Wednesday 21 September 2011

I Want Candy

D1/882/3/2 - Notebook belonging to Thomas Moar, 1912

The sad news that McCowans Ltd., the makers of such confectionary delights as Highland Toffee and Wham Bars, has gone into administration has left us all shocked and dismayed. Such is our dismay that we've turned to the archive to help us in our hour of need. The above notebook contains many helpful hints, such as how to extract a splinter from the hand. The method described involves filling a wide mouthed bottle nearly full with water "as hot as the glass will stand" then placing the injured part over the mouth of the bottle. This will apparently subdue the inflammation and withdraw the splinter. It seems to have ommited the next stage which I imagine would be to attend your local Burns Unit.

Anyway, I digress. The notebook also contains a recipe for making caramel toffee. If anyone would like to whip up a batch here it is:

"Half a pound of fresh butter melted in a stewpan, add a sixpenny tin of condensed milk, stirring well together. Then add one pound of castor sugar and boil for ten minutes, stirring all the time. Pour into a buttered dish and, when cool, cut into squares"

What could be easier!

The notebook contains some other useful information that we may look at in the future, such as how to make nettle beer, french polish and even rat poison.

1 comment:

  1. That toffee recipe's a keeper - it couldn't be simpler.
    :)

    The only questions is - how many floz's of condensed milk did a tanner buy you?
    :)

    ReplyDelete

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