Tag Archives: Confectionery

Nonpareils are not just decorative, but fun too!

• Nonpareils are edible, ornamental items used typically on confectionery and sweet food items, and are popular on desserts and children’s party foods, such as buttered bread or cupcakes.
• ‘Nonpareils’ are also known as ‘sprinkles’, ‘hundreds and thousands’ and ‘100s & 1000s’, particularly in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
• Nonpareils are very small, spherical in shape, and coloured brightly in numerous colours.
• ‘Nonpareils’ sometimes describes confectionery items, like chocolate discs, or ‘freckles’, that are covered with hundreds and thousands.
• Nonpareils originated as early as the 1690s, and are used in a recipe from the United States in the early 1700s, for the purpose of decorating a wedding cake.

• Nonpareils are generally made from sugar, starch and colour, and are difficult to replicate in household kitchens, requiring much skill and equipment.
• Nonpareils were originally a neutral white in colour and coloured ones were available in the early 1800s in the United States.
• Nonpareils became less popular in the mid 1900s, due to the introduction of the softer, rounded rectangular prism replacements called ‘sprinkles’ or ‘jimmies’.
• The word ‘nonpareils’ originates from the French word meaning ‘having no equal’ and the confectionery has its origins in sugar coated seeds and nuts known as ‘comfits’.
• Nonpareils are commonly available in supermarkets and grocery stores, though they have been available commercially as early as the 1840s.

Bibliography:

Nonpareils, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonpareils

What are nonpareils?, 2014, WiseGEEK, http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-nonpareil.htm

I. Day, Sugar-Plums and Comfits, 2003, Historic Food, http://www.historicfood.com/Comfits.htm

Candied fruit prevents fruit from spoiling – and tastes good too!

• Candied fruits are food items, in particular fruit, that have been preserved by a sweetener, usually sugar.
• ‘Candied fruit’ is also known as ‘crystallised fruit’, ‘frosted fruit’, ‘glacé fruit’ and ‘glazed fruit’, although the candying processes may vary among the terms.
• Candied fruit is typically candied by letting fresh or rehydrated fruit boil, and then sit in sugar syrup, and the sugar content of the syrup is gradually increased each day.
• Candied fruit can take from a few days to many months to become completely candied, and dried fruit will achieve this outcome faster.
• The candied fruit method causes the water to be extracted from the fruit and replaced with sugar, and this creates a type of pressure that repels some microorganisms that helps to preserve the fruit.

• Cherries are the most commonly candied fruit, and other fruits include oranges and their peel, mandarins, figs, melons, and pineapples, and lemon peels, chestnuts and ginger are also often candied.
• Candied fruit is typically sold and stored in airtight containers, so moisture cannot spoil the fruit, and it is popularly used in desserts and baked goods, most notably in fruitcake.
• Candied fruit is said to have originated from the Middle Eastern Arabs, as an important banquet food, which spread into Europe most likely in the 1500s.
• Of all candied fruits, limes are one of the most difficult to successfully candy due to the chemicals in the rind, and usually the process is only achieved in commercial settings.
• Candied fruit is approximately 80% sugar, and usually contains small amounts of fibre and manganese.

Bibliography:
Candied Fruit, 2011, Cooks Info, http://www.cooksinfo.com/candied-fruit

Candied Fruit, 2013, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candied_fruit

What is Candied Fruit?, 2014, WiseGEEK, http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-candied-fruit.htm

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Liquorice… love it or hate it?

• Liquorice is a sweet that is traditionally flavoured with the plant of the same name, and it is believed that this type of sweet was first made in Holland in the early 1600s.
• ‘Liquorice’ sometimes has a different spelling – ‘licorice’, and is also known as ‘black licorice’.
• Licorice is often moulded in the shape of large straps, rope, or cylindrical shapes, although many other shapes are also available.
• Liquorice, and is sometimes combined with other ingredients like chocolate or sweet candy to make confectionery like liquorice allsorts and chocolate bullets,
• The main ingredients of liquorice is sugar, flavouring and wheat flour, and often molasses is used, as well as a shiny glaze such as bee wax, while Dutch licorice has a significant quantity of salt added to give it a salty flavour.

• Liquorice is generally made by melting and cooking the ingredients, then pouring the mixture into a mould, or hand shaping the mixture, and then cooled.
• Liquorice traditionally contains a sweetener, glycyrrhizin, found in the flavouring extract, which has potentially significant negative side effects if too much is eaten at once, including rises in blood pressure, heart failure and swelling, although some positive effects can also be experienced, including the removal of mucous from the respiratory system.
• Although liquorice is typically black, red and other coloured versions are also manufactured, and they mostly come in different flavours.
• Some liquorice products contain anise or aniseed, instead of, or in addition to licorice root extract, due to the similar flavour it has.
• Liquorice is generally low in fat, and it also has a lower sugar and carbohydrate content compared to other confectionery.

Bibliography:
Liquorice (Confectionary), 2013, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquorice_(confectionery)

Ross A, Liquorice: All sorts of Health Benefits, The Sydney Morning Herald, http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/liquorice-all-sorts-of-health-benefits-20120605-1zts1.html

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