[Sca-cooks] rock candy

[Johnna Holloway]

Ok the better book to look this up in is Laura Mason's
Sugar-Plums and Sherbet. The Prehistory of Sweets.
(HINT-- it's available again Folks. Devra carries it in the
new paperback edition.)

Mason notes on page 95--
"The name 'rock' leads to more confusion. To nineteenth-century
confectioners, rock could mean pulled sugar, as in the modern
definition, but it could also mean rock candy, large crystals grown on
sticks in sugar solutions, or 'rock sugar', made from royal icing
foamed by the addition of hot syrup."

Earlier on page 66--
"Another specialized use of the word is in the term rock candy.
This is composed of large, semi-transparent crystals grown slowly
over a period of days on sticks or strings suspended in warm sugar
solution. These are huge versions of the crystals which form from sugar-cane
juice boiled down to a syrupy consistency, which are the stuff of
sugar loaves. It is not always clear from early recipes which sort of 
candy they
refer to."

Johnnae

snipped

> Hmmm. Okay, but when I think of "rock candy", I think of large 
> crystals of sugar and in sugar refining I'm not sure large crystals 
> gain you anything and they are more expensive since they take more 
> time to create. When I think of rock candy I think of strings left in 
> saturated sugar solutions and slowly cooled or left in the solution 
> for multiple days. since that is the way I remember making it as a 
> child. But I guess it could come down to what you consider "rock 
> candy" to be.
> But were these large crystals of sugar or just a syrup of sugar formed 
> into shapes?
> Stefan