DROP. See Measures.
DROPS, CHOLERA—CHOLERATROPFEN (A. Bastler, Vienna). Oils of anise, cajeput, and juniper berries, of each 20 parts; spirit of ether, 60 parts; tincture of cinnamon, 120 parts; Haller’s acid elixir, 5 parts.—Dose, 30 to 50 drops. (Wittstein.)
DROPS (Confectionery). These are confections of which the principal basis is sugar. They differ from lozenges chiefly in the ingredients being combined by the aid of heat. Occasionally they are medicated.
Prep. Double refined sugar is reduced to powder, and passed through a hair sieve (not too fine), and afterwards through a gauze sieve, to take out the fine dust, which would destroy the beauty of the drop. It is then put into a clean pan, and moistened with any favorite aromatic, as rose or orange-flower water, added slowly, stirring it with a paddle all the time, from which the sugar will fall as soon as it is moist enough, without sticking. The colouring (if any) is next added, in the liquid state, or in very fine powder. A small, polished copper, or tinned-copper pan, furnished with a lip, is now one half or three parts filled with the paste, and placed over the fire, or over the hole of a stove, or preferably on a sand bath, and the mixture stirred with a little bone or glass spatula until it becomes liquid. As soon as it almost boils, it is taken from the fire, and if it is too moist, a little more powdered sugar is added, and the whole stirred, until it is of such a consistence as to run without too much extension. A tin plate, very clean and smooth, and very slightly oiled, being now ready, the pan is taken in the left hand, and a bit of bright iron, copper, or silver wire, about 4 inches long, in the right. The melted sugar is next allowed to fall regularly on the tin plate, the wire being used to remove the drop from the lip of the pan. In two or three hours afterwards the drops are taken off with the blade of a knife, and are at once put into bottles or tins. On the large scale, ‘confectionery drops’ are moulded by a machine consisting essentially of two metal rollers covered with hollows. A sheet of the warm and soft composition, on being passed between the rollers, is at once converted into a batch of symmetrical drops, the upper and lower halves being moulded by the corresponding hollows of the upper and lower rollers. See Candying, Confection, Essence, Stains (Confectioner’s), Sugar Plums.
The following are a few of the principal confectionery drops kept in the shops:—
Drops, Acid′ulated. Syn. Acid Drops. Prep. Tartaric acid, 1⁄2 oz., dissolved in a very little water, is added to each lb. of sugar, as above; with essence of lemon, orange, or jargonelle pear, to flavour, as desired.
Drops, Chocolate. Prep. Chocolate, 1 oz., is reduced to fine powder by scraping, and added to powdered white sugar, 1 lb.; when the mixture is made into drops, as above, care being taken to avoid heating it a second time.
Drops, Cof′fee. Prep. A clarified, concentrated infusion of coffee, 1 oz., is used for each lb. of sugar.
Drops, Fruit. These are prepared according to the general description. (See above.) The flavouring essences (volatile oils or essences of lemon, orange, citron, raspberry, jargonelle pear, &c.) not being added until the sugar is melted, to avoid, as much as possible, loss by evaporation. The colouring matter may be any of the transparent ‘stains’ usually employed for cakes, jellies, and confectionery. In this way are made the majority of the first-class fruit drops and bon-bons of the sugar-bakers. In some cases the plan is varied by adding the clarified concentrated juice, or jelly of the fruit to the sugar. One variety of raspberry and currant (red and black) drops are made in this way.
Drops, Ginger. Prep. From essence or tincture of ginger, as above. An inferior kind is made in the way described under Candy, Ginger.