Monroe reader Martha Patterson shared a wonderful bit of nostalgia with us, reminiscing about her family making molasses taffy in a big iron skillet on a coal-burning stove in the 1930s. She also told us that this treasured recipe has somehow disappeared over the years, and asked if Forum cooks could perhaps replace it with a good facsimile.
And how! To date, 15 helper-outers have sent along 17 recipes for this confection.
Let’s start our candymaking project with a great letter from longtime Forum friend Hazel Venables of Stanwood.
“Like Martha Patterson,” she writes, “I have recollections of family taffy pulls as she described them. With a couple of variations. She mentioned using oleo on our hands. Not in our area of the Midwest! Oleo wasn’t really recognized – butter was everything!
“And sometimes, two people were involved in pulling the taffy, but we were usually given a clump of the candy mass and worked it independently. It was often a long process. Developing blisters on one’s hands sometimes resulted. But anticipating the end confection – a rare treat in an era of non-essentials – made the short-term discomfort tolerable.
“This recipe is from ‘The Woman’s Home Companion Cookbook,’ published in 1942. It was a wedding gift when we were married in 1943, a time when gifts tended to be practical and economical. A wartime admonition was strategically placed between the cookbook’s introduction and the table of contents. Maybe a few pieces of Fostoria, not much sterling or Spode! Hopefully, this recipe is what Martha is looking for.”
Now, before we get to Hazel’s recipe, which does include some good taffy tips, let’s first take a look at the following important taffy primer included with recipes kindly sent along by Monty Futch of Everett. Her copy of “The Doubleday Cookbook” offers the following:
Some Pointers on Pulled Candies
Don’t attempt to make pulled candies in a cool kitchen; candies will harden too fast. Rally the troops; pulling candy calls for teamwork and young strong arms. Remove rings – candy can pull the settings out. Make sure counter underneath platter or tray of hot candy is heat resistant; if not, it may get scorched. While candy is still too hot to handle, begin the pulling with a buttered spatula by lifting and stretching. Use buttered bare hands for pulling (gloves are hopeless) and keep rebuttering them as needed to keep candy from sticking.
Now, put these suggestions in a safe place, so they’ll be on hand when you make:
Molasses taffy
1 1/2cups each molasses and sugar
1 1/2teaspoons vinegar
1/2cup water
1/4teaspoon salt
3tablespoons butter
Combine molasses, sugar, vinegar, water and salt in a large heavy saucepan. Place over low heat and stir constantly until sugar is dissolved. Boil moderately to 240 degrees (soft-ball stage on candy thermometer). Add butter and boil slowly to 265 degrees (hard-ball stage). Stir frequently during the last part of the cooking.
Remove pan from heat; wipe the pouring surface of the pan and pour taffy at once onto an oiled surface – a shallow pan, a platter or marble slab. Cool until comfortable to handle. Pull and cut into pieces as directed in following taffy tips.
Makes about 1 pound.
Taffy tips
The higher the temperature to which a taffy is cooked, the harder it is. The addition of butter or fat makes it less likely to stick to the teeth.
Pulling taffy: Handle and knead into a mass suitable for pulling, adding coloring and flavoring. If taffy is sticky, dust the hands with powdered sugar and work slowly until cool enough to handle easily. Taffy that becomes too hard to pull may be held over heat to soften. Several changes occur during the pulling; it becomes lighter in color, more elastic and very glossy with tiny bubbles or air pockets all through it. A candy hook is desirable if you plan to make a great deal of taffy. It makes the pulling much easier.
Cutting taffy: Pull into cylinders of desired thickness; roll under the palms of hands until smooth and cut into suitable lengths with scissors. Wrapping each piece in waxed paper or cellophane makes taffy last longer and keeps it from getting sticky.
The next Forum will appear in Wednesday’s Food section.
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