St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1892-12-31
MAKING STICKS OF CANDY,
WHAT A REPORTER SAW IN A BIG
{. CANDY FACTORY,

TCYHE particular candy factory the
L. News reporter yisited is on
Chambers street, and If you
ever 90 to the ferry OF the foot
OF that street, you have, perhaps, seen
below the level OF the street. the huge
copper cauldrons in which the sacchar-
inc substance is boiled. This is, per-
haps, all that you can ever see Of candy.
making, unless you can convince the
proprietors of the establishment that you
are in no wise financially interested in
the candy trade. There are secrets
which they do not care to have known
in the trade, and it is necessary for them
to take precautions to keep those secrets
from leaking out.
Once inside The factory you are con-
fronted by walls and bare rafters made
white with powdered sugar. A half
hundred workmen with bare arms and
wearing huge aprons, move about in an
atmosphere. which is about as warm as
one can staud, and laden with an almost
everpowering odor of sugar. There are
at least dozen OK the large cau'drous
filled with gallons OF sugar and water
undergoing tho process of being trans
formed into thousands OF jars OF stick
candy, for the delectation Of more thou
sands of north and south ana east and
west side youngsters.
Each OF the cauldrons contains guam
tity of water, into which fifty pounds OF
the best white sugar has been placed.
Stick candy is the healthiest you cau
eat, because ie is made of pure sugar
and water. favored with some sogt of
essential 81! and then esioreag The ma.
terial with which shis eolorlng is done Is
harmless. It IS eochineal. mixed with
cream Of taRtare soda aud alum. Such
small quantities of each are used in che
candy that even if you should eat an un-
usually large uumher of sticks they
would not injure you because OF the
coloring. OF course, stick candy is like
everything else, it you eat too much of
il you are liable to have pain but you
can's blame the ingredients for that. .
The Asvosing is as harmless as the
colosing matter. Only pure essential
oils are usede ana IL may be well to re-
mark that New York is the city which
furnishes these oils to candy-mskers
throughout the length ane,, breadth Of
the United States. Lemon and pepper.
mint are The favorite Aavorss but large
quantities ofsassafras, cinnamon, winter
green and strawberry ere also used.
When che experienced eye Of the
candymaker tells him that the sugar and
water is done, the contents are dumped
into an iron poe and carried from there
to huge marble slab, plentifullS
sprinkled with powdereD sugar. A
workman turns the mass over and over
on the table as it spreads out while un-
dergoing the cooling process. Then he
mixes with the candy small quantity of
essential oil, which he pours out of a
bottle before beginning the folding.
As soon as the mixture is cool enough
to handle he divides it aud gives one
half to another workman. Then he
rolls his share into the shape of a loaf Of
bread aud prepares for the interesting
process of putting the stamps on which
will add to its value at least hundred
per cent. in the eyes of the juvenile
population of the country. Transform
the pile into sticks as it lay, and it
would be plain white candy. While it
was yet warm he had cut off a large
chunk and had pulled and pulled it over
a hook until 1t was almost pure white.
This piece he divided into dozen mar
row strips, which were we'll saturated
with coloring matter. These he stuck
on the loaf parallel.
There was furnace filed with glow
ing Goals back of a long wooden table.
This was to keep the candy soft enough
to work. The loaf was placed in front
of the furnace. and the candy-maker
dipped his hands and arms to the elbows
in powdered sugar. Then he began to
knead the loaf, as you have probably
seen baker knead bread.
After he had worked it this way suffi-
GENTLY he began rolling it over and over
With the palms of his hands. When it
had been worked out into long strip,
stretching half way down the table,
another workman took hold of it and
reduced it still further in diameter, while
constantly increasing Its length, until it
reached third workman at the extreme
end of the table from the first one.
This last man rolled it with his palms
until it was the size Of stick.
Thus in a few moments the twenty
fve-pound lump was transformed into
six.foot strips, with stripes, all ready to
be cut into proper lengths for Jars. Here
were 200 feet OF stick candy, decorated
with red spiral stripes, produced by The
rolling process. When shs strips got
more than two feet in length and almost
the desired diameter the men would roll
half q dozen az a time.
All that remained to be done vas TO
cut the long strips into shore sticks,
pack them IN boxes and ship them to
the candy shops. All this is common
place except the cutting process, which
IS done with long sharp pair OF shears.
It is no easy matter to cut stick candy
without breaking it. All the hong strips
are laid together, aud the lower part of
the shears slid along the table uudar
them. while the upper blade comes dowa
and snaps them apart as clean as ii they
had been cut with razor. The i'm
perfect strips and waite candy are
brushed Into a pile to be thrown into
the cauldron and used IN making candy
of mixed favors. After this comes the
packing, shipping and eating process,
and you have complete history Of the
simple stick Of candy from the factory