Experimental cookery

Fig. 10. — Crystals from divinity. Some of the same divinity as that shown in Fig. 9. But these pieces were not beaten as long as those in Fig. 9. They flattened out when dropped from a spoon. These crystals and those shown in Fig, 2 emphasize the importance of beating candy sufficiently. Magnification approxi- mately X 200. SUGAR COOKERY 63 1< Fig. 11. — Crystals from divinity. Same as those shown in Fig. 9, but after 40 days' storage. Compare with crystals in Fig. 7 and Fig. 8. Magnification approxi- mately X 200. . -tJ-V/? '\^ "k'Mj ^J '^'- ^r^ ^ ^': <gi ^>7^- - ^ it r ! ^ I - c* x«v AS: ■';'^^fe^ . i^'^'V J i . ... ». iV- Fig. 12. — Corn sirup, sucrose and water cooked to 119°C. and beaten while hot until the mass was stiff. Corn sirup retards crystal growth, see Fig. 1, but not to the same extent that both corn sirup and egg white do. See Fig. 9. Magnifica- tion approximately x 200. 64 SUGAR COOKERY remembered that evaporation is greater from a small quantity of fondant, while it is being stirred, than from a large quantity. On rainy or damp days, when the humidity is high, moisture may be absorbed from the air by the sirup, so that it is preferable to cook the sirup to the higher tem- perature. Cooking the sirup to a temperature above 116°C. gives a fondant that is too dry and crumbly. Jordan states that commercially the amount of moisture in fondant is controlled carefully and according to the use for which it is intended, as a difference of 1 per cent of moisture results in a fondant too soft to handle or too dry to knead. The growth of crystals in fondant. Freundlich states that "surface tension is also the cause of recrystallization, in which small crystals unite to larger ones. Probably this phenomenon is similar to the union of minute droplets to larger ones, when in direct contact, for it is unlikely that the formation of larger crystals could be due to the increased vapor pressure of the smaller ones bringing about a distillation ; the process takes place far too rapidly to allow of the latter explanation." Water in fondant is a saturated sucrose solution. The crystals are in contact with this saturated solution. Owing to the higher surface energy of small crystals, as dis- cussed in Chapter I, the smaller crystals dissolve, and the larger crystals increase in size. Crystals in fondant may grow in size during storage. Halliday and Noble have reported the growth of crystals in fondant stored for 17 days. Figs. 3 to 8 show crystals from fondant. Fig. 7 shows the growth of crystals in fondant after 40 days' storage. Compare these crystals with those shown in Fig. 3. The addition of egg white to fondant. Egg white may be added to fondant. Paine states that the clumping together of air particles into larger particles lessens the intensity of the white and that the addition of a small quantity of egg white to fondant prevents the aggregation of the air particles, thus aiding in keeping the fondant white. The beaten egg also incorporates additional air.