WHEN the first edition of this book was prepared, homemade candy was still limited to a few varieties of molasses candy, only the ambitious girl venturing upon caramels or drops of any sort. To-day it is not only possible for any one to make excellent candy for home consumption, but even to imitate successfully the choicer varieties of French candy. For this last there is always a certain sale. Its preparation requires time, patience, delicate handling, and the skill which comes from even a short practice in the use of these prime essentials. Here as elsewhere, practice makes easy, and various cases have been given me in which candy-makers of this order have found that a very comfortable sum could be made monthly by supplying the drug-store or the village store with the carefully prepared and pretty bonbons. Before giving any hints for work of this nature, I will give you the simple form which is possible even for a child of only ten or twelve, and the knowledge of which ends any buying of cheap candy. There is no doubt that Americans eat too much sweet stuff of one sort and another, but as it is a national weakness, it is a good thing to know the purest forms. Here is the rule for the foundation of many sorts of candies.

Cream For Candy

Take the white of one egg and an equal amount of cold water. The best way is to drop the white in a tumbler, notice how far it comes up, and then take the same amount of water and mix both. The egg must not be beaten. Now add one pound of confectioner's sugar, and the strained juice of a lemon, or vanilla can be used for half, and half a lemon for the remainder. Work in this sugar till all is in a firm mass; then lay it on a pastry-board and knead it like a lump of dough, using a little dry sugar to keep it from sticking. From this lump take a third for chocolate creams, a third for walnut and date creams, and the rest for nut candy.

Chocolate Creams

Mould some of the sugar dough into small balls. Melt two ounces of chocolate, by scraping it fine into a cup and setting it in boiling water till it melts. Drop in the little balls, and when well covered take them out and put on waxed or paraffine paper such as can now be bought at any stationer's or confectioner's, and let them dry. They must be lifted out carefully with a fork, and require some hours to dry.

Walnut Creams

Have ready quarter of a pound of English walnuts, the meats taken out carefully in halves, and press a half nut on each side of a ball of the prepared sugar. For date or prune creams, split both, take out the stone, and put half the fruit on each side as with the walnuts. Almonds and filberts can be covered with some of the paste and dipped in the chocolate or left plain.

Pure Delight

This is the title given by a family of experimental girls to a candy made in this fashion. Take the remaining third of the sugar paste, and add to it two figs, a handful of raisins seeded and chopped, about an ounce of citron, and all the broken nuts, say a teacupful of them, altogether. Chop them all quite fine and then mix thoroughly with the sugar, kneading them in, rolling it about a third of an inch thick and cutting in very small squares. If there is any chocolate left, use it to cover a few of the squares, or it can be stirred into some of the plain sugar and cut into chocolate squares. It is possible to vary these combinations in many ways, and a little of this candy, if made a part of the meal and not given between meals, can do no possible harm to children.

We come now to the more troublesome preparations, and I give the first form which is the foundation for every thing that follows. Use a porcelain-lined or enamelled saucepan. It is impossible to make good candy in a tin one. Begin with small amounts till you have learned how to handle it easily and skilfully.

Cream Candy

Boil one pound of the best granulated sugar and one gill of water, and a little more than half an ordinary saltspoon-ful of cream-of-tartar, till when you drop a little in ice-water it becomes a rather soft ball. Stir it just once as you put it on to boil, but not at all afterward, else it will not be creamy. Then pour it into a dish but do not scrape out the saucepan into it, or leave a spoon in it. When it has become blood-warm begin to stir it, and stir and beat it till it is white. It will very soon be too stiff for the spoon. Then roll and work it with your hands, the more the better. It soon becomes like firm lard, and in this form, by covering it with waxed paper you can keep it for weeks. It should be firm enough when cold to cut easily with a knife, and if it does not, it has not been boiled enough, in which case you have only to boil it over again, using as little water as possible-a tablespoonful or, at the most, two, should be enough. This cream can be colored red with a few drops of cochineal; green, with the juice of spinach, one drop or so giving it a pale green, and more as deep a shade as desired. Settle beforehand what sorts are to be made, and prepare your nuts, chocolate, and any thing else desired, as there must be no stopping after work begins.

Nut Or Chocolate Creams

For chocolate creams, melt chocolate as directed in the rule given. Mould small bits of the firm cream, and drop them into it, taking them out with an oiled fork and drying on waxed paper. For nuts a different method is needed. Take part of the firm cream and put it in a bowl, standing the bowl in a saucepan of boiling water. Stir the cream steadily as it melts, letting the water boil around it all the time till melted, then leave it still in the saucepan, but remove to a table. Drop in almonds or filberts, let them get well coated; then lift out with an oiled fork, give it a tap on the side of a bowl to free it from superfluous candy, and drop the balls on waxed paper to dry. A second coating when dry is always an improvement, but is not necessary.

Peach Or Ginger Creams

Take a preserved peach, or piece of preserved ginger, crush it well to get rid of all the juice, add then a few drops of lemon juice and enough confectioner's sugar to make a firm and easily handled paste. Roll it then into finger lengths, cut into pieces half an inch thick and dip into the melted cream. Any rich sweetmeat, cherries, apricot, and

Almond Creams

the like, can be treated in the same way, the cherries, of course, being each dipped separately. Preserved quince makes a delicious cream.

Orange, Lemon, Or Peppermint Creams

Make a cream candy as already described, and when cool and in shape, divide into three parts, working into each part from two to four drops of the oil of peppermint, of lemon or of orange. This is far stronger than the essence and must be used carefully. To the lemon and orange add half a teaspoonful of lemon juice. The strength varies, and as the oils are powerful flavors, you had better begin with two drops for each portion of the candy, and add more if needed. If you get it too strong add some of the plain cream.

To shape these creams either make some stiff paper forms an inch deep and wide and six inches long, or you can get small boxes that have held a dozen spools of cotton. Oil them well and press in the candy. When it is quite firm turn it out, cut it in caramel shapes with a warm knife and do up each one neatly in waxed paper in the same way that caramels are wrapped.

Almond Creams

Almond paste, ready for macaroons or candy, can now be had at the large grocers and is much less troublesome than to blanch and pound the almonds separately. These creams are most delicious, and are made by boiling half a pound of granulated sugar with just enough water to dissolve it, till a little will harden slightly in ice-water. Grate the yellow rind of a lemon; strain the juice of a lemon and a half, and shave four ounces of the almond paste very thin. Have these all ready and add to the candy, when it hardens

HOME-MADE CANDY, a little in water. Stir till well mixed, and now and then to prevent burning, and boil steadily till it cracks crisply on dropping in ice-water. Oil or butter a dish, and pour the mixture on it. When cold it will not be hard, but can be cut in squares like caramels, or you can mould it in balls or any shape you like, and dip in the cream candy. In either case, it is delicious and easy.

Georgia Taffy

This rule was given me many years ago by a Georgia friend, and has won applause wherever tried. One quart of roasted peanuts, shelled and chopped or pounded very fine. One pound of brown sugar; a teaspoonful of butter, the strained juice of a lemon, or a teaspoonful of vinegar and a tablespoonful of water, or just enough to dissolve the sugar when put on the fire. Boil the sugar, lemon, etc., for twenty minutes, stirring to keep from burning. Then mix in the nuts, boil up once, and pour thin, in buttered pans.

Butter Scotch

This form of taffy is so popular in England that a great factory in London does nothing else. To make it on a small scale, take one pound of brown sugar, one teacupful of molasses, half a teacupful of butter, two tablespoonsful of vinegar. Boil all together about twenty minutes, or till it hardens in cold water, then pour thin on buttered tins, cutting in squares while still warm. For a variation it can be pulled like ordinary molasses candy till it is a light straw color, twisted and cut in short lengths. In either case it is the best form of molasses candy, the brown sugar being but one remove from molasses.

A Perfect Caramel

One large cup of molasses; a teacupful of sugar, and one of milk; one heaping tablespoonful of butter; a pinch of salt; quarter of a pound of chocolate, cut or scraped fine. Boil all together about half an hour, or until it hardens when dropped in cold water, then pour on buttered tins, and as it cools cut into small squares.

These rules are given because they have been tested over and over again, and if followed to the letter never fail. If the forms given are carefully made, boxes can be filled quite as attractive in appearance as the French candies selling at from eighty cents to a dollar a pound. The candy made at home can be sold for sixty cents a pound and is worth it, but even at fifty a fair profit can be made. To those who want to experiment with it as a source of income, I commend a little book by Catherine Owen, one of the best writers in America on such topics: "Candy Making,"published by Clark, Bryan, & Co., Springfield, Mass. But it is quite as well to begin with a few simple kinds, make them as perfectly as possible, and, finding out what you can do best, make that your specialty. In fact a specialty is much more likely to make money than indiscriminate variety. One woman in Philadelphia has made a fortune by thirty years of making walnut molasses candy, and, though often tempted, refused to add any other variety, and she was right.