Rose Drops.—Moisten the sugar with rose water, and color it with cochineal.
Vanilla Drops.—Make as cinnamon, using a little sugar to pound the vanilla. Use sufficient to give a good flavor; or it may be moistened with the essence of vanilla; but this greases it as chocolate.
Violet Drops.—One pound of sugar, one ounce of orris-powder. Moisten with water, and color violet.
SYRUPS.
These are either the juices of fruits, or a decoction or infusion of the leaves, flowers or roots of vegetables, impregnated with a sufficient quantity of sugar for their preservation, and retaining them in a liquid state.
A great portion of this class comes more under the notice of the apothecary than the confectioner; but it may now be considered, with lozenges, as a branch of pharmacy in the hands of the latter, the most agreeable of which are now manufactured by him to supply the place of fresh fruits, etc., when out of season, for the making of cooling drinks, ices, etc., for balls and routs.
General Rules and Observations.—Two things are essentially necessary to be observed, which are:—the proper methods of making decoctions and infusions. These require some knowledge of the nature and properties of vegetable matter.
The virtues of most plants are extracted by infusion, and this is generally the case with aromatic plants, and those whose properties depend on an essential oil; for, in boiling the whole of the aroma of the plant is dispersed, and the syrup loses that delicate flavor for which it is prized.
Aromatic herbs, and the leaves of plants in general, yield their virtues most perfectly when moderately dried. Cold water extracts from these in a few hours the lighter, more fragrant and agreeable parts, and then begins to take up the more ungrateful and grosser. By pouring the same liquor on fresh parcels of the herb, it becomes stronger, richer, thicker, and balsamic.