A recipe for classic Swedish Christmas Candy found on svt.se
Mint kisses, classic Swedish sweets that belongs to Christmas. Not at all difficult to make and appreciated by both young and old. Silky sugar candy flavored with mint and decorated with dark chocolate, oh, so delicious!
Quality Street is a popular selection of individual tinned or boxed toffees, chocolates and sweets, produced by Nestlé. Quality Street was first made in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England in 1936. It was named after a play by J. M. Barrie.
In 1890 John Mackintosh and his wife opened a shop in Halifax, where they created a new kind of sweet by mixing hard toffee with runny caramel. These toffees were made from inexpensive local ingredients such as milk, sugar beets and eggs. They were so successful that in 1898 they expanded the operation to build the world’s first toffee 
factory. It burned down in 1909 so John bought an old carpet factory and converted it into a new facility. When John Mackintosh died his son Harold inherited the business and in 1936 he invented Quality Street.
The name was inspired by a play of the same name by J. M. Barrie. In the early 1930s only the wealthy could afford boxed chocolates made from exotic ingredients from around the world with elaborate packaging that often cost as much as the chocolates themselves. Harold Mackintosh set out to produce boxes of chocolates that could be sold at a reasonable price and would, therefore, be available to working families. His idea was to cover the different toffees with chocolate and present them in low-cost yet attractive boxes.
Rather than having each piece separated in the box, which would require more costly packaging, Mackintosh decided to have each piece individually wrapped in coloured paper and put into a decorative tin. He also introduced new technology, the world’s first twist-wrapping machine, to wrap each chocolate in a distinctive wrapper. By using a tin, instead of a cardboard box, 
Mackintosh ensured the chocolate aroma burst out as soon as it was opened and the different textures, colours, shapes and sizes of the sweets made opening the tin and consuming its contents a noisy, vibrant experience that the whole family could enjoy.
In the mid- to late 1930s, Britain was still feeling the effects of the economic crash and Mackintosh realised that in times of economic hardship and war, people crave nostalgia. Quality Street chocolates were, therefore, packaged in brightly coloured tins featuring two characters wearing Regency era dress, known affectionately as Miss Sweetly and Major Quality. ‘The Major’ and ‘Miss’, inspired by the play’s principal characters, appeared on all Quality Street boxes and tins until 2000. The original models for the pair were Tony and Iris Coles, the children of Sydney Coles who designed the advertising campaign that first 
appeared on a front page newspaper advertisement in the Daily Mail on 2 May 1936.
The brand was acquired by Nestlé when they bought Rowntree Mackintosh in 1988
Individual larger versions of the more popular chocolates are now manufactured and sold separately, as an extension to the brand, such as a bar based on the Purple One.
In Western Norway, Quality Street is called “Shetlandsgodt” or more commonly “Shetland Snoop” (snoop is Norwegian slang for sweets), because it often was brought home by fishermen visiting Shetland. In Iceland it is traditionally known as “Mackintosh”.
Quality Street gained the implied endorsement of Saddam Hussein when the Iraqi dictator was reported to have offered them to visiting British politician George Galloway in 2002. Nestlé were initially positive, but then chose to backtrack about the connection.
Text from Wikipedia
Jelly beans are small bean-shaped sugar candies with soft candy shells and thick gel interiors. The confection comes in a wide variety of colors and flavors, and is primarily made of sugar.
It is generally thought that jelly beans first surfaced in 1861, when Boston confectioner William Schrafft urged people to send his jelly beans to soldiers during the American Civil War. It was not until July 5, 1905, that jelly beans were mentioned in the Chicago Daily News. The advertisement publicized bulk jelly beans sold by volume for nine cents per pound, according to the book The Century in Food: America’s Fads and Favorites. Today, most historians contend that jelly beans were first linked with celebrations of Easter in the United States sometime in the 1930s for their egg-like shape.
The American National Jelly Bean Day is on April 22.
The basic ingredients of jelly beans include sugar, corn syrup, and pectin or starch. Relatively minor amounts of the emulsifying agent lecithin, anti-foaming agents, an edible wax such as beeswax, salt, and confectioner’s glaze are also included. The ingredients that give each bean its character are also relatively small in proportion and may vary depending on the flavor.
Most jelly beans are sold as an assortment of around eight different flavors, most of them fruit-based. Assortments of “spiced” jellybeans and gumdrops are also available, which include a similar number of spice and mint flavors. The colors of jelly beans often correspond with a fruit and a “spiced” flavor.
Some premium brands, such as Jelly Belly and The Jelly Bean Factory, are available in many different flavors, including berry, tropical fruit, soft drink, popcorn, licorice, and novelty ranges, in addition to the familiar fruit and spice flavors. While these are also sold as assortments, individual flavors can be individually purchased from distributors. A version of the Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans from the Harry Potter series was made commercially available and included flavors described as earwax, dirt, pepper, and vomit.
In the electronics industry, a “jelly bean” component is one which is widely available, used generically in many applications, and has no very unusual characteristics—as though it might be grabbed out of a jar in handfuls when needed, like jelly beans. For example, the μA741 might be considered a jelly bean op amp.
In United States slang in the 1910s and early 1920s, a “Jellybean” or “Jelly-Bean” was a young man who dressed stylishly to attract women but had little else to recommend him, similar to the older terms dandy and fop and the slightly later drugstore cowboy. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a story about such a character, The Jelly-Bean, in 1920. In William Faulkner’s 1929 novel The Sound and the Fury, Jason complained bitterly about his niece Quentin’s promiscuity, remarking that even “the town jellybeans” gave her the “go-by”.
The song “Jelly Bean (He’s a Curbstone Cutie)” was made popular in the 1940s by Phil Harris. It was written by Jimmie Dupre, Sam Rosen, and Joe Verges and published in New Orleans in 1920 by Universal Music Publishers, Inc.
Should you by any chance fancy a look at Jelly Bean (He’s a Curbstone Cutie) lyrics you can check it out HERE
A great sweet recipe found on chatelaine.com
Sweet snacks with incredible flavour. Everyone will want to dig in when you open up a jar of these homemade treats.
A classic caramel recipe found on tara.no
A Sweet classic that can be flavored with chopped nuts, cardamom, gingerbread spices or grated lemon peel. These should be added when the cooking is done and just before you pour the caramel mixture into the mould.
A historic candy recipe found at recipelion.com
A holiday tradition for many families, Martha Washington’s candy is a treat that’s easy to make and even more delicious to eat. This particular recipe for No-Bake Martha Washington Candy features just a few choice ingredients, making it even simpler to prepare.
Martha Washington (née Dandridge; June 13 [O.S. June 2] 1731– May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington is considered to be the first First Lady of the United States. During her lifetime she was often referred to as “Lady Washington”
An article by freelance writer George Dobbs
found on historyextra.com
Roast boars and flagons of wine might be what most of us (at least fans of René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo like me) conjure up when we think of medieval cookery. But contemporary sources suggest that our ancestors enjoyed a wide variety of cuisine, and were adventurous in their tastes, too.
Here is an article where freelance writer George Dobbs reveals five examples of commonplace courtly dishes that wouldn’t look too out of place on your dinner table today.
![medieval food_02_thumb[1]](https://recipereminiscing.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/medieval-food_02_thumb1.jpg "medieval food_02_thumb[1]")
Sweet and sour rabbit is one of the more curious dishes included in Maggie Black’s The Medieval Cookbook. Found in a collection of 14th-century manuscripts called the Curye on Inglish, it includes sugar, red wine vinegar, currants, onions, ginger and cinnamon (along with plenty of “powdour of peper”) to produce a sticky sauce with more than a hint of the modern Chinese takeaway.
The recipe probably dates as far back as the Norman Conquest, when the most surprising ingredient for Saxons would have been rabbit, only recently introduced to England from continental Europe.
![medieval food_03_thumb[2]](https://recipereminiscing.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/medieval-food_03_thumb2.jpg "medieval food_03_thumb[2]")
In the same manuscript we find instructions for pasta production, with fine flour used to “make therof thynne foyles as paper with a roller, drye it hard and seeth it in broth”. This was known as ‘losyns’, and a typical dish involved layering the pasta with cheese sauce to make another English favourite: lasagne.
Sadly the lack of tomatoes meant there was no rich bolognese to go along with the béchamel, but it was still a much-loved dish, and was served at the end of meals to help soak up the large amount of alcohol you were expected to imbibe – much as an oily kebab might today.
In Thomas Austin’s edition of Two Fifteenth Century Cookery Books, you can find several other pasta recipes, including ravioli and Lesenge Fries – a sugar and saffron doughnut, similar to the modern Italian feast day treats such as frappe or castagnole. The full edition, including hundreds of medieval recipes, can be found online through the University of Michigan database.
![medieval food_04_thumb[2]](https://recipereminiscing.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/medieval-food_04_thumb2.jpg "medieval food_04_thumb[2]")
Rice was grown in Europe as early as the 8th century by Spanish Moors. By the 15th century it was produced across Spain and Italy, and exported to all corners of Europe in vast quantities. The brilliant recipe resource www.medievalcookery.com shows the wide variety of ways in which rice was used, including three separate medieval references to a dish called blancmager.
Rather than the pudding you might expect, blancmager was actually a soft rice dish, combining chicken or fish with sugar and spices. Due to its bland nature, it was possibly served to invalids as a restorative.
There were also sweet rice dishes, including rice drinks and a dish called prymerose, which combined honey, almonds, primroses and rice flour to make a thick rice pudding.
![medieval food_05_thumb[2]](https://recipereminiscing.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/medieval-food_05_thumb2.jpg "medieval food_05_thumb[2]")
Wrapping food in pastry was commonplace in medieval times. It meant that meat could be baked in stone ovens without being burnt or tarnished by soot, while also forming a rich, thick gravy.
Pie crusts were elaborately decorated to show off the status of the host, and diners would often discard it to get to the filling. However, there were also pastry dishes intended to be eaten as a whole. In The Goodman of Paris, translated into English by Eileen Power, we find a recipe for cheese and mushroom pasties, and we’re even given instruction on how to pick our ingredients, with “mushrooms of one night… small, red inside and closed at the top” being the most suitable.
![medieval food_06_thumb[2]](https://recipereminiscing.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/medieval-food_06_thumb2.jpg "medieval food_06_thumb[2]")
Subtleties are a famous medieval culinary feature. The term actually encompasses the notion of entertainment with food as well as elaborate savoury dishes, but it’s most often used to refer to lavish constructions of almond and sugar that were served at the end of the meal.
These weren’t the only way to indulge a sweet tooth, however. Maggie Black describes a recipe in the Curye on Inglish that combines pine nuts with sugar, honey and breadcrumbs to give a chewy candy. And long before it was a health food, almond milk was a commonplace drink at medieval tables.
So what have we learned? From just a few examples it’s easy to see that, despite technological restrictions, cookery of this period wasn’t necessarily unskilled or unpalatable. It’s true that a cursory glance over recipe collections reveals odd dishes such as gruel and compost, which look about as appetising as their names suggest. But for every grim oddity there were many more meals that still sound mouthwatering today. In fact, many of our modern favourites may have roots in medieval kitchens.
George Dobbs is a freelance writer
who specialises in literature and history.
A classic cake recipe found in
“Harrods Cookery Book” published in 1985
The name Gugelhopf, or Kugelhopf, is derived from the shape of the fluted ring mold used, kugel meaning ball. This recipe has been adapted to be made in a bundt pan.
– 
A sweet recipe found on godt.no – Recipe by Lise Finckenhagen
Lise Finckenhagen writes: These Swedish sweets, “vacuum cleaners”, so called because they look like old fashioned ones are irresistibly deliciously. they also give cake crumbs a new life mixed with cocoa butter, oatmeal and powdered sugar. Wrapped in delicious marzipan and dipped in melted chocolate.
“Damsugare” is yet another example of the Swedes marvelous knack for finding fitting and entertaining names for their favourite dishes – Ted
See this and lots of delicious recipes on:
Related articles
Recipes from “Delicious Dairy Dishes” (Deilige Retter Av Meieriprodukt) published in 1936
![candies_post_thumb[2]](https://recipereminiscing.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/candies_post_thumb2.jpg "candies_post_thumb[2]")
Since Norway’s national day, 17th of May, is right around the corner and that is a day when kids are allowed to eat as much hot dogs, ice cream and candy as they like I thought it only appropriate to post a candy post – Ted
![000_recipe_eng_thumb[1]](https://recipereminiscing.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/000_recipe_eng_thumb117.jpg?w=159&h=18 "000_recipe_eng_thumb[1]"){kind=small}
![000_recipe_nor_thumb[1]](https://recipereminiscing.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/000_recipe_nor_thumb116.jpg?w=159&h=18 "000_recipe_nor_thumb[1]"){kind=small}
![ill_030_thumb[3]](https://recipereminiscing.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/ill_030_thumb3.jpg "ill_030_thumb[3]")
RecipeReminiscing 