Candy cane recipe for the ages

Candy cane-making has more local fans than I realized. Last week I did a story in the Food section about Richard Port's candy cane-making class.

After the story ran, I received an email from Eileen Moss of Fruit Heights telling me about her family's candy cane tradition that has been handed down since the 1800s. There's quite a lot of history behind it.

"My grandfather's grandfather made candy canes in England in the 1800s and the technique has been passed down through my family with only a few minor changes," said Freeman.

"My grandfather, Ernest Freeman of Brigham City, and his family brought the family recipe for candy with them from England when they immigrated to the United States in 1902. His father was George Richard Freeman, born in Olney, Buckinghamshire, England."

Moss's family pulls the candy out on a meat hook welded to a piece of stainless steel.

She added, "While it takes a minimum of four of us working together, in about one hour we can turn out 40 candy canes that look almost as nice as any store bought cane you can find and the taste can't be beat!"

She even emailed me a photo of the finished product.

Her grandfather's brother, Wilford Freeman, recorded the historic candy cane-making process in the family history.

Here's an excerpt that shows his "cold water" test for doneness, before the days of candy thermometers:

"Sometimes in the evenings, Father would make home-made sweets (candy). He made very good candy. His father (Richard Freeman) had shown him how and had given him the family recipe. After putting the ingredients in a pot, he boiled the mixture until it had about the right color, and then he tested it to find out when it was done.

"He buttered a clean iron rod and put the tip about an inch into the boiling syrup, dipped it in cold water and then pulled the thin layer of candy off the rod. If it was brittle when he chewed it, the candy was done. Then Father poured the boiling liquid onto a large piece of smooth slate rock, the surface of which had been covered with butter so that the candy would not stick to it. Square bars of iron were sometimes set near each edge so that the liquid would not run off. Mother scraped the candy out when it stopped flowing freely from the pot."

A few drops of oil of anise or oil of peppermint or just a lump of butter was used to flavor the candy.

Today, the family uses the old recipe with a few minor changes, the biggest being the addition of corn syrup to keep the candy from "sugaring out," Moss said.