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Humbugs

Somewhere in the North. Probably.

Although the tradition of striped, pulled sugar sweets and their technique
were known, and used, in medieval Arabia, the first humbugs appeared
on British shores in the middle of the nineteenth century.

And while I say humbugs are 鈥榩robably鈥� from the north of England,
this is based purely on my readings of Elizabeth Gaskell鈥檚 Sylvia Lovers,
published in 1863: 鈥楬e had provided himself with a paper of humbugs
for the child 鈥� 鈥渉umbugs鈥� being the North-country term for certain lumps
of toffy, well-flavoured with peppermint.鈥�

As to the origins and etymology of the glorious word 鈥榟umbug鈥� itself,
there is some debate, although we do know from the Shorter Oxford
Dictionary that it first came into common use between 1730 and 1769.
The most common definition is that a humbug is a 鈥榟oax鈥� or a 鈥榯rick鈥� and
was derived from an Italian phrase, 鈥楿omo Bugiardo鈥�, which means,
literally, 鈥榣ying man鈥�. (The Wizard of Oz describes himself as 鈥榡ust a
humbug鈥� and, of course, Charles Dickens鈥� Ebeneezer Scrooge mutters
鈥楤ah! Humbug!鈥� in relation to Christmastime). As well as the more com-
mon humbug 鈥� the stripy lump of solid sugar with a mint flavour 鈥� I also
discovered a humbug indigenous to Taunton, which startles the happy
sucker when he or she reaches the centre of the sweet. The middle isn鈥檛
sugar at all, but an almond. Perhaps this is the true 鈥榟umbug鈥�, a trick
played on the customer? Whatever the case, we do know that mint oils
and extracts, as well as those of clove and wintergreen, were used as
cold cures in the dark days before cane sugar landed on our shores. The
addition of sugar was a very welcome way of making almost any medi-
cine palatable. Humbugs are an absolute joy to make and a good way
to practise your sugar-pulling and twisting techniques.

450g demerara sugar

150ml water

50g butter

a pinch of cream of tartar

flavouring (mint is traditional)

black food colouring (powdered)
icing sugar, for dusting your hands

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two 38 x 30cm shallow baking trays, oiled

scissors, the blades dipped in oil

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Place all the ingredients, except for the flavouring and colour, in a
heavy-bottomed pan and attach your sugar thermometer. Put the pan
over a low heat until the sugar has all dissolved. Bring slowly to the boil
and boil steadily to 143掳 (soft crack stage) then remove from the heat
immediately. Leave to cool for a few minutes, then pour half the mixture
on to one of the tins and add the colouring and flavouring to the remain-
ing mixture in the pan. Stir well and pour into the second tray.

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When the mixture can be handled comfortably, find a friend to help you.
Both of you should dust your hands with icing sugar before you each
start to manipulate a tray of toffee, folding and pulling it into long strips
approximately 3cm thick. This should take no more than 10 minutes. If
you don鈥檛 have a friend, leave one tray in a warm oven until you鈥檙e
ready to give it the same treatment. Twist the two different-coloured strips
together; they will stick to one another. Then pull the entire strip of toffee
until it鈥檚 about 2cm wide, and snip into bite-sized lengths with the oiled
scissors. Roll in icing sugar. (The humbugs. Not you.)

Recipe extracted from Great British Sweets: And How To Make Them at Home by Adele Nozedar, published by Square Peg听