2 cupfuls granulated sugar or 1 cupful granulated sugar and 1 cupful corn sirup (dark) 3/4 cupful chopped peanuts 1/4 teaspoonful salt
Mix the peanuts and salt and place in the warming oven to heat. If sugar is used alone, put it in an iron pan. Place the pan over a low flame and stir constantly until the sugar is changed to a light brown sirup.
If a combination of sugar and sirup is used, put them in a pan, stir, and cook until the mixture is very brittle when tried in cold water.
Add the chopped peanuts and salt to either kind of sirup, stirring them in as quickly as possible. Pour immediately into a hot, unbuttered pan. When slightly cool divide into squares with a chopping knife.
Puffed cereals or shredded coconut may be used instead of peanuts. Commercial salted peanuts may be used also. When the latter are used, the salt in the recipe above should be omitted.
CARAMELIZED SUGAR.—It should be noted that when heat is applied to granulated sugar, the latter liquefies and becomes brown in color. This brown liquid is called caramel The process of making it is called caramelization.
When sugar is caramelizing, it reaches a high temperature. The melting point of tin is near the temperature of caramelized sugar. The enamel of granite ware is apt to chip off if subjected to great changes of temperature. Iron is not affected by the highest cooking temperature, hence it is desirable to use an iron utensil for caramelizing sugar.
NOTE.—When cane or granulated sugar is caramelized, a small quantity of an injurious substance called furfural is formed. (See Journal of Home Economics, Vol. IX (April, 1917), p. 167.) The more sugar is heated, the more of the injurious substance is produced. Also, cane sugar yields more furfural than glucose,—the kind of sugar that is present in corn sirup. When caramelized sugar is boiled with water, however, the furfural is expelled.
In making Peanut Candy, the caramelized sugar cannot be boiled with water, hence it is desirable to use a combination of granulated sugar and corn sirup and heat the mixture until it is only light brown in color.
EXPERIMENT 13: THE SOLUBILITY OF CARAMEL.—Immediately after removing the candy from the iron pan, pour hot water into the pan. Allow it to stand for several minutes, then examine. Is caramel soluble in water? Does it dissolve more or less readily than granulated sugar? What practical application can be drawn from this experiment with regard to washing a pan in which sugar has been caramelized?