The times., 1898-10-23
Some of the Secrets From the
Sweet Room.
THE LITTLE JELLY BEAN
"A San Francisco Description of the
Inside of n Candy-MakinE Estab-
lishmcnt, Where Everything Is
Covered With "a Fine White Pow
der-MnkinR MarshmRllo.s, Etc.

of the art, some OF whicn are described in
this article from the San Francisco Ex-
aminer:
The value OF the combined product of
the candy factories In this city is now
placed at 81, eos 0v0 annually, and 400 people
are given direct employment in the vari-
Gus branches of work, TO say nothing of
the thousands engaged in handling these
goods over retail counters. Nearly all of
the countries bordering on the Pacific
now depend upon San Francisco for their
supply of candy, and important orders
are constantly arriving from China, ia
pan, Australia and the Sandwich Islands,
while Mexico and Central America on the
south and Alaska and British Columbia
on the north are beginning to figure as
steady customers.
The interior of candy factory reminds
one of Touring mill. From top 10 bot
tom it is covered with fine, white pow
der. looking not unlike -four. This forms
soft white carpet over the floors, and
covers tables and stools and the gar
ments of the employees with Il white coat
ing. Stairs and elevators are sprinkled
with 1t, and the white molds that hang
on the white walls have it busted into
their pores.
This is the pure white starch in which
the bonbons and all the candies requir-
ing distinct shape and form are poured.
and although the manufacturers do not
seem to realize il, 1t constitutes their
very salvation as model housekeepers,
receiving all the spatters of syrup and
little crystalline fragments that will con-
stantly shower the factory rooms, in
spite of careful handling, and literally em-
balming them in this harmless coating so
that they can be easily swept aside in
stead of cumming up the establishment.
San Francisco claims to make the
very best marshmallows in the world.
The mystey of their mixture is sealed
in the breast of their fabricator. but
he is willing to admit in q general way,
that powdered sugar, the purest gum
arabic, white OF eggs and fiavoring ex-
tract form their substantial ingredi-
ents. The paste, a sponSy white mass.
is placed in a big copper cauldron,
maintained at certain heat by means
of steam. and worked and kneaded with
four-arme1 reel suspended from
above, looking not unlike the interior
anatomy of a patent churn. and oper-
ated by machinery. until it becomes
satiny of texture. when il is spread into
sheets, cut into squares and slowly dried.
The common gum-drop. composed of
sugar and gum arabic in the best quail
ties, is first brought to the proper con-
sistency, then poured into fiat. shallow
beds of starch in shallow trays. which
have first received an impression from
a plaster of paris mold, covered with a
series of small. button-like projections.
After cooling and drying the candies
are busted. and thrice dipped in syrup
and dried. receiving in the final dipping
the crystallized finish.
1t is the common jelly bean, however.
which receives the most extraordinary
and elaborate manipulation. These beans
are manufactured in incredible quantity.
their nucleus being formed in the same
manner the gum drop, but this is only
the initial point of the little beams ex-
perience. It then enters the first of
series of immense copper bowls, called
''pans,' in the technical language of the
factory. These pans are tilted on their
sides so as to suggest at every movement
an intention to spill their contents. They
have a double wall, and through mys-
terious pipe at the back steam enters into
them. The little bean is tiny grain of
hardened gum when 1t begins its process
of evolution, but there is a modicum of
partially cooled syrup in the first three
copper vessels, and the structures slowly
revolve with fascinating slow move
ment reminding of the gyrations of
an observant owls head. The tiny crystal
line crumb finds itself unconsciously
growing and expanding in its progress
from bowl to bowl, until 1t becomes
sizable little candy. and, still prog
ressing from bowl to bowl receives
its coloring in one and its flavor in an
other. until some big Jumps of beeswax,
tumbIing about with 1t, polish IT off and
bring 1t to its commercial perfection.
In shallow beds of starch. marked with
a countless variety of fanciful impressions
from the almost countless plaster molds
hanging on the walls, all the fancy
shaped candies are poured to harden or
TO dry, as the case may be.
The tiny square of molasses candy,
shaped like a sofa pillow, so common an
article at the retail stand reaches the
interesting stage of its manipu'a alton In
the form of a great log of taffy foot
thick lying on a marble slab before a
gas heater. sending out its rays through
an upright sheet of asbestos, which
keeps the taffy at the correct tempera-
ture and pliable. The expert worker
with a deft movement Of his hand, works
this elastic mass into a slender rope
where it is chopped into squares so fast
that the eye cannot follow that process
Sixty pounds are prepared In twenty
minutes by one man aided by this little
machine.
Chocolates are for the most part hand
dipped, the coating. formed of sweetened
cakes of cocoa and cocoa butter, being
kept in a liquid beneath a bowl-lke de-
pression in a marble slab. There is dip
and a turn given to the hardening cream
in the LIQUID. then 1t is deftly deposited
upon a sheet of waxed paper, and the
nrocess repeated with the next. GER
tain very melting chocolate candy is made
by what is called the spoon process, a
long slender utensil being dipped in warm
cream and the contents deposited on the
yaxed paper a skillful twist and turn of
the hand leaving little twist on the top
of the tiny cone.
There are other interesting processes
connected with the manufacture of can
dies In a certain corner of one local
factory a fine-looking white-haired man
sits day after day, quilting little scarlet
threads through paper cones. which form
the eyes and whiskers on white cats, and
the saddles on white hobby horses. This
requires a steady and practiced hand,
and these gay little horses and cats will
hang on 10000 Christmas trees next De-
cember There are secrets In the facto-
ries that are zealously guarded, and here,
as elsewhere, the men and women are
most valued who bring intelligence and
precision TO their tasks.
In the smaller factories little machin-
cry is used while in the larger ones In
eenious mechanism has replaced most
of the handwork, except in the case of
certain dainties. One local factory alone
has a machine plant costing $4,000. and
carries on all its manufacture by steam,
which insures the most even heat and
goods of an even grade. 1t is a common
thing for n factory to make all OF Its
own molds.