Experimental cookery

Four sugars, produced especially for use when high-temperature cooking is necessary in making clear hard candies and very white fondants or pan- coated goods, or when an extremely hard grain must be used, are Coarse, Standard, Medium, and Manufacturers' Grade. Manufacturers are tend- ing to use Manufacturers' Granulated, which varies from the others only in that it is the finest of the four and will dissolve much faster. In this same class are the Sanding sugars. Sanding sugars are used to sprinkle upon the surfaces of many soft candies and fruit products to prevent their sticking together. They are also used to sand gum drops and fruits which are to have further quantities of sugar crystallized upon their surfaces. The crystals of Sanding sugar are generally nearly perfect and exact in size. There are generally produced three grades of machine powdered sugar differing only in the degree of fineness: Coarse Powdered, having about the fineness of Coating sugar; Standard Powdered, being somewhat finer; and XXXX, commonly known as Confectioners', being as fine as practical to produce with the ordinary type of sugar mill. A still finer powdered sugar, made with an improved powdering mill, is sometimes designated as 6X or Special XXXX. This last sugar is particularly valuable in prepar- ing cold icings, because they remain softer longer than when prepared with coarser powdered sugars. The smaller the particle size the greater the amount of moisture held, because of the proportionally greater surface area. Rice states the number of X's applied to different sugars means nothing in actual fineness. Powdered sugars may be treated to prevent caking. Usually 3 per cent of cornstarch is added. A tri-calcium phosphate has been introduced for this purpose and 1 per cent of it is more effective than 3 per cent of cornstarch. Its use is not as yet permitted in some states. Rice describes a new and different sugar called transformed sugar. It is produced in the same way as refined sugar up to the point of crystallization. It is then treated to give a very small grain with exceedingly irregular surface, the surface being penetrated by cracks or recesses which cause the grain to crumble easily, and, because of the relatively large surface, to dissolve almost instantly when dropped into water. The particles may be crushed easily and are used in chocolate coatings. "The crevices in these grains are very small and naturally are full of air. When this sugar is used for creaming with shortening in the production of cake or in very dry dough for biscuits, this finely divided air cannot collect and escape in large bubbles but acts as a leavening agent and reduces the necessity for most, if not all, other leavening agents." Because of its fine and fluffy condition it can replace powdered sugars in various prepared drinks and food mixtures. At present there are seven grades of transformed sugar, varying in fluffiness and color. Soft brown sugars are graded according to color and range from a nearly 54 SUGAR COOKERY white No. 1 to No. 15, which is as dark as roasted coffee. The grain of these sugars is softer than that of refined sugar and the percentage of invert sugar increases with increasing darkness in color.