[Sca-cooks] Making Tragrant Ornaments

[Johnna Holloway]

Martha Stewart did a segment on sugarpaste ornaments this am.
I am not sure where the history came from as the MS Living website states:

During the Middle Ages, sugar was the stuff of sculptures—
a plentiful resource that was commonly mixed with water and
gum tragacanth, then molded into elaborate figures of fruit, flowers, 
and animals.
But by the sixteenth century, as sugar became increasingly scarce,
only a select group of wealthy hosts continued the tradition,
commissioning sugar-paste statues for ornate displays designed to
impress discerning party guests. Fortunately, by the eighteenth century,
sugar was again in abundance and, as such, was used as the sweet
medium for a variety of creations, from simple flowers to intricate
figurines to the artful Christmas decorations known as tragrant ornaments.
Today, Bobbie Taylor, of Jeromesville, Ohio, shares her
technique for making these charming, old-fashioned ornaments.

The sugar being scarce in the 16th century is slightly wrong, as
sugar supplies were increasing during that century. It was interesting to
hear them talk about this was the way they did it way back when.

Anyway it can be checked out online at:
http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&styleType=tvradio&catid=cat17740&id=tvs7646

Johnnae llyn Lewis