Candy making

Candy making or candymaking is the preparation and cookery of candies and sugar confections. Candy making includes the preparation of many various candies, such as hard candies, jelly beans, gumdrops, taffy, liquorice, cotton candy, chocolates and chocolate truffles, dragées, fudge, caramel candy, and toffee.

Candy being panned (coated) in a giant pot at a candy factory in Nablus, West Bank

Candy is made by dissolving sugar in water or milk to form a syrup, which is boiled until it reaches the desired concentration or starts to caramelize. The type of candy depends on the ingredients and how long the mixture is boiled. Candy comes in a wide variety of textures, from soft and chewy to hard and brittle. A chocolatier is a person who prepares confectionery from chocolate, and is distinct from a chocolate maker, who creates chocolate from cacao beans and other ingredients. Cotton candy is a form of spun sugar often prepared using a cotton candy machine.

The technology for candy making has generally kept pace with the technology of the times. For example, when steam power became common in textile and engineering factories, steam power was also used in candy factories.

Candy making and consumption increased greatly during the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. Candy had previously been made by hand, either occasionally at home or by specialists in small, local businesses. Increased mechanization caused prices to drop and production to increase.

In the late 19th century and especially the early 20th century, industrial candy making was almost exclusively a masculine affair, and home-based candy making was a feminine affair.Candy was considered sweet and dainty, so making it at home, giving it away to friends, and perhaps selling small amounts in the local area, conformed with the Western gender roles for women of the time. Most women making and selling candy did so only seasonally or for a little extra money; they rarely earned enough to support themselves or their families. Despite several large brands being named after women or otherwise capitalizing on wholesome, feminine, and maternal images, very few were owned or operated by women.

Gender segregation also affected candy workers in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.Men and boys were employed for cooking or operating machinery, putting them at higher risk of injury or death.Women were mostly employed for wrapping and putting candies in packages or for hand-dipping candies in chocolate. The best-paid women were chocolate dippers, yet the wages of these skilled and experienced female workers were almost always lower than that of the worst-paid male machine operators.