The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-02-05
FACTS CONCERNING
CANDY MANUFACTURE
Modern improvements introduced In the
Confectioner's Business.
THE THREE GREAT ESSENTIALS
A Training in All the Departments
That Fits the Boys and Girls Who
Begin There TO Make Successes
When They Try Other Work--Busi-
ness Secrets Wen Guarded.
From the New York sun.

From the New York sun.
With increased facilities at his com-
mand and the latest developments of
science and chemistry to profit by, the
candy maker keeps well abreast of the
trades in the onward march of inn
provement Never before was there
quite such satiny bloom on fine
candies. never such dainty, fowerlike
colorings, or such exactness of design.
Now and again some accidental reve-
lation If the effect of certain conditions
on certain ingredients and compounds
gives fresh impetus to experiment and
better results are attained than were
at first dreamed possible. For years
the bulk of the best candy has been
made in great double-jacketed copper
kettles operated by steam heat. When
it came to confections requiring a clear,
intense heat in their preparation, how
ever, the makers had to resort to the
old-fashioned fire, both because of the
moisture inseparable from steam cook
ing and because of the delectable
fiavors that got away on the vapor
Since the devaporization of steam has
been introduced the more delicate
kinds of candy can be made by steam
heat also, thus lessening both the labor
and expense and effecting a more sat-
isfactory outcome. The essences and
delicate liquors that formerly escaped
on the vapor are now retained and
prsoned beyond hope of release in
straitjacket of sugar.
KEEPING UP APPEARANCES.
"The old-time candy makers with a
reputation to sustain used good. pure
materials and endeavored to make their
candy all of uniform quality but we
go further than that" said the man.
ager of big establishment. I'VE try
to make our candy look as good as it
tastes and, even in the cheaper. SIM
pier grades, we discard anything that
fails to square in with the rest in APP
pearance, even if the material and
makeup is Just the same. Take this
chocolate block, for instance. 1t is
moulded of alternate layers of cream
and chocolate, topped off with the
chocolate. 1t was made at the same
time with the others, but it is little
thicker on one corner and there are
a few dark-looking veins through it,
where it happened that a streak of
chocolate was a shade colder or hotter
when the mass was run together.
Those are 10-cent blocks, but TIE i'm
perfect, uneven ones will be weeded
out with as much care as if they were
worth 50 a pound. That is the way we
keep our standard up to the top notch
and impress our people with the i'm
portance of being careful That pea
nut brittle there on the marble slab is
low-grade goods also, so far as price
is considered, but any portion of it
that is lumpy or degree thicker than
the general sheet will be thrown out.
That which breaks coming out of the
pan is discarded also. You see that
big Italian who lifts out the sheets?
-boned and strong as he is, he has
a touch more delicate than a woman.
That brittle is as tiinty and apt to fall
to pieces as flake of ice, and it is
especially hard to manage in those
large squares, but he gets them out of
the pan with seldom mishap. Those
girls dipping the nuts yonder couldn't
begin to do it. Perhaps his size gives
him steadiness. Maybe so; at any rate,
he has been handling those peanut
sheets and sometimes the cocoanut
crisps for us for five years, and he is
a master hand at it.
HAND LABOR.
with all the improved machinery
and new facilities in the cooking, cool
ing, and so on, the bulk of the best
candy must continue to be made by
hand" he went on. The workman need
never fear that the machines will push
him out of the business. On the con-
trary, we employ more hands now than
we did formerly, particularly in the
selecting and packing department,
where great care is taken that the
boxes are sent out in good shape. and if
possible. more tastefully packed each
than tbpN ho loo
is where the best chance comes in for
a girls advancement in the business.
We are always glad of any hints in the
arrangement of the layer boxes that
tend to make them more attractive and
girl with an eye for color and some
originality is likely to be noticed. In
the packing of one-pound and two
pound boxes the little partitions of
stiff white paper are provided separa- =
ately, and the girls, after packing the
bottom layers, are encouraged to de-
sign the top layer according to their
own ideas. Then can make ii like the
pattern If they wish, or they can vary
1t. We have sometimes offered prizes
for the best arrangement or the most
original for five or ten-pound box.
and even those packers who did not
win seemed to take more interest i'm
their work afterward. The day has
gone by when candy, no matter how
well made, can find market solely on
its merits. 1t must be put up in at
tractive form, and, if possible, must
outrival ali competitors in this regard.
TRADE SECRETS.
"As regards the making there is no
business so jealous of its secrets and
so careful that ether manufacturers or
their employees shall not get wind of
the particular processes used The
maker of fine pastry and rare cakes is
secret In his methods also, but the
candy business in the higher grades
has grown so enormously, and there
are SO many ways of producing re-