VIDEO: Sweet smell of success, but what the Dickens is going on?
ALWAYS feeling a lot younger than my actual years, this week I even got the chance to feel like a kiddie in a sweet shop again, writes Sarah Holmes.
I was in sweetie heaven at Leighton’s quaint confectioners CocoaBerry in Hockliffe Street on Tuesday when I paid them a visit to make some Victorian delights.
CocoaBerry is currently running a competition to celebrate Charles Dickens’ 200th birthday. Customers need to identify all the Dickens’ stories in the window to be in with a chance of winning a hamper and a donation to the charity of their choice.
As part of the promotion shop owner Emma Somogyi is selling Victorian sweets made from traditional recipes which she is making herself.
Full of ‘old curiosity’ I could not resist finding out what the Dickens was going on!
The Dickens idea was born after Emma found a Victorian book called The Art of Sweet Making by Beatrice Manders in a second hand book shop in Somerset last summer.
Some of the ingredients she doubted were around today, but simple things to make barley sugar and toffee were easily available.
Her two types of barley sugar went well and she even attracted a barley sugar connoisseur who gave her the thumbs up. Sales of her toffee have been good so it was my turn to try my hand at creating the sticky treat and I had ‘great expectations’!
Behind the scenes at the sweetie-hugged walls of Cocoaberry is a small room where Emma creates her mouthwatering masterpieces.
Already weighed out was half-a-pound of sugar, two ounces of golden syrup, squeeze of lemon, splash of water and two ounces of butter all put in a saucepan.
The cooking began and the sweet smell of success loomed as the liquid reached 150 degrees centigrade measured by a special confectionary thermometer.
Emma explained that I could do it the ‘Victorian’ way and test whether it would set by plunging a tiny piece of the mixture into cold water. We opted for the old fashioned way and, yes, our toffee was ready.
The mixture was poured into a well oiled tray and we left it to set in favour of a tour of the shop.
I had taken our video reporter Natalee Hazelwood along as we share a similar outlook on life and I thought she would also enjoy being a ‘kiddie’ again. Instincts were correct and we gazed admiringly at more than 100 varieties of sweets, not to mention home-made chocolates.
Oh – what to choose? Well I went for a quarter of chocolate limes, or in today’s measures 100g, while Natalee chose a 100g mixture of apple, banana and rhubarb and custards.
Back to the toffee and it was ready for tasting. Using a Victorian toffee hammer I cracked the toffee and Natalee dived in. Verdict? It was delicious.
We parcelled it up for our colleagues back at the newsroom as Emma explained that she could not sell my efforts for health and safety reasons.
There were no complaints from sweetie-loving reporters and indeed we all thank Cocoaberry for the treat.
Emma will also be making chocolate kisses, also featured in the book, in time for Valentine’s Day.
One song just keeps springing to mind . . . . ‘Your kiss is sweet, as sweet as candy’ . . . . Syreeta 1975. Oops! An age-reality check!
It is not too late to enter the competition at CocoaBerry. The final day is Dickens’ birthday on February 7.
>>If you would like to see Sarah making the toffee there is a video on our website www.leightonbuzzardtoday.co.uk click on the link http://webadmin.jpress.co.uk/brightcovepreview/previewbrightcovevideo.aspx?RefID=1327926591579
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Weather for Leighton Buzzard
Monday 21 May 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 8 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 10 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: North
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Angela Feaviour
Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 06:24 PMGreat piece,good video. I love Cocoa Berry, they sell Fairtrade chocolate, as well as amazing sweets.
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