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| Rosewalk's Nephews Making Peanut Brittle |
One family ritual that epitomized the way my mom’s various roles
came together was making peanut brittle. Each year between Thanksgiving and
Christmas, my mom would make over twenty batches of peanut brittle—mostly to
give away to family, friends, and her children’s teachers. How much patience it
must have taken to make so much candy, especially when you consider that she
was also demonstrating the process to children while she made it.
Generally, she also made the candy with her grade school students;
it would be tough to estimate how many children observed Mom’s peanut brittle
making process at school. In those days before extreme peanut allergies and
lawsuit fears, children helped stir the hot syrupy mixture as it bubbled in an
electric skillet.
Mom practiced these activities first with her own children,
allowing us to stir while she gave us instructions at each stage of the
process. At first, the stirring was all
we were allowed to do; the period while waiting for the sugar syrup concoction
to “spin a thread” before adding the peanuts seemed to last for hours.
To detect whether or not the syrup mixture is “spinning a thread,”
it is necessary to hold up the spoon over the pot and watch the mixture drip
down. After the sugar and corn syrup has reached a syrupy consistency, it still
takes several minutes before it attains the proper consistency to spin a
thread. It is important not to add the peanuts to the syrup mixture until the
mixture has spun a thread. For the first several minutes of attempts, a watery
flow descends from the spoon. For the next couple of minutes, the mixture seems
to flow a little more easily, so novice cooks may be tempted to call it done.
It requires an experienced candy maker there to say, “That’s not it yet. You’ll
recognize it when you see it. It looks like thread.” When the mixture does spin
a thread, the thread is quite thin, lightweight enough to blow off to the side.
When young children see this stage, some of them usually saw, “Ooh! It has a
hair in it!”
Once the mixture spins a thread, the candy maker’s patience is
tested further while waiting for the syrup and peanut mixture to turn a golden
brown. The stirring stage while waiting for the mixture to turn a golden brown
can take ten or fifteen minutes, and Mom had more patience during this stage
than we children did. We children took turns stirring, while Mom took care of
other kitchen chores, keeping an ear cocked for another significant signal; all
at once, Mom would say, “Listen! Do you hear the peanuts popping?” At this
point, she would take a turn stirring a time or two to determine whether or not
the mixture was golden brown or “not quite brown enough.”
For the final stage, we children had to stand back away from the
pot while Mom added the baking soda, margarine, and vanilla. While adding these
ingredients, she would stir the mixture quickly with a wooden spoon. The way
the mixture foamed up, then quickly spread out when poured onto the cookie
sheet, seemed like some kind of miracle.
As an adult, I now realize that the real miracle was that Mom had
the energy to engage in this month-long process of making one or two batches of
peanut brittle a night. She taught school to young children five days a week;
along with Dad, she shepherded her family to church three times a week; also,
along with Dad, she transported us to various athletic events and music lessons
after school. Also, as a college dean’s wife, Mom accompanied Dad to at least
one school function per week; during basketball season, our family went to two
to three games a week.
Each batch took nearly an hour to make, so no wonder she left all
the ingredients out on the cabinet, ready for use when she found a free hour.
Mom bought the ingredients in bulk: five
to ten pounds of raw shelled peanuts from a shelling business, bottles and
bottles of cheap white corn syrup (“the cheaper the better”), and pounds and
pounds of white sugar.
Most people are only familiar with the chewy, overpriced peanut
brittle sold in small boxes during the holidays. My mom’s candy is a completely
different sort, generally provoking a comment such as, “This isn’t like any
peanut brittle I’ve ever eaten.” The trick to the recipe isn’t a candy
thermometer or a timer. Instead, the recipe requires the ability to recognize
certain significant stages in the candy-making process. Though I’m including
the recipe below, successful peanut brittle requires years of observation of
the process, preferably while stirring the syrupy concoction with a wooden
spoon while an experienced cook patiently watches over one’s shoulder.
Peanut Brittle
Choose a dry
day for candy making. Humidity is not your friend.
Supplies: large soup pot, wooden spoon, dry & wet
measuring cups, measuring spoons, large cookie sheet
Ingredients: water, sugar,
white corn syrup, peanuts (or pecans), butter, baking soda, vanilla, cooking spray
(Pam)
- Heat ½ cup water to a boil in a large pot.
- Add 2 cups sugar, 1 cup white corn syrup.
- Heat over med-medium high heat until mixture spins a thread. Stir frequently with a wooden spoon.
- Add 2 cups peanuts (or pecans).
- Heat over medium low-medium heat until golden brown (stir frequently, if not constantly).
- Remove pan from heat.
- Add 2 T. butter (or margarine), 1 t. vanilla, 2 t. baking soda (fresh & dry—use a dry measuring spoon)
- Stir quickly & thoroughly. Pour out mixture quickly onto a greased cookie sheet. Do not spread. Let the mixture spread out on its own.
Elder Rosewalk
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