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CONFECTIONERY (from See also: term of rather vague application, embracing all See also: food preparations of the nature of sweetmeats, pastry, &c., which have See also: sugar (q.v.) for their basis or See also: principal ingredient
.
In this way the industry may be said to include the preservation of fruits by means of sugar, the manufacture of jams and jellies, the See also: art of preparing fruit-syrups and pastes, ices, and sweetened beverages, in addition to the various manufactures in which sugar is the more prominent and principal ingredient
.
In former days the making of sweetmeats was See also: part of a druggist's business, but in the earlier See also: half of the 19th century it See also: developed into a See also: separate industry in See also: England, and the See also: International See also: Exhibition of 1851 resulted in its spreading to other countries
.
At the See also: present See also: day See also: France and See also: Germany are prominent in all sorts of confectionery and bon-bons; and the "candy" industry in See also: America has developed enormously
.
The simplest See also: form in which sugar is prepared as a sweet for eating is that of lozenges, which consist of finely ground sugar mixed with dissolved gum to form a stiff dough
.
This is rolled into sheets of the desired thickness from which the lozenges are stamped out by appropriate cutters and then allowed to dry and harden in a heated apartment
.
They are coloured and flavoured with a See also: great variety of ingredients, which are added in suitable proportions with the dissolved gum
.
Many kinds of medicated lozenges are also in extensive use, the medicinal ingredients being similarly incorporated with the gum
.
Hard sweetmeats, comfits or dragees, constitute another important variety of confectionery
.
To make these a core or centre of some kind is taken, consisting of a small lozenge, or of some seed or fruit, such as an almond, See also: coriander, See also: caraway, pistachio, &c., and successive layers of sugar are deposited around it till the desired See also: size is attained
.
The cores are placed in large copper pans or vessels which are heated by a steam coil or jacket, or by hot air, and which are geared to rotate at an inclined angle so that their contents are kept constantly in motion, tumbling over each other
.
From See also: time to time sugar syrup is added as they appear to get dry, and after receiving a certain coating they are removed to dry and harden
.
After a sufficient number of alternate coatings in the See also: pan and dryings, the comfits are finished with a coating of thin syrup, which may be coloured if desired
.
Another extensive class of confectionery is made with sugar boiled at different temperatures, the various degrees of See also: heating being known as thread, See also: blow or feather, See also: ball, crack, caramel, &c
.
In some cases a little cream of See also: tartar, or See also: glucose to the extent of 30% or even more, is used with the sugar
.
By treatment of this kind the sugar is obtained in a wide range of consistencies, from soft and creamy, as in fondants, to clear and hard, as in See also: barley sugar
.
By vigorous and continued See also: drawing out or " pulling " of boiled sugar while it is in a plastic condition, the molecular structure of the material is changed, and from being glassy and transparent it becomes opaque, porous and granular in appearance
.
In this way the preparation known as See also: rock is manufactured
.
For See also: liqueurs, a flavoured syrup is dropped into moulds impressed in dry See also: starch, when a crust of sugar forms on the outside, the interior remaining liquid
.
The thickness of this crust is then increased by immersing it in syrup from which more sugar-crystals are deposited upon it, and the sweets may be finished in the comfit-pan already mentioned
.
Sugar-candy is prepared from solutions of either See also: brown or refined sugar, to the latter of which
See also: cochineal or other colouring ingredient is frequently added
.
The solutions, when boiled to a proper degree, are poured into moulds across which pieces of See also: string are stretched at sufficient intervals
.
Kept in a chamber heated from 9o° to loo° F., the sugar gradually crystallizes on the strings and the sides of the See also: mould, and when sufficient has been deposited the remaining liquor is drained off, and the crystals are removed and dried by heat
.
Machinery, often of,
elaborate character, is now extensively employed in almost all branches ,of the confectionery See also: trade
.
For See also: chocolate see that article, also See also: COCOA
.
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