Taffy

The other day Mae Krone called to ask if I had any recipes for Taffy. I told her my favorite one that my mother made while I was growing up was Orange Taffy. She said she had never heard of that before but I printed that one and a few others off and took them to her. A few days later Pat Miller and I were talking and she said she could remember how people would get together for a “Taffy Pull” and I said that we would often do that at our youth group at church. I don’t remember making the candy - just greasing up our hands with butter and pulling (with another person), cutting and wrapping the pieces in wax-paper.
After all this Taffy-Talk I decided to see how many different recipes there are out there for Taffy - and I found a few. Some I have not tried yet, but it would be fun to find some friends and have a good old-fashioned Taffy-Pull!

Orange Taffy

2 c. sugar
1/4 c. water
1/2 c. orange juice
Combine ingredients; cook, stirring only until sugar dissolves, to very hard-ball stage (265º). Pour into greased shallow pan. When cool enough to handle, pull until light. Cut with scissors, or cool and break in pieces. Wrap individual pieces in wax paper.

Chocolate Taffy

Source: Alton Brown

2 cups sugar
2/3 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons butter - plus additional for greasing pan and hands
In heavy medium saucepan, combine sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Stir until thoroughly combined. Add corn syrup, water, and vinegar to pan and place over medium heat. Stir until sugar and cocoa dissolve, raise heat to high and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to low, clip candy thermometer to side of pan and cook until mixture reaches 260 degrees F. Remove pan from heat, add the butter and stir. Butter edges of sheet pan, line with silicone baking sheet and pour on taffy. Allow to cool until you are able to handle it.
Once you are able to handle the taffy, don vinyl gloves, butter them, and begin to fold taffy in thirds using the silicone mat. Pick up taffy and begin to pull folding the taffy back on itself repeatedly twisting as you go. Taffy is done when it lightens in color, takes on a sheen, and becomes too hard to pull. Roll into log, cut into fourths, roll each fourth into a 1-inch wide log, and cut into 1-inch pieces. Making sure to keep pieces separated or they will stick to each other. Wrap individual pieces of candy in waxed paper. Store in airtight container 3 to 5 days.

Molasses Taffy

Source: Ideals Candy Cookbook (1979)

Try this distinctively molasses-flavored taffy with peanut butter as suggested
1 (12 oz.) jar molasses
3/4 c. sugar
2 T. butter
2 t. cider vinegar
Peanut Butter Balls (recipe follows)
Combine molasses, sugar, butter and vinegar in a heavy saucepan. Cover tightly, bring to a boil two or three minutes. Remove lid, place thermometer in pan and cook to 264 degrees, stirring occasionally. Pour hot candy into a shallow buttered pan or onto a buttered marble slab. As it starts to cool, pull edges toward middle. Work with a spatula until the candy is quite firm, then pull with buttered hands until it becomes golden colored. Roll in long strips and cut in 1-inch pieces. Wrap in waxed paper. Or roll Peanut Butter in ropes instead of balls; placed in center of a band of taffy and wrap taffy around peanut butter. Cut into 1-inch pieces and wrap. Makes about 30 pieces.

Peanut Butter Balls

Source: Ideals Candy Cookbook (1979)

An extremely simple recipe and a family favorite.
1/4 lb. margarine
1/2 lb. peanut butter
3/4 lb. confectioners’ sugar
1/4 c. light corn syrup
Dipping chocolate
Combine all ingredients except chocolate, mixing well. Roll into 3/4-inch balls and coat with dipping chocolate. Makes about 40 centers.

The following comes from one of my cookbooks titled: Cookery of the Prairie Homesteader by Louise K. Nickey. It includes the history, stories and foods of the Montana prairies and was published in 1976.
She talked about Taffy Pulls and gave a recipe for “Soft ‘A’” Taffy that called for “Soft A” sugar. She said, “‘Soft A’ sugar has the texture of a very good grade brown sugar, with finer grains, and was a very pale cream color. If the taffy was made correctly and pulled long enough, it would cream after standing overnight , and sometimes even in a much shorter time. Creamed taffy is easily crushed into a satiny powder between the fingers and dissolves smoothly in the mouth. Its texture is as soft as ice cream.
“On some special Friday afternoons in our prairie school, Mamma allowed the pupils to bring sugar and we had a taffy pull for a treat. Mamma cooked the candy in big kettles over coal-oil stoves.
Imagine the excitement and fun of 20 or 30 young people pulling taffy at one time. Everybody’s taffy turned out seemingly well, although I will admit that some had a grimy color. Of course, some ate too much and had very little to take home. At other times, following a program, the community members enjoyed making and pulling candy.”

Taffy - Now

If you followed directions carefully, you will have good taffy. If we could get “Soft A” sugar now, the taffy would almost be sure to cream. Since I am unable to get “Soft A” sugar, I mix 1 1/2 cups of white sugar with 1 cup well-packed light brown sugar, add 3/4 cups of hot water, 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, and 1 tablespoon of butter and cook to hard ball stage.
The increased amount of vinegar helps to prevent sugaring. This makes good taffy which sometimes creams. The flavor may be rather strong though because of the brown sugar, so get the best quality possible.
A few times, I have had the experience of having my taffy sugar. If it does sugar, recook, add 3/4 cup of water to dissolve it over low heat, add 3 tablespoons vinegar, but the taste combination of vinegar and brown sugar is good.
The quality of the vinegar is not always the same. In fact, I have found a few times that the vinegar did not work, and after changing to  another bottle of vinegar, I made excellent taffy.
If you are not particularly interested in your taffy creaming, and want to make doubly sure it won’t sugar, add another tablespoon or two of vinegar. Taffy may be made with all white sugar and 4 tablespoons vinegar. It is good, but it will not cream.
Taffy is fun to make, and also delicious to eat, so try it sometime! Print this post