Aljaimau5  wiT"' }        Candy — Cheap  and  Expensive.  15 
syrup,"  which  is  now  legally  applied  to  it  is  misinterpreted  by  the 
average  purchaser  to  mean  a  syrup  prepared  from  corn  in  the  same 
way  that  syrup  is  prepared  from  the  sugar  cane.  This  impression 
is  not  correct  and  is  also  faulty  in  that  the  product  can  be  equally 
well  prepared  from  any  other  variety  of  starch  as  well  as  corn  starch 
and  in  Germany  is  usually  made  from  potato  starch,  in  which  case 
the  name  "  corn  syrup  "  would  not  be  correctly  applied.  When 
properly  made  and  purified,  as  is  done  at  present,  it  is  looked  upon 
by  the  majority  of  authorities  as  being  a  wholesome  food,  the  few 
who  disagree  on  this  point  basing  their  objections  upon  the  fact  that 
unlike  cane  sugar  it  is  not  a  simple  carbohydrate  of  definite  chemical 
composition,  but  is  a  complex  mixture  of  several  carbohydrates,  of 
which  one  of  the  less  important  is  comparatively  indigestible. 
When  sugar  is  heated  with  small  quantities  of  acids,  such  as  are 
present  in  many  fruits,  or  intentionally  added  in  the  shape  of  vinegar 
or  cream  of  tartar  in  the  manufacture  of  candy,  it  is  chemically 
decomposed  with  the  formation  of  a  new  substance  known  as  invert 
sugar,  which  consists  of  two  carbohydrates,  both  different  from  the 
original'  sugar  and  one  of  .which  is  identical  with  the  principal  carbo- 
hydrate of  glucose.  This  invert  sugar,  which  is  purposely  formed 
in  certain  kinds  of  candy,  possesses  the  same  property  as  is  possessed 
by  glucose,  of  making  a  soft  creamy  mass,  which  does  not  readily 
grain  or  crystallize. 
When  sugar  is  heated  to  a  temperature  high  enough  to  partly 
burn  or  char,  there  is  formed  a  substance  called  caramel,  which 
possesses  powerful  coloring  properties  and  which  communicates  a 
flavor  which  is  attractive  to  many.  When  sugar  is  heated  to  a  tem- 
perature short  of  the  caramelizing  point,  it  is  modified  in  its  char- 
acter and  assumes  a  state  known  as  barley  sugar,  in  which  it  is  in 
a  solid,  glassy,  uncrystallizable  condition.  There  are  other  and 
intermediate  temperatures  at  which  sugar  assumes  physical  condi- 
tions varying  according  to  the  degree  of  heat,  and  therefore  such 
terms  as  "  thread,"  "  soft  ball,"  "  hard  ball,"  "  crack  "  and  "  hard 
crack  "  are  technically  used  by  confectioners  to  describe  the  condi- 
tions which  the  cooked  mass  will  assume  upon  cooling.  This  illus- 
trates the  infinite  possibilities  of  candy  making  taking  into  account 
the  immense  number  of  colors  and  flavors  available  for  use,  and 
shows  how  a  large  variety  of  forms  and  consistence  may  result 
from  the  use  of  a  comparatively  small  number  of  basic  ingredients. 
We  often  hear  astonishment  expressed  at  the  fact  that  candy 
