My mother loved to make divinity during the holidays. As Hallie grew, she became a fine helper, lending her strong arm to the stirring process.
"So," Hallie reminisced, "I was describing divinity to Nick. You take sugar and add corn syrup, which means you mix sugar with sugar, and then you cook it. Then you beat the egg whites and while still beating you add the hot syrupy sugar to the stiff egg whites very slowly. It's disgusting when you think of it. It's just sugar and egg white!" So, now that she's thought that through, I guess we won't be making divinity any more. Still, egg white confections are difficult. When the divinity turned out right, we were proud of it.
Back in the day, Mother would fill the dining room table with her divinity batches – plain, nut, sea
foam, cherry. Then something happened. The mix wasn't coming out right and the little mounds just flattened right out into discs. It was Nina who figured it out. The folks had changed egg suppliers and the eggs were huge! "Look at the size of these eggs," she said; "those eggs are twice the size of the ones I buy at the grocery store. No wonder it's not working! It's too much egg white." Even so, Mother was reticent to experiment and possibly waste ingredients. Nina finally convinced her to try a small batch treating the white of one "jumbo egg" as if it were the whites of two eggs. That batch was a success and we were back in business.
We don't have photos of those divinity batches. It never occurred to us to take such pictures and if it had, Mother would have said no. Camera use was reserved for special occasions due to the expense of film and processing. But I've posted a couple of photos of the dining room at our Orofino house. Top: Joni with back to camera; Dorothy (my mother); Nina; Charles (or Chuck); Vance (my dad); and Kathy (me). I don't know the occasion or who took the photo -- early 1950s. Lower photo is of my dad lighting some homemade candles prior to Christmas Eve supper in 1956. Note that the dining room has received an update. KW
8 comments:
I remember that divinity! It was wonderful. Yum!
Chris, in cold, cold, (-3 as I type) Moscow where more snow is expected tonight and tomorrow. Merry Christmas!
Stay warm, Chris! Are you on vacation now? I'm anxious to hear how everyone is faring in this cold, snowy weather. I tried to post a "real time update" today but couldn't think of anything significant to say since we've mostly stayed close to home and our Christmas plans are unsettled. Mike did run over to CashTyme today to work for a while, and he said the traffic was horrible as people tried to negotiate the snowy streets in this cold. Or -- maybe he just told me that so that I wouldn't go shopping. Hmmmmmm...
Oh yes, Chris, and remember my dad's bourbon balls? KW
BURBON BALLS!!! Yes, I do remember them!!! Small bites. Yes, smaaall bites were best! :-)
Rats!! I forgot to answer your question. I *am* on vacation! And today all I've done is fall in a heap, but Dan says that is okay. I hope to rise up and get busy any time now...
Which is good, as there is much to do before Ann and family and Mom and Dad arrive.
Aaron loved that divinity when he was growing up. If we didn't watch him when he was small he would eat too much of it and the fudge and throw up on the way back up the hill to Harriet's! It happened more than once!
I remember Dorothy calling herself a "Doctor of Divinity".
Christmas goodies can be too much of a good thing all right. I was an adult before I figured out that I didn't have to overeat at holiday meals / treats. What a revelation! Of course, it didn't make me skinny. KW
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