[Sca-cooks] candy

[grizly]

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hmn ... butter, milk, honey ... boil and stir ...   sounds a lot like the
modern equivalent of carmel sauce, which really ISN"t carmel in the strict
sense of the word.  Going to experiment a tad with portions and variants a
little this weekend ... and will report back on Sunday with results.

The kids are really excited about the possibility.  We do a lot of projects
together ... but this one really has the full attention of the the
young-uns.

Cheers

Malkin> > > > > >

While the ingredient list is similar, there's nothing telling us quantities
or what technique was used.  This could just as easily be a concoction for
invalids to take in nutrition if we are just adding butter and honey to a
lot of milk.  Now, it you take a quantitiy of honey and boil it with butter
to a ball stage and add scalded milk, you can, indeed get a caramel or
caramel sauce.  The whole curiosity for me is where you will take your
inspiration for direction and techniques in your experimentation . . . 1
quart milk, 2 ounces butter and 6 ounces honey will be different than 6 lbs
honey, 8 ounces butter, 8 ounces scalded milk.

I only ask because  1) I am excited about the results of your testing with
your children and the goddies that will come out of it and 2) the assertions
and generalizations of your findings to historical cultures will still be
seen through the lense of any documentation.  We can prove that using modern
candy making techniques and a list of ingredients from 1200 Ireland, a
modern cook can create caramel or whatever.  But it still seems to be
missing the bridge to what they would have knowledge, motivation,
inspiration and skill to do.

niccolo difrancesco