Now that the use of vegetable bases is reduced to principles, the amateur confectioner need have no difficulty in working out in candy attractive and novel designs suitable to all special days and uses. And the best of it is—thanks to such a humble vegetable as the potato—she can follow her own ideas and fashion in confectionery a pattern that is all her own. Moreover, she can take comfort in the thought that in her product there is none of the highly injurious ingredients unfortunately all too common in some decorative candies.

As the foundation for one sort of decorative confectionery, potato paste must be made. Steam or boil Irish potatoes, drain them, and force them through a fine sieve,—the finer the better. With one-half cupful of Irish potato, so prepared, mix one tablespoonful of corn starch. Gradually and carefully work in enough confectioner's sugar so that the mixture can be rolled.

The "fine sieve," be it noted, plays a conspicuous and important part in the making of candy from vegetables. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that no vegetable particle will either soften in or cook up into syrup. While cooking, the vegetable particles are just as individual as though they were in separate vessels; consequently they must be kept circulating as uniformly as is possible through the syrup in order to prevent the accumulation of masses of vegetable matter of sufficient bulk and weight to sink to the bottom of the sauce pan and cause the mixture to burn. Moreover, should the mixture escape burning, it would develop gluey spots that would make the finished product lacking in the smoothness that is the ideal of the candy-cook.

Flavor and color this paste to suit, place it on a surface well dusted with confectioner's sugar and roll it to the desired thinness. Cut it in shapes to suit. Cooky cutters or any other tin cutters may be used. More often, however, the amateur confectioner will prefer her own design.

Cut a pattern of the desired design from paper, or, if it is to be used repeatedly, from paste board. Oiling the pattern not only gives it a firmer edge and prevents tearing but also allows any sugar or paste that may have adhered to it easily to be wiped off. Lay the pattern over the paste, and, with a sharp pointed knife, cut along the edges. Lift the newly cut forms carefully with a thin knife and transfer them for drying to an oil cloth or, if this cannot be done, to a waxed paper or a tin very thinly dusted with confectioner's sugar. Do not move them again until they are dry. If it is desired to pack the candy, cook a crystal—a "crystal" is a syrup of one part water and three parts sugar—to two hundred and twenty degrees and after it has cooled five minutes, dip the confection into it.

It is not essential that the forms be dipped into the crystal nor is the crystal absolutely necessary to any of the confections that are often coated with it. All this is explained in Chapter V—Crystallization.

A knife which is of almost constant use in making decorative candies and which is particularly satisfactory for lifting small forms is a palette knife such as artists use for mixing their colors. It is thin, flexible and sufficiently sharp for cutting fondant. Also the blade lends itself to use in many different positions because its curved shape allows the hand a degree of freedom not possible with the ordinary knife. The palette knife is much better for freeing or lifting forms from a flat surface than a spatula or a case knife.

The imagination of the candy-maker will suggest special designs for special occasions. The fancy of the confectioner will suggest many attractive original forms, besides the traditional red and white hearts for St. Valentine's Day,—note illustration No. 17 in the frontispiece—the green shamrock for March 17, and the hatchet for Washington's birthday. Christmas, New Years, Easter, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Hallowe'en and innumerable local holidays, like Bunker Hill day and Patriots' Day of Massachusetts,—all of these special occasions offer abundant opportunity to the candy-maker who realizes that from the paste can be made representations of anything from a firecracker to a regiment of soldiers. Cooky cutters may also be used indefinitely; what child would not like candy in the form of stars, dogs, horses, and trees?

Green Leaves.—An excellent illustration of the possibilities of potato paste is given by green leaves. As the basis for them, color potato paste green, by the use of green coloring paste, of the harmless vegetable sort, and flavor fairly strongly with peppermint. Roll the paste thin, cut out the leaves, using the point of a knife or a tin cutter, and model the veins. A small, blunt, wooden tool,—even a clean orange stick will do—should be used to make the depressions that are the veins. After the leaves have dried on waxed paper, dip into a crystal cooked to two hundred and twenty-five degrees. Drain them on a wire rack and dust them evenly with granulated sugar. It is well to use a thin bladed knife to lift the pieces. See the small box in the middle of the illustration facing page 98, and No. 1 in the frontispiece.

Violets.—In hot weather violets do not take kindly to the "candying" process, and in cold they are expensive and hard to get. There are no such limitations, however, to pop-corn and cocoanut. "Violets" made from them are especially good Christmas candies, because they are decorative and can be made a month or six weeks in advance—long before the last rush.

Pop-corn Violets.—Using the hard spots for centers, jam and break well-blown kernels of pop-corn until they resemble violets, as they will do with more exactness than would be thought. Boil one cupful of sugar and one-third cupful of water until a syrup is formed; the thermometer should register two hundred and nineteen degrees. After the syrup is cool, dip the pop-corn into it, making sure that the liquid forms an even and complete covering. As a thin crust begins to cover the syrup, keep pushing it down into the liquid. If this is done the syrup can all be used before it has time to harden. Immediately after the surplus has drained off, dredge lightly with powdered sugar, into which has been worked violet coloring paste, previously moistened with a few drops of violet extract, or even water. In this case the colored sugar should be a shade or two lighter than is desired for the finished product, as the syrup darkens the color.

Note No. 2 of the frontispiece.

Cocoanut Violets.—Mix the white of an egg, one-half cupful confectioner's sugar—the kind sometimes known as XXXX—and one-half cupful of Irish potato prepared as directed above. This makes more candy than the home confectioner ordinarily has use for, but directions for a smaller amount cannot well be given owing to the practical impossibility of dividing an egg. An easy way out of the difficulty, however, is to use as much of this mixture as is desired for the violets and to save the rest for use in making potato fondant, described hereafter.

Flavor this mixture with violet extract. Add the color with the extract, but remember that a little will go a long way. Use vegetable violet coloring paste until the color is a shade or two darker than is desired for the finished product. Stir in cocoanut until all the mass adheres to the cocoanut. Baker's cocoanut is better than the shredded, but often the shredded must be used, as the other size is becoming more and more difficult to obtain. If the shredded is used, break it so that each piece will not be more than one-half inch long. If the mixture does not then dry readily, stir in more confectioner's sugar.

To fashion the violets, dip the fingers into cold water, take up a quantity of the preparation about the size of a violet, and model into the shape of the flower. A little practice will enable the candy-maker to form objects that look more like violets than do the flowers themselves after they have been put through the candying process. Sift granulated sugar over each flower, shaking off surplus sugar. Dry on waxed paper. This confection would better be used within two or three weeks.

Violet Boutonniere.—From violets, preferably cocoanut, boutonnieres very attractive for favors can be fashioned. Have ready a supply of the violets, candied cress leaves, violet, green or tinsel foil, lace paper mats,—small paper doilies may be substituted,—and number twenty-two wire. It is well to cut wires six inches long for they can later be trimmed or bent to form a stem of from three and one-half to four inches long. With a fine needle puncture the back of a cocoanut violet and insert the end of a piece of wire. To make the union firm, place a drop of thick syrup at the point at which the wire enters the mixture. Seven violets so treated will be sufficient for one boutonniere. In a similar manner, wire one less of the crystallized cress leaves. Put all the wires through the center of the mat. Group the violets about one placed in the center. As nearly all mats come with an even number of designs in the edge, it is much easier to arrange the boutonniere if the row of flowers next the mat contains an even number also. The leaves should be so arranged in a row underneath the flowers. Before an attractive arrangement can be made, some little experimenting may be necessary. Wrap the wires with tissue paper and cover with foil. The making of the boutonnieres is not so difficult as it sounds, though some knack is required for the best results.

See the illustration opposite page 72.

Uncooked Fondant.—Potato fondant is another base—even more useful than potato paste—upon which many confections may be built. There are two kinds—cooked and uncooked. To make the uncooked, boil or steam Irish potatoes, drain, and force them through a fine sieve. In all candy-making with potatoes, these directions are of the utmost importance. Unless the potato is carefully forced through a fine sieve, the candy made from it will have hard and gluey spots after it has dried out. Mix one-half cupful of the potato so prepared with the unbeaten white of one egg. Add gradually confectioner's sugar until the whole mass assumes the consistency of bon-bon cream. Several uses for potato fondant will be described below, but it may be substituted for French fondant in any of the confections of which that is a part.

Cooked Potato Fondant.—With one-half cupful of potato, prepared as for the uncooked fondant, very thoroughly mix two cupsful of sugar and thin with two-thirds of a cupful of milk. Place the mixture on an asbestos mat over the fire and cook until thick—to the sticking point. Pour the mass on a cold, damp marble and "cut in" like plain fondant. Knead small quantities at a time until the whole batch is smooth. Pack in tins lined with wax paper.

The fondant can be used without additional sugar and does not stick to the hands. It is particularly useful as a covering.

Modeled Candy.—Modeled candy is easy to make, good to look at and good to eat. When shaped to imitate fruit or vegetables, it is useful as table decoration, and is always welcome for children's parties. Indeed, there is no sort of candy that is surer of a warm welcome by young or old!

The difficulty has been, however, that modeling with almond paste requires the use of ingredients that are very expensive and very often difficult to obtain. This has made experimenting in modeling rather expensive for the unskilled home candy-maker. Potato fondant, on the other hand, is inexpensive and so easily obtained that the amateur need not count the cost of failures while she experiments. By following the directions carefully very little practice in the modeling will give her a facility that removes her from the class of unskilled modelers. If she prefers to use almond paste, the home candy-maker may do her practicing with potato fondant. Moreover, many young women have studied clay modeling and to them the modeling of candy is indeed simple. While the modeled candy that is sold in candy stores often—though not always—contains harmful substances, potato fondant is absolutely wholesome.

Potato fondant shows particular superiority over the almond paste in the making of small objects and all fine and thin work. The results are as attractive to the palate as to the eye, although candy modeled from potato fondant does not have the peculiar oily richness of the products fashioned from almond paste.

For one batch take as much of the uncooked potato fondant as the work in hand calls for. Into it work all the sugar that it will take. Stop the kneading just as soon as the mixture shows a tendency to crumble. Model it into any form desired. It is best not to make the pieces too large. The modeling may be done with the small clay modeling tool now common in kindergartens and technical schools, or with a clean orange stick.

A thin sheet of glass will be found exceedingly satisfactory upon which to model. As the glass is thin, intricate flowers of many petals, for instance, can be slipped off with little disturbance. Use a thin knife to loosen and lift only slightly, slipping each model off with as little handling as possible. Another advantage is that the glass can easily be washed.

Coloring.—The vegetable coloring pastes which are sold for use in cooking are harmless. A set of the small jars ordinarily sold for ten cents a jar will probably be enough for any candy that the amateur may make in one season. The colors generally in the set are fruit red, leaf green, golden yellow, caramel, violet, damask, rose, mandarin, orange blue, salmon and chestnut.

These pastes may be used in three ways. They may be cooked or worked into a candy mixture or they may be used very much the same as water color pigments and applied with a brush.

In the first method it is well to remember that the shade should be mixed a little heavier than desired and must be very thoroughly mixed if used in fondant or prepared compounds. The rules of color combination prevail here as everywhere. So if grades of tone or different colors are desired almost any wish may be met by combination of color.

To get just the tone desired, after mixing the colors dissolve a small portion in water and then dip into this liquid a lump of sugar. If the tint is not the right one, it is easily changed.

Any shade of green may be obtained by mixing blue and yellow with leaf green. All shades of orange are obtainable from yellow and red. All shades of violet or mauve or even purple for deep violets may be made from red and blue in different proportions.

If the color in your candy is not clear and uniform it is because it has not been thoroughly mixed. To avoid spots it must be evenly incorporated through the entire mass. If this does not seem possible with coloring paste, dissolve in a little warm water and then add it to the fondant or prepared compound.

In applying with the brush use the wash methods much as in water color work and the shading will be much more artistic and the variety much greater. Apply a medium shade uniformly and let thoroughly dry and then shade with light and darker tones. Do not use much water, as the surface of the candy does not absorb the water as does water color paper.

White Daisy.—This makes an unusually pretty modeled piece, as will be seen from the illustration facing page 138, and from No. 13 of the frontispiece.

White potato fondant is used for the petals and candied orange peel for the center, and angelique for the stem and leaves.

Flavor the potato fondant with one of the stronger extracts such as peppermint, cinnamon or cloves. If desired it may be used without flavoring, but the more delicate flavors are not so pleasing. Mix enough sugar with the fondant for it to mold smoothly and easily and hold its shape. Upon a clean piece of glass, or oil cloth, if glass is not easily obtainable, place a piece of angelique of a size suitable for the stem. To form the petals roll pieces of potato fondant between the fingers. Properly arrange these petals around the center. Press a piece of candied orange peel down upon the stem and petals. This peel gives the yellow center of the daisy and acts as an additional means for holding the stem and petals together. Or, yellow fondant may be substituted. Run a thin knife under the flower and lift it over the glass to an oil cloth placed over a board or to a piece of waxed paper and dry for twenty-four hours.

Cook to two hundred and twenty degrees, a syrup made of one cupful of sugar and one-third of a cupful of water; pour this into a dish so that the syrup will be about an inch deep. Add to the daisies such leaves cut from angelique as may be desired and then dip into this liquid and lift upon a wire rack. In the making of this as in all composite models the crystal syrup—one cupful of sugar and one-third cupful of water cooked to two hundred and twenty degrees—is an essential asset for gluing purposes. A small bristle brush is good for applying, but care must be used as in using glue not to use too much of the syrup. The syrup, when dry, will hold the leaves to the stem. If the amateur confectioner is very conscientious, she may improve the looks of the flowers by coloring the outside edges of the centers lightly with sugar—first a little brown and then a touch of yellow placed there with the pointed end of the modeling stick.

Before the flowers have thoroughly set, free them from the wires of the rack. Shortly after the dipping, when as much of the syrup as will has run off the flowers, run the fingers along the under side of the rack springing the wires under each piece. This method not only frees the flowers but it rids them of undue accumulations of the syrup. Otherwise, the wires would dry into the candies, which would be broken upon their removal. Leave on the rack until dry.

Yellow Daisy.—Yellow daisies may be made by coloring the white potato fondant or by making fresh fondant, using the yolk of the egg in place of the white. The fondant made of the yolk will not model quite so readily but coloring is unnecessary.

Form the yellow daisy as the white, but use a small raisin for the center, instead of the piece of orange peel. No colored sugar is necessary. Crystallize as before.

If exceptionally bright and clear colors are desired, the flowers may be dipped twice into a thin crystal instead of once into an ordinary crystal. Use the same proportions of sugar and water—one cupful to one-third cupful cooked to only two hundred and twenty degrees. Into this dip the flowers after they are thoroughly dry, and dry on a rack as before. The next day dip them again into a crystal of the same sort. Dry as before. The result will be glossy flowers, free from crystals, with particularly beautiful yellows and browns.

Calla Lily.—This is particularly suitable for Easter time. For the stem, use a small stick of angelique. Make the center from yellow fondant. While still moist, dip into granulated sugar. See the illustration facing page 138.

If the yellow fondant is not on hand, a little of the ordinary white may be colored yellow and used. It is hardly worth while to make up a batch of the special egg fondant for one set of lilies.

From the white potato fondant, pat out rather thin pieces, wrap them around the stem, form the lily and curl the edges and make the pointed top and the front fold prominent. If leaves are desired, cut a long leaf from the angelique, dip the stem end into thick syrup and fasten to the stem. To make a perfect union, cover the stem below the lily with syrup.

If the lilies are to be used for box trimmings, do not make the stems very long and if leaves are used, bring them up well onto or behind the flower to give added strength so that the stems will be unlikely to break at their juncture with the lily.

Red Apples.—As dinner favors, red apples are unusually effective. For the foundation use pulled figs, stuffed with any good mixture. Nuts and pitted dates may be used for the filling, but the combination is a little too heavy. Marshmallows and pecan meats are preferable. A third possibility is chopped nuts and figs. Whatever filling is used, the method of its insertion is the same. If the figs are dry, steam them thoroughly. Make a slit in the side, fill with the chosen mixture, and pinch together the edges of the opening.

As the covering for the figs, uncooked fondant must be used. Cinnamon is a popular flavoring. Color it with red paste. At this stage in the process it should not be made the shade desired for the finished product, but there should be enough of the red to overcome the dead white of the fondant. In other words, make the first coating much lighter than it otherwise would be. Into the uncooked fondant, sugar must be worked until modeling is easy.

Encase the stuffed fig in fondant. The thickness of the coating will depend upon the size of the fig; the finished product should be about the size of a real apple. Model the surface so that it looks as much like an apple as possible. If it is desired to have the confection all edible, use a piece of angelique for the stem; a twig from a vine or bush really looks better, however. For the blossom end use a clove. If the general directions given above are followed, the result will be a surprising naturalness.

Proceeding as directed on page 64, use the vegetable coloring pastes for the coloring. As the red color paste is likely to have the magenta shade overmuch, the first coating would better be of orange and the second of enough dark red to give the true apple red.

To intensify the color and leave the apple glossy, brush it with crystal syrup cooked to two hundred and twenty degrees. The syrup should be used while yet warm and should be applied smoothly.

By the use of other colors, other sorts of apples can be made.

Before being eaten, these apples, like real apples, should be cut into sections.

See the illustration facing this page, and No. 24 of the frontispiece.

Single Roses.—They may be pink, red, yellow or white. The process in each case is the same except for the coloring and the flavoring. Take as much fondant as is needed for roses of one color and as the base, use uncooked potato fondant. Divide it into three lots and color with paste the shade desired—the first so very faintly that its tint is just off the white, the second a little deeper and the third deeper still. Always remember that immersion in hot syrup deepens the color. Remember, too, that the three lots of different shades are for roses of one color only.

For red roses, use cinnamon flavor and red coloring. For yellow roses, use clove as flavoring and yellow as coloring. Yellow roses are shown as Nos. 3 and 26 of the frontispiece. Be very careful not to use too much color. For white roses, use the plain fondant, but after the rose has dried a touch of green must be added to give depth and character.

For pink roses, use rose water as flavor and pink as coloring.

Whatever the color of the rose, form five petals, curling the edges to imitate those of the natural rose, and using different shades for different petals so that the rose will have natural variety of color. At the center use a small piece of angelique; a touch of darker green coloring to the center of the angelique gives the rose greater verisimilitude. It is well to model them upon a sheet of glass and when completed lift on to a waxed paper to dry.

If the rose is a white one, let it be remembered that it must be shaded with light green.

When the flowers are dry dip them into a crystal, cooked to two hundred and twenty-five degrees. Use brown and yellow sugar to imitate the pollen around the green centers. The pointed end of the wooden tool will be useful in placing these colored sugars. They must be made to stand out clearly. If too much syrup has collected around the center, be sure to push it out with the blunt end of the tool before trying to put the sugar in place.

After the roses have dried, they are ready to look at and eat.

Rose Buds.—From potato fondant, colored as desired, model several small petals. Cut a piece of angelique to represent the stem and properly arrange the petals around one end of it and press them on. The leaves and thorns are to be made from angelique and attached by pressing them to the stem using the crystal, prepared for the dipping, as glue.

The calyx, made from angelique, may be also so attached. When the buds have dried dip them into a crystal cooked to two hundred and twenty-five degrees. Dry on racks. The crystal will make stronger the union of petals, leaves, thorns and stem.

New Potato.—A particularly appropriate form in which to model the potato fondant is that of the new potato. Work the proper sized piece of fondant into as close an imitation as possible of the new potato.

As this new potato has perhaps more of the fondant than many people will wish to eat at one time, several partial substitutions are possible. That statement, by the way, is no reflection upon the fondant, for any piece of candy, no matter how good, of the size of this is likely to be rather too much to be eaten at one time if of one flavor. Marshmallows, pitted dates with nut meats, pulled figs closely rolled, or English walnut meats are some of the things that may well be used as centers. Whatever is used should be rolled in enough of the fondant to make pieces of the desired size and form and then immediately rolled in dry cocoa.

The result will be strikingly convincing—and good to eat.

Pea Pod.—From fondant colored green, a pea pod may be modeled, split, and the peas modeled and placed within. When the forms are dry, dip them in a crystal made by boiling one cupful of sugar and one-third cupful of water to two hundred and twenty degrees. Use care that the syrup does not settle between the peas. Granulated sugar dusted over the pod gives a beautiful soft color and surface.

Snow Balls.—All modeled candies are a delight to children, but snow balls always meet with a particular favor.

Stuffed figs, prepared as directed for red apples on page 70, form the basis for them. To keep the color of the figs from showing through, cover them with the uncooked fondant and roll in the hands until perfect balls are formed. After the balls have dried two or more hours, roll them again in this coating of uncooked fondant to which has been added a small quantity of blue coloring. This is to insure the balls being snow white. Brush these balls with the unbeaten white of an egg and roll in equal parts of crystal and granulated sugar.

Grapes.—The confection described below and pictured opposite page 72 is good to look at, good to eat, and comparatively easy to make. It should be borne in mind, by the way, that the directions for candies often sound more difficult than the actual process.

As the basis for the grapes, take smooth almonds, not blanched. Into the smaller end of each one insert nickeled wire, pushing it well into the nut. Then cover the nuts with potato fondant. Work them with the fingers until they assume the forms of single grapes. Dry in a corn starch bed. When the forms are dry, brush all the corn starch off. The grapes so formed should be colored a medium shade by the use of vegetable coloring pastes to resemble catawba or purple grapes. Because of the opaqueness of the grapes, they cannot be made to imitate closely the color of green grapes, but if the confectioner has an unusual fondness for green grapes, and is not over particular, there is no reason why she should not attempt them.

After coloring, dry the grapes thoroughly on a wire screen, finish them in thin crystal, which has been colored somewhat lighter than the shade the finished grapes are expected to assume. In order to leave the confection with a glossy surface, it is possible to add to the crystal a very small quantity of gum Arabic.

After the crystal is thoroughly dry, the wires should be wound with raffia of the leaf green shade, and, by twisting the wires together, the single grapes formed into bunches of the size desired. If the confectioner wishes large bunches, it is well to wind the wires onto a tree twig, for the sake of the additional firmness. It should be remembered that the large bunches are heavy. The use of the twig is also recommended for the natural appearance it gives to the finished bunch.

Brush the stems with a thin syrup. The loose ends of the raffia may be disposed of and the appearance of the confection made more natural by dampening them with the syrup and winding them around any round object of about the size of a lead pencil. The ends of the raffia, so treated, will resemble tendrils.

In taste, the grapes are much like the usual hard-covered almonds.

Other Possibilities.—If the candy-maker has ambition and imagination, she will regard the foregoing objects as merely suggestive; she will work out for herself other objects of equal interest. The following suggestions as to coloring, she will find valuable no matter how much she may want to create for herself. For pears, use yellow with red; for peaches, yellow with a very little red; for pumpkins, light orange with touches of green; for radishes, light red, with green for the stem; for carrots, orange with a slight touch of green; for plums, the so-called violet with a very little red; for strawberries, red, touched with yellow to simulate the seeds—and so on indefinitely.