| Christmas at Grandma's house was always a time of
tradition. Not only did she have the house decorated, the fireplace lit, and would
tell stories that kept the children spell bound, but she also had activities that were fun
and possible for all ages. As we arrived, the taffy smell would fill the house and
everyone knew to gather in the kitchen, wash their hands, and roll up their sleeves.
-- It was time to pull the Christmas Taffy. -- The hard part was waiting for
it to cool, but Grandma would keep us busy wiping our noses, cleaning our hands, and
putting on aprons. At last it was TIME !
After buttering our hands we would each be given a big, gooey, sticky glob and told to
PULL. The older ones would help the younger so that we understood what pulling was.
It was not long before we would ask if it was done. Grandma would look
carefully and say "No, you need to pull a little more." My arms would
begin to ache and it seemed that I could not go on any further, but Grandma would urge us
to finish, for that was where the satisfaction of making Christmas Taffy would make us
feel like great candy makers and besides, she was not yet done with her story.
Finally the story was finished and the signal was given to make a taffy rope and place it
back on the platter. The cutting and wrapping in wax paper was mixed with giggles
and tasting as Grandma would tell yet another story about children in the kitchen or the
wonderful smells that cooking had.
What fun we had spending time with Grandma. As we left for the day we each had
our package of fresh Christmas Taffy that often was mostly eaten by the time we got home,
but the memories of the cooking smells and the ideas of the stories lingered on and made
us long to return to visit Grandma again.
Christmas White Taffy |
| Combine sugar, corn syrup, water, and cream of tartar in a
two-quart pan. Place over medium heat; stir until sugar dissolves. Caution,
the mixture will expand rapidly on first boil. Just raise off heat to control.
Cook without stirring to very-hard-ball stage (265°). Do NOT go above or you will
get hard candy. Remove from heat; add vanilla. Pour on greased platter.
When cool enough to handle, pull until taffy is snow white and porous. Twist into
ropes. Cut with scissors, or cool and break in pieces. Makes 2 dozen soft
pieces. Variations
Pink Mint Taffy: Substitute 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract for
vanilla. Add red food coloring.
Peppermint Candy Cane: Substitute 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract for
vanilla. Divide in 2 portions; add 3/4 to 1 teaspoon red food coloring to 1
part. Heat to just above 265º. Pour on greased platters. Form in ropes
and twist red part around white. Cut in 8-inch lengths and form in the shape of
candy canes. Makes 10 canes. |