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| The top five consumers of sugar confectionery are Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, Ireland and Sweden. |
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 | Confectionery |
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| The Sweet Stuff |
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| Whether you call it “candy”, “sweets” or “lollies”, confectionery has been a favourite treat for people from all over the world for centuries. |
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Cultures around the world celebrate with the sweet stuff and have done for thousands of years. It was probably a hungry caveman who first dug honey from a bee hive to enjoy a quick sugar fix. Recorded history shows that the Egyptians were making candied treats 3500 years ago and they were soon joined by the ancient Arabs and Chinese who prepared confections (“sweetmeats”) of fruit and nuts in honey.
Chocolate has an equally rich and long history. The first cocoa was grown by the Olmec Indians as far back as 1200 BC. The Spanish Explorers were the first Europeans to taste cocoa in the 16th century and by 1556, the English were selling it (although it took another 300 years for someone to figure out it would taste good in a hard chocolate bar). The Swiss got into the act by 1876, milk chocolate was first created three years later, and by the 20th century, chocolate had taken off in a big way.
Today, making chocolate is an art in itself. People who create chocolates are called chocolatiers and they create their confections using couverture chocolate, which usually contains a minimum of 32% cocoa butter which forms a much thinner shell than ordinary confectionery coating. It melts smoothly and is extremely glossy but needs tempering. Chocolate makers are those who physically create the couverture from cacao beans and other ingredients.
Other confectionery can be divided into two camps: soft and hard, depending on how long the sugar has been cooked for. Fondant sugar is cooked to the soft stage and is the basis of many fancy candies. Fudge is one such confection of sugar boiled to the soft ball stage with milk and is sometimes flavoured with chocolate. Toffee is also based on sugars cooked to the soft ball stage, then pulled to create an elastic texture.
Hard sweets are made when the sugar is cooked for longer periods of time. These include lollipops, Christmas candy canes, liquorice (which is extremely chewy and contains extract of liquorice root), kopiko (a coffee-flavoured branded sweet popular in Asia), and gelatin candies such as Turkish Delight and jelly beans.
Marshmallows, which traditionally used an extract from the root of the marshmallow plant instead of gelatin, are now made of sugar, egg whites, gelatin, gum arabic and flavourings whipped to a spongy consistency. Marzipan is an almond-based confection with a doughy consistency that is formed into shapes or flavoured with spirits and coated in chocolate or used to cover Christmas cakes.
Also under the “confectionery” umbrella but not strictly “candy” are pastries, ice cream, halvah (a sweet Middle Eastern confectionery based on tahini, a paste of ground sesame seeds), and dragée - or sugared almonds - which have a long history and are traditionally associated with special celebrations. Throwing or handing out dragée dates back centuries and is meant to ensure prosperity, fertility, happiness and good luck.
Baking and eating special pastries is a part of celebrations around the world. In Finland, they enjoy special star-shaped pastries filled with apricot or plum filling. In Austria, every Christmas market is overflowing with traditional little cakes called “kekse”, made with butter and flavoured with cinnamon, vanilla or jam, and shaped like stars, Christmas trees or crescents. In Greece, melomakarona are special spiced cookies soaked in a honey syrup. Gingerbread is another traditional treat in may countries at Christmas time and is used to make decorative houses and cookies.
It's no surprise that people have for centuries looked to sweet treats to help them celebrate their most auspicious occasions. For many, a little something sweet is a celebration in itself! |
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| Fair Deal |
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Chocolate may be a sweet treat for most of us, but for the children who pick the cocoa it can be bitter indeed. Most of our chocolate comes from the Ivory Coast region of West Africa, where cocoa production is an enormous part of the economy. In Ghana, 40% of the country's export revenues come from the sale of cocoa. Unfortunately, very little of the profit goes to the farmers who grow the cocoa beans.
In fact, making a living at cocoa farming has spawned an increase in child and even slave labour drawn from nearby countries. In 2001, the International Labour Organization and others reported child slavery on many cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast, the source of 43% of the world's cocoa. Children and other workers are forced to work long days picking and processing cocoa beans (it takes 400 pods to make just one pound of chocolate). Very few of the children have the opportunity to attend school.
When you buy “fair trade” chocolate you can be sure that no forced or abusive child labour was used in making it and that producers were guaranteed a fair price (one that covers the cost of production and guarantees a living income). A sweet deal indeed. |
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