Ginger Candy

Instructions

1. Break a pound of highly-refined sugar into lumps, put it into a preserving-pan, and pour over it about the third of a pint of spring water.
2. Let it stand until the sugar is nearly dissolved, then set it over a perfectly clear fire and boil it until it becomes a thin syrup.
3. Have ready in a large cup a teaspoonful of the very best ginger in powder; mix it smoothly and gradually with two or three spoonsful of the syrup, and then stir it well into the whole.
4. Watch the mixture carefully, keep it stirred, and drop it often from a spoon to ascertain the exact point of boiling it has reached.
5. When it begins to fall in flakes, throw in the freshly-grated rind of a very large lemon, or of two small ones, and work the sugar round quickly as it is added.
6. The candy must now be stirred constantly until it is done: this will be when it falls in a mass from the spoon, and does not sink when placed in a small heap on a dish.
7. Pour it, or lade it out, as expeditiously as possible when ready, or it will fall quite into powder. If this should happen, add a little water and reboil it to the proper point.
8. If dropped in cakes upon sheets of very dry foolscap or other thick writing-paper laid upon cold dishes, the candy may be moved off without difficulty while it is still just warm; but it must not be touched while quite hot, or it will break.
9. Proportions: sugar, highly refined, 1 lb.; water, 1/3 of a pint; ginger, 1 teaspoonful; rind of 1 large lemon.