of plants of the cohort umbelliferae, known popularly as the parsley family. The order is one of strongly marked properties. Some of its members contain an aromatic oil and furnish condiments--as anise, dill, caraway, and coriander. From another group these qualities are nearly absent and the stem and leaf are edible--as in celery, angelique and parsley; or the root--as in carrot and parsnip.

Angelique is native to many temperate parts of Europe and America. It grows on river banks and in other damp places. It is easily cultivated and often grows to the height of six feet. Its seeds may be sown in the autumn as soon as they are ripe, or they may be planted in the spring.

Angelique develops a plant much like celery. It is blanched and eaten the same way. The stalk is used commercially when crystallized or candied. It is green in color and pleasingly pungent in flavor, and lends itself in many ways to the use of the candy-maker. It comes generally in strips six or seven inches long and is cut according to the special directions for the different candies.