Candy Making: Candy Recipes, Pulled Sugar, Sugar Art

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Candies and Bonbons
And How To Make Them
By Marion Neil (1913)

                                  Pulled Sugar
2 lbs. lump-sugar                         1 tablespoonful glucose
½ pint (1 cup) water                     ¼ teaspoonful cream of
tartar

Put the sugar and water in a saucepan, and set in place on
the fire, add the glucose and the cream of tartar boil as
quickly as possible to 312°, and remove at once from the
stove. Dip the pan into cold water to stop the boiling.
Pour the syrup on a lightly oiled slab, and as the edges
cool, turn them on to the center of the sugar, using a knife
to lift them.
When the sugar is cool enough to handle, roll it into a ball
and pull with the fingers from the two sides, turning the
ends over from side to side and into the center.
Be careful that all parts are equally pulled. Very soon the
sugar will take on a white sheen and become whiter and
whiter. Care should be taken that it does not become too
cold. While shaping the pulled sugar into fancy forms, it
should be pulled near the heat of an oven or in front of a
batch warmer, and it should not be overheated. It should
not be worked too hot, otherwise it loses its glossy
appearance. Flowers made with pulled sugar are very
effective in appearance. To retain their gloss, it is
necessary to keep them in an air-tight glass case.

Batch Warmer

To make a pulled sugar rose pull a piece of sugar with the thumb
and forefinger of the right hand, and break this off short. Shape
the piece round ad with a thin edge; press this in the center, and
fold over to bring the thin edges almost together to represent the
center of a rose just beginning to open. Pull some leaves and
arrange three or four of them slightly higher than the bud, and
outside of these fasten a few others as required.

Fasten the lower parts of the petals so as to leave the outer edge
standing out from the bud. The stems of the roses are pulled out
from the sugar, and cut off according to the size desired, with
scissors, and then fixed together. A real flower should be
employed as a pattern. To make the flowers more effective green
pulled sugar leaves are necessary. It is sometimes necessary to
cut the sugar with a pair of scissors to the desired shape. The
basket shown in the photograph is made by weaving lengths of
pulled sugar around wooden skewers, which are fixed upright in
a thick piece of board. Special prepared stands or boards can be
made, on which upright sticks of sugar have been fastened.

It is necessary to work
near to the batch warmer or
the oven. Pull out pieces of
the sugar about twenty
inches long and as thick as
a large lead-pencil, and
twist this round the sticks
or skewers as in basket-
making. Continue this
operation until the
wicker-work reaches within
an inch of the top.

Pulled Sugar Basket

Place the basket on a prepared base of sugar. Fasten in small sticks
of sugar to replace those removed. Make the handle with a piece of
twisted sugar, and decorate with flowers, leaves, twists, and ribbon
bows all made with the same material. The sugar for the handle
should be twisted over a piece of wire. The flowers and stems
should be heated and fastened to the handle with the aid of a warm,
pointed knife.
Pulled sugar is often used in conjunction with spun sugar and
nougats. Sugar is pulled to produce a bright sheen and to make it
very crisp to eat.
Pulled sugar may be colored and flavored to taste.

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