Rubber Mat.
Fig. 1
The advantage of the mat is that all the candies are of the same size and regular in shape, and that no material is wasted. For the girl who intends to get only one mat, the kind with round molds—"truncated cones," to be accurate—is the best to buy, because it may be used equally well for centers or wafers. See Fig. 1 above.
The candy-maker who is prepared to spend more for her equipment may well buy several mats, each with molds of different shapes. Then she should reserve one shape for each flavoring or mixture, so that she can easily distinguish by sight different kinds of creams after they are made. The mats are sold by weight, generally at the rate of a dollar and a half a pound. The one shown in Fig. 1 weighs eighteen ounces.
Dropping Funnel.
Fig. 2
Either to fill molds or to drop masses upon slabs or waxed paper in the old way, the candy-maker will find a dropping funnel useful. This is a small tin cornucopia with a long handle. Whittle a clean stick so that one end of it will fit into the outlet of the funnel, and plug the hole from above. Fill the funnel with the mass to be dropped, and then raise the stick just long enough to allow enough of the mass to run out to fill the mold—or if the old plan is followed, to form a wafer or cream of proper size. See Fig. 2, on the preceding page.
Intelligent operation of the funnel makes the work more rapid and accurate, and the mass holds its heat longer, and is kept better mixed than if poured or spooned from a dish. Funnels especially made for this purpose cost from twenty-five cents to one dollar; but any tinsmith can easily make one out of an eight-inch piece of heavy tin, shaped so as to form a cornucopia, with the smaller opening not more than three-eighths of an inch in diameter, and attached to a handle at least twelve inches long.
For heating mixtures, white enamel dishes are preferable to tin or aluminum. For mixing, wooden spoons are better than metal ones, because the mass which is being stirred does not stick so readily. Wooden paddles are often better yet, for their flat surfaces do not retain masses so tenaciously.
Perhaps the most useful tool of all is a nameless instrument which does duty for both knife and spoon, and in addition has virtues all its own. It is particularly valuable for reaching the corners of pans. This tool is not on the general market, but can be made by most metal-workers—either tinsmiths or blacksmiths. A piece of spring steel, about ten inches long, rounded at the end, and curved as shown in Fig. 3, is riveted into a wooden handle. Heavy tin may be substituted for the steel, if desired.