Confectionery
Confectionery is the art of making confections, or sweet foods. Confections are items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates, although exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confections are divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories: baker's confections and sugar confections.
Baker's confectionery, also called flour confections, includes principally sweet pastries, cakes, and similar baked goods. Baker's confectionery excludes everyday breads, and thus is a subset of products produced by a baker.
Sugar confectionery includes candies, candied nuts, chocolates, chewing gum, bubble gum, pastillage, and other confections that are made primarily of sugar. In some cases, chocolate confections are treated as a separate category, as are sugar-free versions of sugar confections. The words candy, sweets, and lollies are common words for some of the most popular varieties of sugar confectionery.
The occupation of confectioner encompasses the categories of cooking performed by both the French patissier and the confiseur. The confectionery industry also includes specialized training schools and extensive historical records. Traditional confectionery goes back to ancient times and continued to be eaten through the Middle Ages and into the modern era.
Etymology
The oldest recorded use of the word confectionery discovered so far by the Oxford English Dictionary is by Richard Jonas in 1540, who spelled or misspelled it as "confection nere" in a passage "Ambre, muske, frankencense, and confection nere", thus in the sense of "things made or sold by a confectioner".Also according to the OED, the sense of "the art and business of a confectioner" is first recorded in 1743, and the earliest use in the sense of a "confectioner's shop" dates to 1803.
History
Before sugar was readily available in the ancient western world, confectionery was based on honey. Honey was used in Ancient China, Ancient India, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome to coat fruits and flowers to preserve them or to create sweetmeats. Between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, the Persians, followed by the Greeks, made contact with the Indian subcontinent and its "reeds that produce honey without bees". They adopted and then spread sugar and sugarcane agriculture. Sugarcane is indigenous to tropical Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.In the early history of sugar usage in Europe, it was initially the apothecary who had the most important role in the production of sugar-based preparations. Medieval European physicians learned the medicinal uses of the material from the Arabs and Byzantine Greeks. One Middle Eastern remedy for rheums and fevers were little, twisted sticks of [|pulled sugar] called in Arabic or . These became known in England as alphenics, or more commonly as penidia, penids, pennet or pan sugar. They were the precursors of barley sugar and modern cough drops. In 1390, the Earl of Derby paid "two shillings for two pounds of penydes."
As the non-medicinal applications of sugar developed, the comfitmaker, or confectioner gradually came into being as a separate trade. In the late medieval period the words confyt, comfect or cumfitt were generic terms for all kinds of sweetmeats made from fruits, roots, or flowers preserved with sugar. By the 16th century, a cumfit was more specifically a seed, nut or small piece of spice enclosed in a round or ovoid mass of sugar. The production of comfits was a core skill of the early confectioner, who was known more commonly in 16th and 17th century England as a comfitmaker. Reflecting their original medicinal purpose, however, comfits were also produced by apothecaries and directions on how to make them appear in dispensatories as well as cookery texts. An early medieval Latin name for an apothecary was confectionarius, and it was in this sort of sugar work that the activities of the two trades overlapped and that the word "confectionery" originated.
In the cuisine of the Late Ottoman Empire diverse cosmopolitan cultural influences were reflected in published recipes such as European-style molded jellies flavored with cordials. In Europe, Ottoman confections became very fashionable among European and British high society. An important study of Ottoman confectionery called Conditorei des Orients was published by the royal confectioner Friedrich Unger in 1838.
The first confectionery in Manchester, England was opened by Elizabeth Raffald who had worked six years in domestic service as a housekeeper.
Sweetening agents
Confections are defined by the presence of sweeteners. These are usually sugars, but it is possible to buy sugar-free candies, such as sugar-free peppermints. The most common sweetener for home cooking is table sugar, which is chemically a disaccharide containing both glucose and fructose. Hydrolysis of sucrose gives a mixture called invert sugar, which is sweeter and is also a common commercial ingredient. Finally, confections, especially commercial ones, are sweetened by a variety of syrups obtained by hydrolysis of starch. These sweeteners include all types of corn syrup.Baker's confectionery
Baker's confectionery includes sweet baked goods, especially those that are served for the dessert course. Baker's confections are sweet foods that feature flour as a main ingredient and are baked. Major categories include cakes, sweet pastries, doughnuts, scones, and cookies. In the Middle East and Asia, flour-based confections predominate.The definition of which foods are "confectionery" vs "bread" can vary based on cultures and laws. In Ireland, the definition of "bread" as a "staple food" for tax purposes requires that the sugar or fat content be no more than 2% of the weight of the flour, so some products sold as bread in the US would be treated as confectionery there.
Types
s have a somewhat bread-like texture, and many earlier cakes, such as the centuries-old stollen, or the even older king cake, were rich yeast breads. The variety of styles and presentations extends from simple to elaborate. Major categories include butter cakes, tortes, and foam cakes. Confusingly, some confections that have the word cake in their names, such as cheesecake, are not technically cakes, while others, such as Boston cream pie are cakes despite seeming to be named something else.Pastry is a large and diverse category of baked goods, united by the flour-based doughs used as the base for the product. These doughs are not always sweet, and the sweetness may come from the sugar, fruit, chocolate, cream, or other fillings that are added to the finished confection. Pastries can be elaborately decorated, or they can be plain dough.
Doughnuts may be fried or baked.
Scones and related sweet quick breads, such as bannock, are similar to baking powder biscuits and, in sweeter, less traditional interpretations, can seem like a cupcake.
Cookies are small, sweet baked treats. They originated as small cakes, and some traditional cookies have a soft, cake-like texture. Others are crisp or hard.
Sugar confectionery
Sugar confections include sweet, sugar-based foods, which are usually eaten as snack food. This includes sugar candies, chocolates, candied fruits and nuts, chewing gum, and sometimes ice cream. In some cases, chocolate confections are treated as a separate category, as are sugar-free versions of sugar confections.Different dialects of English use regional terms for sugar confections:
- In Britain, Ireland, and some Commonwealth countries, sweets. Candy is used specifically for rock candy and occasionally for boiled sweets. Lollies are boiled sweets fixed on sticks.
- In Australia and New Zealand, lollies. Chewy and Chuddy are Australian slang for chewing gum.
- In North America, candy, although this term generally refers to a specific range of confectionery and does not include some items of sugar confectionery. Sweet is occasionally used, as well as treat.
| American English | British English | |
| confectionery | confectionery | |
| rock candy, rock sugar | sugar candy, candy, rock, rock sweet | |
| hard candy | boiled sweet, candy | |
| candied fruit, glazed fruit | candied fruit | |
| cotton candy, ''fairy floss | candy floss | |
| candy, treat , sweet | sweet | |
| dessert | pudding, sweet, dessert | |
| pudding | custard, blancmange, jelly | |
| chocolate candy bar, chocolate bar | chocolate bar, bar of chocolate | |
| candy bar | chocolate bar | |
| box of chocolates | chocolates, box of chocolates'' |
Classification
The United Nations' International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities scheme classifies both chocolate and sugar confectionery as ISIC 1073, which includes the manufacture of chocolate and chocolate confectionery; sugar confectionery proper, chewing gum, preserving fruit, nuts, fruit peels, and making confectionery lozenges and pastilles. In the European Union, the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community scheme matches the UN classification, under code number 10.82.In the United States, the North American Industry Classification System splits sugar confectionery across three categories: National industry code 311340 for all non-chocolate confectionery manufacturing, 311351 for chocolate and confectionery manufacturing from cacao beans, and national industry 311352 for confectionery manufacturing from purchased chocolate.
Ice cream and sorbet are classified with dairy products under ISIC 1050, NACE 10.52, and NAICS 311520. The classification of ice cream has varied widely; for example, in 1930, it was classified as a form of flour confectionery.