Another and more expeditious way of making it, is to boil the sugar to caramel without any water, as directed at page [563]: the proportion of almonds can be diminished at pleasure, but the nougat should always be well filled with them.
GINGER CANDY.
Break a pound of highly-refined sugar into lumps, put it into a preserving-pan, and pour over it about the third of a pint of spring water; let it stand until the sugar is nearly dissolved, then set it over a perfectly clear fire, and boil it until it becomes a thin syrup. Have ready in a large cup a teaspoonful of the very best ginger in powder; mix it smoothly and gradually with two or three spoonsful of the syrup, and then stir it well into the whole. Watch the mixture carefully, keep it stirred, and drop it often from a spoon to ascertain the exact point of boiling it has reached. When it begins to fall in flakes, throw in the freshly-grated rind of a very large lemon, or of two small ones, and work the sugar round quickly as it is added. The candy must now be stirred constantly until it is done: this will be when it falls in a mass from the spoon, and does not sink when placed in a small heap on a dish. It must be poured, or laded out, as expeditiously as possible when ready, or it will fall quite into powder. If this should happen, a little water must be added to it, and it must be reboiled to the proper point. The candy, if dropped in cakes upon sheets of very dry foolscap or other thick writing-paper laid upon cold dishes, may be moved off without difficulty while it is still just warm, but it must not be touched while quite hot, or it will break.
Sugar, highly refined, 1 lb.; water, 1/3 of a pint; ginger, 1 teaspoonful; rind of 1 large lemon.
ORANGE-FLOWER CANDY.
Beat in three-quarters of a pint, or rather more, of water, about the fourth part of the white of an egg, and pour it on two pounds of the best sugar broken into lumps. When it has stood a little time, place it over a very clear fire, and let it boil for a few minutes, then set it on one side, until the scum has subsided; clear it off, and boil the sugar until it is very thick, then strew in by degrees three ounces of the petals of the orange-blossom, weighed after they are picked from their stems. Continue to stir the candy until it rises in one white mass in the pan, then lay it, as quickly as it can be done, in cakes with a large spoon, upon thick and very dry sheets of writing paper placed quite flat upon the backs of dishes, or upon trays.[[177]] Take it off before it is entirely cold, and lay the candy reversed upon dishes, or place the cakes on their edges round the rim of one until they are perfectly cold; then secure them from the air without delay in close shutting tin boxes or canisters. They will remain excellent for more than a year. The orange-flowers will turn brown if thrown too soon into the syrup: it should be more than three parts boiled when they are added. They must be gathered on the day they are wanted for use, as they will soon become discoloured from keeping.
[177]. As the heat of the boiling sugar would injure these, no good ones should be used for the purpose.
Sugar, 2 lbs.; water, 3/4 pint; 1/4 white of egg; orange-blossoms, 3 oz.
Obs.—When sugar of the finest quality is used for this confection, as it ought to be, it will not require the white of egg to clarify it.