Candy apple
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A candy apple is a whole apple covered in a hard candy coating. The topping varies from place to place. Toffee apples, popular in the United Kingdom, use hot toffee as a coating. Caramel apples or taffy apples are created by dipping or rolling the apples in hot caramel, sometimes then rolling them in nuts or other small savories or confections, and allowing them to cool.
They are almost always served with a stick of sorts in the middle making them easier to eat.
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Composition
Classically, the preferred apples for use in candy apples are tart, crisp apples such as Granny Smith or Fuji apples. Softer, grainy-textured apples can also be used, but are not preferred.
The most common "candy" in the United States is a hard coating of cooled sugar syrup, usually tinted red and sometimes flavored with cinnamon. The sugar syrup is heated to the "hard crack" stage before coating the apple to make a hard coating when the syrup cools. Other variations include caramel or taffy apples, and chocolate apples.
Alternately, for the high-volume production of caramel apples, a sheet of caramel can be wrapped around the apple, followed by heating of the apple to melt the caramel evenly onto it. This creates a harder caramel that is easier to transport but more difficult to eat. Caramel apple production at home usually involves melting pre-purchased caramel candies for dipping, or making a homemade caramel from ingredients like brown sugar, butter, and vanilla. Homemade caramel generally results in a softer, creamier coating.
In recent years, it has become increasingly popular to decorate caramel apples for holidays like Halloween. Methods used to do this include applying sugar or salt to softened caramel, dipping cooled, hardened apples in white or milk chocolate, or painting designs onto finished caramel apples with white chocolate colored with food coloring.
History
According to the Newark Evening News 1964:
William W. Kolb invented the red candy apple. Kolb, a veteran Newark candy-maker, produced his first batch of candied apples in 1908. While experimenting in his candy shop with red cinnamon candy for the Christmas trade, he dipped some apples into the mixture and put them in the windows for display. He sold the whole first batch for 5 cents each and later sold thousands yearly. Soon candied apples were being sold along the Jersey Shore, at the circus and in candy shops across the country, according to the Newark News in 1948.
Seasonal popularity
Candy apples are a common treat at autumn festivals in Western culture in the Northern Hemisphere, such as Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night because these festivals fall in the wake of the annual apple harvest.
In Latin American countries, candy apples are popular throughout those countries' extended holiday season. Caramel apples are more popular in much of the United States, with candy apples unknown in some regions. In Germany they are most often associated with the Christmas season. They are also sometimes sold at carnivals and fairs. In China, a similar treat called Tanghulu is made by coating small fruits (traditionally hawthorns) with hard sugar syrup.
See also
References
External links
- Recipes
- Pins and Needles in Halloween Candy, Snopes.com Urban Legends Reference Pages
- Caramel Apple Recipe
- Caramel Apple Recipe
- Caramel Apple Recipe
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