Sugar Plums - The History of Their Dance

What is a Sugar Plum? -Why is it Dancing in my Head?

I dont know a single person who isnt familiar with Clement Moores poem A Visit from Saint Nicholas or, as I know it Twas the Night Before Christmas. Stories will say it was written on an actual snowy night before Christmas, while traveling through Greenwich Village by sleigh.
These days, the poem is more likely to prompt a question than a vision: what exactly is a sugarplum and, almost more importantly, why was it doing so much dancing back in the early 19th century?

This story has left lasting memories of Santa Claus, with his white beard, nose like a cherry and round belly that shook like a bowl full of jelly. As the story goes, the children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads. Im not sure about you, but I have no idea what a sugar plum is or why it would be dancing in my head.

Candytoday is greatly different than it was in 1823. The immensely popular sugar plum seems to be missing from the candy shelves. A sugar plum is a piece of drage or hard candy made of hardened sugar in a small oval or round shape. The use of the term plum in the name does not mean plum in the sense of the fruit we know and love. Instead, it refers to the small size and spherical shape. The traditional sugar plum actually contained no fruit at all. These hardened sugar balls were comfits and often surrounded a seed, nut or spice.

In the 17th century, the term sugar plum became common. At that time, adding the layers of sweet which gave these comfits their hard exterior, was through a slow process called panning.This process-called panninghad to be repeated for hours or days on end, until up to 30 layers of sugar had been added to the mix. Because of the labor-intensive work, it became mainly a luxury item. By the 1860's however, they were using steam heat and rotating pans, and it became more available for mass consumption.

According to candy historians and theOxford English Dictionary, a sugar plum is a comfitthat is, a seed, nut, or scrap of spice coated with a layer of hard sugar, like the crunchy outer case of an M&M. In the 17th century, popular innards for comfits included caraway, fennel, coriander, cardamom seeds, almonds, walnuts, ginger, cinnamon, and anise seed. Tiny comfitshundreds and thousands, shot comfits, or "nonpareilswere made by sugar-coating minuscule celery seeds; long comfits were sugar-coated strips of cinnamon bark or citrus peel.

Another 21st-century take on the "sugar plum" instructs home cooks to combine dried fruits and almonds with honey and aromatic seeds (anise, fennel, caraway, cardamom), form this mixture into balls, then coat in sugar or shredded coconut. I found these two varying recipes while researching this topic.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400. Arrange almonds on a baking sheet in a single layer and toast in oven for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool, then finely chop.
2. Meanwhile, combine honey, orange zest, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg in a medium mixing bowl. Add almonds, apricots, and dates and mix well.
3. Pinch off rounded teaspoon-size pieces of the mixture and roll into balls. (Rinse your hands often, as mixture is very sticky.) Roll balls in sugar, then refrigerate in single layers between sheets of waxed paper in airtight containers for up to 1 month. Their flavor improves after ripening for several days.

Instructions

1. Place the chopped dates, prunes, cranberries, hazelnuts, and walnuts in the food processor. Pulse the mixture a few times.
2. Add the cherry preserves, cinnamon, and cloves, and pulse several more times until the mixture begins to come together. It should hold itself in a ball when you squeeze it between your fingers. You want to retain some of the coarse texture. Do not overprocess it into a sticky paste.
3. Roll the candy into small 1-inch balls. Then roll the balls in the granulated sugar until they are fully covered with the sugar.
4. Store the finished sugarplums in an airtight container between layers of waxed paper until you are ready to serve them. Sugarplums can be kept, refrigerated, for up to one month.

Instructions

1. Put the almonds, prunes, apricots, and figs into the bowl of a food processor and pulse 20 to 25 times or until the fruit and nuts are chopped into small pieces, but before the mixture becomes a ball
2. Combine the powdered sugar, and one tablespoon each of the anise seeds, fennel seeds, caraway seeds, and the powdered cardamom with the salt; blend in a blender, in a Thermomix (see note below), in a food processor, nut grinder or coffee grinder to as fine a powder as possible: this will flavor the fruit with a lovely fragrant Eastern essence
3. Add the powdered mixture to the fruit and nut mixture and combine well working to do so with clean hands
4. Place the remaining seeds into a small bowl
5. Place the crystal sugar into a small bowl
6. Roll the Sugar Plums into a ball, inserting a seed or two into each ball; roll in the crystal sugar and set on a parchment covered cookie sheet to dry a bit
7. Store in a tightly sealed container and enjoy the visions of Sugar Plums that will definitely come to you as you make these: the possibilities are endless!

**Instructions for the Thermomix:

1. Scale the powdered sugar into the TM bowl and set at 1 minute, speed 5-6 and add one tablespoon each of the anise seeds, fennel seeds, caraway seeds, and the powdered cardamom with the salt through the whole in the lid until all is blended into fine a powder: this will flavor the fruit with a lovely fragrant Eastern essence (remove from the bowl)
2. Scale the almonds, prunes, apricots, and figs into the TM bowl without washing it; using Turbo, pulse 3 times for 1 second each, or until the fruit and nuts are chopped into small pieces, but before the mixture becomes a ball
3. Pour mixture into a large bowl; sprinkle the powdered mixture over the fruit and nut mixture and combine well working to do so with clean hands
4. Place the remaining seeds into a small bowl
5. Place the crystal sugar into a small bowl
6. Roll the Sugar Plums into a ball, inserting a seed or two into each ball; roll in the crystal sugar and set on a parchment covered cookie sheet to dry a bit
7. Store in a tightly sealed container and enjoy the visions of Sugar Plums that will definitely come to you as you make these: the possibilities are endless!

More than a century after its glory, the word sugar plum is old-fashioned and not a sign of them can be found on a single candy store shelf. That will not stop me from remembering the joy of the Christmas season with visions of sugar plums dancing in my head.