Candy worth waiting for

Whether a family tradition or store-bought confections, there’s something for every sweet tooth this season.

By BETTY RIDGE

Children of all ages enjoy indulging themselves at Christmas, and one of the ultimate indulgences is candy.

Christmas candy comes in all shapes and flavors, be it elaborate purchased confections or homey treats from grandma’s kitchen. Candy tends to abound in offices and homes during the season, and it’s hard not to overindulge.

Many people who grew up in country churches remember speaking or singing their pieces during the Christmas program, then retreating to the tree, where they received bags full of ribbon candy and other hard candies, those chocolate drops with vanilla cream centers, and perhaps the traditional Christmas orange.

For others, Christmas means treats passed down through the family for years — those special recipes for fudge, peanut brittle, caramels and other tasty delights they could look forward to only during the holidays.

Members of the various Home and Community Education clubs in Cherokee County look forward to the get-togethers when Mildred Davis brings some of her homemade candies. She has earned many ribbons for candy-making at the Cherokee County Fair, and already is busy preparing this year’s treats.

A wide variety of candies emerge from her kitchen.

“I make Aunt Bill’scandy, I make Velveeta fudge. I’ve made pumpkin fudge, and the plain fudge,” she said.

Another candy she enjoys is called Aunt Martha’s, which contains chocolate, powdered sugar, pecans and butter.

Davis has been making candy for decades.

“We’ve been married for 58 years, so I’ve been making it quite a while,” she said.

The Davises have five children and numerous grandchildren who have grown up looking forward to her candy each Christmas.

Extension Educator Heather Winn calls Davis’ divinity divine. But Davis is modest when asked about her expertise with that sometimes difficult confection.

“The grandchildren say I do it pretty good,” she said. “I don’t make it often because the temperature has to be just right for that.”

Divinity can be finicky. The candy is made from sugar, corn syrup, egg whites, vanilla and nuts or other ingredients.

According to the website wisegeek.com, the first time divinity appeared in an American cookbook was around 1915. It called for the cook to beat the ingredients and drop them by spoonfuls for cooling. A recipe eight years earlier in the New York Times, for divinity fudge, called for the candy to be spread in a pan and cut in squares after cooking.

The challenge to making divinity, as Davis said, lies in the weather. It’s difficult for the candy to solidify on a humid day, so cookbooks advise making it on a dry day and using a candy thermometer to determine when the temperature is right for adding the egg whites.

It must have been a wet day when Rose Reasoner tried making her first batch of divinity when she was 10 years old, because her efforts were disappointing.

“My grandfather had had a stroke in Kentucky, and my mother and my little sister went to see him. I was alone with my daddy. I don’t know why, but I decided to make divinity. It was hard; it wasn’t fluffy. I must have beaten it too hard,” Reasoner said.

She learned how to make divinity later in life, after marrying her husband. He came from a family of 12 children who loved candy, and he passed on the family recipe to her. She became expert at making it, and other candies.

“I also have the recipe for the million-dollar fudge. I use it because it turns out so well,” she said.

But with just two people at home these days, she doesn’t spend much time making candy any more.

Fran Ridenhour still enjoys candy-making, although her children are grown.

“I make the pink peanut patties, chocolate clusters. I usually make the pretzels dipped in white bark, and fudge,” she said. “Someone gave me the pink pattie recipe about 20 years ago. It took me two or three tries to get it, but it’s something most people like.”

Ridenhour and Reasoner encourage people not to be discouraged if something doesn’t come out right the first time. Try again.

“I like to try different recipes, especially candy recipes,” Ridenhour said.

She enjoys sharing her creations.

“Usually the week of Christmas, we’ll all bring our baked goods and candies to the office. I usually send candy with my husband to his office, some to my kids,” she said.

Winn, who works with Ridenhour at the Oklahoma State University Extension Office, enjoys these sharing sessions.

“I love Christmas candy,” she said. “I always look forward to this time of year.”

Her grandmother always made turtles, pralines and chocolate buckeyes. Fudge also is a favorite.

Winn spends much of her time teaching people about nutrition and healthy cooking, but she agrees Christmas is a time to let yourself have a few extra treats.

She does offer some hope for the chocoholic, however: Chocolate isn’t necessarily bad for you, especially the darker kinds.

“There are five different kinds of chocolate,” she said. “The darker chocolate has flavonoids, which are heart-healthy. They are antioxidants, and help fight the free radical toxins in hour body. You may be surprised to find the fat in chocolate isn’t as bad as originally perceived. But the good news does not give us a license to consume as much chocolate as we’d like.”

Then there’s another perennial holiday favorite, the candy cane. It turns up almost everywhere, as ornaments on cakes, hanging from trees, thrown from Christmas parade floats, or just as big canes given to children to suck on.

Its origin is as mystical, and varied, as the pedigree of a stray puppy. Some attribute a religious motive to its origin — the cane represents the shepherds’ crooks, or is in the shape of J for Jesus. The red stripes supposedly symbolize Jesus’ blood, shed for humanity.

There are various secular theories. For example, the Christmas trivia questions and answers on the Christmas Decorations and Gift Store website notes that the candy canes were invented and given out by a choirmaster in 1670 to quiet noisy children.

According to candyaddict.com, the average 5-inch candy cane contains 50 calories and no fat or cholesterol, so they’re a relatively low-cal confection.

Unless, of course, you decided to take a try at the world’s longest handmade candy cane. Fashioned by Paul Ghinelli of Leslie, Mich., that cane measured 58 feet, 2-1/4 inches. Candyaddict.com did not mention what happened to that behemoth.

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