SWEETIES

 Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about 

JAW BREAKERS

Jawbreakers. The candy industry's legacy to the dental profession. There probably is not another candy anywhere that has the exceptional hardness of a jawbreaker or possibly as high of sugar content. Enough said. Now on to discover the unmitigated joy (and sense of frustration) that comes with the jawbreaker experience.

Ancient Egyptians used honey, sweet fruits, spices, and nuts to prepare their sweets. Sugar was not available in Egypt; the first written record about its accessibility was found around 500 CE, in India. India passed the practice of making sugar from the boiled syrup of the sugarcane plant to the Arabs who introduced, around 1100 CE, sugar to Europe. 

Originally, sugar was considered to be a spice and until the 15th century, was used only medicinally, doled out in minuscule doses, due to its extreme rarity. By the 16th century, due to wide-ranging sugar cultivation and improved refining methods, sugar was no longer considered to be such a rare commodity. At this point, crude candies were being made in Europe, but by the end of the 18th century, candy-making machinery was producing more complex candies in much larger quantities.

When sugar is cooked at a high temperature, it gets totally crystalized and becomes hard candy. The jawbreaker, very definitely a hard candy, was very much alike to several candies popular in mid-19th century America. Hard candy was usually sold by a single piece; the storekeeper removed, from a glass case or jar, the desired number of pieces. By the middle of the 18th century, there were almost 400 candy factories producing penny candy in the United States.

The jawbreaker rose to prominence due to the efforts of the Ferrari Pan Candy Company in Forest Park, Illinois. Founded in 1919, the Ferrari Pan Candy Company , the brainchild of Salvador Ferrari and his two brothers-in-law, specialized in candies made with the hot pan and cold pan process. Ferrari Pan now specializes in the production of its original Jaw Breakers, as well as Boston Baked Beans and Red Hots. Although there are many manufacturers of jawbreakers now in the 21st century, such as Nestles Willy Wonka Candy Company and the Scones Candy Company, Ferrari Pan is still the most prolific manufacturer of pan candies throughout the world.

Jawbreakers, also known as gobstoppers (from the British slang: gob for the mouth and stopper as in to block an opening), belong to a category of hard candy where each candy, usually round, ranges in size from a tiny 1/4" ball to a massive 3-3/8". The surface, as well as the inside, of a jawbreaker, is incredibly hard and not meant for anybody with a sensitive mouth. Jawbreakers are, for the most part, hollow except for the super-large 3-3/8" ball which has a gum-filled centre.

Let's get down to the nitty-gritty of the hot pan process of candy making. A jawbreaker consists of sugar, sugar, and more sugar. It takes 14 to 19 days to produce a single jawbreaker, from a single grain of sugar to the finished product. A batch of jawbreakers tumbles constantly in enormous spherical copper kettles over a gas flame. The kettles or pans all have a wide mouth or opening.

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking