Gibraltar rock (candy): Difference between revisions
m moved Gibraltar (candy) to Gibraltar rock (candy): Give preference to Hawthorne's usage |
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{{Short description|Type of candy}} |
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{{Infobox prepared food |
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| name = Gibraltar rock |
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| image = |
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| caption = |
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| alternate_name = Gibraltars |
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| country = [[United States]] |
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| region = [[Salem, Massachusetts]] |
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| creator = |
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| course = |
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| type = [[Confectionery]] |
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| served = |
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| main_ingredient = [[Sugar]], water, [[flavoring]] ([[vanilla]], [[peppermint]], [[clove]]s, or [[lemon]]) |
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| variations = |
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| calories = |
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| other = |
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}} |
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| ⚫ | An 1893 book about Salem<ref>{{cite book|title=Old Salem|author=Eleanor Putnam, ed. Arlo Bates|year=1893|publisher=Houghton Mifflin}}, [ |
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The Gibraltar was the first [[candy]] commercially sold in the [[United States]]. It is still being sold as of 2024.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://atlasobscura.com/foods/gibralters-candy|title=Gibralters Rock Candy|work=Atlas Obscura|access-date=21 October 2021}}</ref> |
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==History== |
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| ⚫ | According to a 1947 cookbook,<ref>{{cite book|title=Secrets of New England Cooking|author=Ella Shannon Bowles and Dorothy S. Towle|year=1947|publisher=Barrows}}, reprinted 2000 by Dover Publications, [ |
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The Salem Gibraltar was originated by the Spencer family of northern [[Salem, Massachusetts]] in 1806, after they relocated from England. A [[shipwreck]] left them destitute, so that their neighbors donated them supplies; they included a barrel of [[sugar]] since Mrs. Spencer was a [[confectioner]]. She first sold her [[lemon]] or [[peppermint]] flavored hard candy on the steps of the First Church herself, until they became so popular that she was able to purchase a horse and wagon to sell them to neighboring towns. |
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| ⚫ | According to a 1947 cookbook,<ref name="Bowles">{{cite book|title=Secrets of New England Cooking|url=https://archive.org/details/secretsofnewengl00bowl|url-access=registration|author=Ella Shannon Bowles and Dorothy S. Towle|year=1947|publisher=Barrows}}, reprinted 2000 by Dover Publications, [https://books.google.com/books?id=MJX3C0q1w74C&q=gibraltar p. 288]</ref> Salem native [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]] wrote in his notebook of their having {{cquote|been made by an Englishman named Spencer around 1822 and were sold by his mother, who drove a wagon from street to street. Their retail price was a silver penny apiece or four pence, half penny for seven.}} |
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A modern candy company<ref>[http://www.yeoldepeppercandy.com/pages/girbralters.html Gibralters][sic], Ye Olde Pepper Companie Ltd]</ref> offers "Gibralters"[sic, spelled with an -er] and lists sugar, water, cream of tartar, cornstarch, and oil of lemon as ingredients. They are cut into the shape of a rhombus about 1-1/2 inches on a side. |
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As hard candy remains stable indefinitely if kept dry, captains of commercial ships in turn could carry the candy to ports throughout the world for sale. |
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After Mrs. Spencer died, the business remained in family hands until the 1830s, when it was sold to [[John William Pepper]]. |
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==Recipe== |
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[[File:Ye Olde Pepper Companie.jpg|thumb|Ye Olde Pepper Companie, original shop, Salem]] |
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[[Ye Olde Pepper Companie]] continues to sell the candies, apparently using the original recipe as "Gibralters" [sic] and lists sugar, water, cream of tartar, cornstarch, and oil of lemon as ingredients. They are cut into the shape of a rhombus about 1½ inches on a side.<ref>[http://www.yeoldepeppercandy.com/pages/girbralters.html Gibralters] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090525104229/http://www.yeoldepeppercandy.com/pages/girbralters.html |date=2009-05-25 }}[sic], Ye Olde Pepper Companie Ltd.</ref> |
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==Literary footprint== |
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| ⚫ | An 1893 book about Salem<ref>{{cite book|title=Old Salem|url=https://archive.org/details/oldsalem00bategoog|author=Eleanor Putnam, ed. Arlo Bates|year=1893|publisher=Houghton Mifflin}}, [https://archive.org/details/oldsalem00bategoog p. 63]</ref> calls Gibraltars, together with molasses "black-jacks", "two Salem institutions" and says {{cquote|The Gibraltar... is a white and delicate candy, flavored with lemon or peppermint, soft as cream at one stage of its existence, but capable of hardening into a consistency so stony and so unutterably flinty-hearted that it is almost a libel upon the rock whose name it bears. The Gibraltar is the aristocrat of Salem confectionery. It gazes upon chocolate and sherbet and says:—"Before you were, I was. After you are not, I shall be."}} |
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She says the lemon flavor is preferred by youth, and the peppermint by the elderly, and quotes a "charming old Salem dame" as saying "I know I must be growing old, because a peppermint Gibraltar is so comforting to me." |
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| ⚫ | Gibraltar candies are mentioned in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel ''[[The House of the Seven Gables]]'', published in 1851. In the book, a character named Hepzibah Pyncheon operates a little "cent-shop" which contained "a glass pickle-jar, filled with fragments of Gibraltar rock; not, indeed, splinters of the veritable stone foundation of the famous fortress, but bits of delectable candy, neatly done up in white paper."<ref>{{cite book|title=The House of the Seven Gables|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99753|author=Nathaniel Hawthorne|year=1851}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JcVaAAAAMAAJ Chapter II, "The Little Shop-Window"]</ref> His story "The Old Apple-Dealer", collected in ''[[Mosses from an Old Manse]]'', similarly mentions "that delectable condiment, known by children as Gibraltar rock." |
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==See also== |
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==References== |
==References== |
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<references/> |
<references/> |
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==External links== |
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* [https://www.oldepeppercandy.com/ Ye Olde Pepper Candy Companie, America's Oldest Candy Company] |
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090126050835/http://yeoldepeppercandy.com/pages/history.html Company History Page] |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibraltar Rock (Candy)}} |
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[[Category:Salem, Massachusetts]] |
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[[Category:Brand name confectionery]] |
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Latest revision as of 18:11, 17 November 2024
| Alternative names | Gibraltars |
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| Type | Confectionery |
| Place of origin | United States |
| Region or state | Salem, Massachusetts |
| Main ingredients | Sugar, water, flavoring (vanilla, peppermint, cloves, or lemon) |
Gibraltar rock, Gibraltars, or Salem Gibralter is an old-fashioned candy associated with Salem, Massachusetts in the United States.
The Gibraltar was the first candy commercially sold in the United States. It is still being sold as of 2024.[1]
History
[edit]The Salem Gibraltar was originated by the Spencer family of northern Salem, Massachusetts in 1806, after they relocated from England. A shipwreck left them destitute, so that their neighbors donated them supplies; they included a barrel of sugar since Mrs. Spencer was a confectioner. She first sold her lemon or peppermint flavored hard candy on the steps of the First Church herself, until they became so popular that she was able to purchase a horse and wagon to sell them to neighboring towns.
According to a 1947 cookbook,[2] Salem native Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote in his notebook of their having
been made by an Englishman named Spencer around 1822 and were sold by his mother, who drove a wagon from street to street. Their retail price was a silver penny apiece or four pence, half penny for seven.
As hard candy remains stable indefinitely if kept dry, captains of commercial ships in turn could carry the candy to ports throughout the world for sale.
After Mrs. Spencer died, the business remained in family hands until the 1830s, when it was sold to John William Pepper.
Recipe
[edit]
Ye Olde Pepper Companie continues to sell the candies, apparently using the original recipe as "Gibralters" [sic] and lists sugar, water, cream of tartar, cornstarch, and oil of lemon as ingredients. They are cut into the shape of a rhombus about 1½ inches on a side.[3]
A 1947 cookbook[2] gives a recipe using sugar, water, vinegar, and either vanilla, peppermint or cloves for flavoring; it is boiled until hard then pulled like taffy, and becomes "soft and creamy" in several days.
Literary footprint
[edit]An 1893 book about Salem[4] calls Gibraltars, together with molasses "black-jacks", "two Salem institutions" and says
The Gibraltar... is a white and delicate candy, flavored with lemon or peppermint, soft as cream at one stage of its existence, but capable of hardening into a consistency so stony and so unutterably flinty-hearted that it is almost a libel upon the rock whose name it bears. The Gibraltar is the aristocrat of Salem confectionery. It gazes upon chocolate and sherbet and says:—"Before you were, I was. After you are not, I shall be."
She says the lemon flavor is preferred by youth, and the peppermint by the elderly, and quotes a "charming old Salem dame" as saying "I know I must be growing old, because a peppermint Gibraltar is so comforting to me."
Gibraltar candies are mentioned in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The House of the Seven Gables, published in 1851. In the book, a character named Hepzibah Pyncheon operates a little "cent-shop" which contained "a glass pickle-jar, filled with fragments of Gibraltar rock; not, indeed, splinters of the veritable stone foundation of the famous fortress, but bits of delectable candy, neatly done up in white paper."[5] His story "The Old Apple-Dealer", collected in Mosses from an Old Manse, similarly mentions "that delectable condiment, known by children as Gibraltar rock."
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Gibralters Rock Candy". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
- ^ a b Ella Shannon Bowles and Dorothy S. Towle (1947). Secrets of New England Cooking. Barrows., reprinted 2000 by Dover Publications, p. 288
- ^ Gibralters Archived 2009-05-25 at the Wayback Machine[sic], Ye Olde Pepper Companie Ltd.
- ^ Eleanor Putnam, ed. Arlo Bates (1893). Old Salem. Houghton Mifflin., p. 63
- ^ Nathaniel Hawthorne (1851). The House of the Seven Gables., Chapter II, "The Little Shop-Window"