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Candy in the 1700s

Sugar prices bottomed out in the 1700s, allowing it to be bought and sold at nearly record lows thanks to the overabundance of sugar plantations in the West Indies. This led to an interest and development of sugar confectionary, and in addition to other standard candies at the time, complicated and multi-flavored sugar candies became widely known and consumed in Europe and the Americas.
  1. Candied Foods

    • Candied foods-- foods which were dried, then glazed with sugar coatings-- were very popular in the 18th century. Fruits and flowers were the most common, and though reserved at the beginning of the century for special occasions and treats for the wealthy, became a common staple in general stores by the later end of the same century.

    Sugar Candies

    • Sugar candy was often made simply of refined, boiled and flavored sugar, which may have been mixed with other ingredients for additional depths of flavor or texture. Caramel, molasses, peppermints, toffee, and pastils (gumlike candies) and lozenges. Lozenges were essentially small shaped sugar candies filled with orange, lemon or rose waters. According to foodtimeline.org, by the end of the century, these treats were often made after meals by efficient housewives who saved leftover cooking ingredients.

    Fruit and Nut Pastes

    • Fruit and nut pastes were a common candy and included such things as marzipan (made of ground almonds, sugar and eggs), other nut pastes and dried fruit pastes mixed with sugar that could be equivocated to an early rendition of fruit roll-ups. Apricots, peaches, apples, currants, plums, oranges, lemons, raspberries and gooseberries were all popular fruits to use, and walnuts, almonds, and pecans were nuts commonly used in such recipes.

    Brittles

    • Sugar brittles and pralines were also widespread in the 18th century. Brittles were essentially made by melting sugar, adding flavoring and potentially some nuts, and then allowing the sugar to cool until it could be broken (because it was often, in fact, brittle) into hunks that could be eaten. Brittles were often created with molasses and sugar cane syrup as much as refined sugar, and were a candy made more often by poorer households.


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