CONFECTIONERY (Lat. conficere, ato put together? "compound? apreparei), a gen eral term for any preparation with sugar as a base, used as a sweetmeat and containing nuts, fruits or other flavoring. In the United States confectionery is conunonly called (candy? a name which suggests etymologically conserved fruits or seeds; in England l'boiled sweets* is the usual term, derived from the commonest method of preparation. Historically the earli est use of confectionery was to disguise the taste of unpleasant medicines, a method dat ing back to the primitive smearing with honey the rim of a cup holding a bitter draught, a practice common with Greek and Roman doc tors. The medicinal use was long the com monest, fruit conserves being the first excep tion. In Italy, even in the Middle Ages, coo fetti were used in the mock battles of the car nival maskers. The true development of the manufacture of confectionery began in the 19th century, and in England, where the trade spread after the great exhibition of English dealers at the Exposition of 1851, to Germany and France. The latter country took the lead
in the manufacture of elaborate bonbons and confitures and was especially superior in its chocolate candies. But the greatest growth of the business and especially the greatest in crease in the variety of confections has been in the United States. The custom of malting °confectionery)) without the use of sugar was common in Mexico at the time of the Con quest. Different kinds of fruits were dried, mixed and compounded so as to make sweet meats. The Indians soon learned the value of sugar in sweetening and preservation of these compounds; and *confectionery° in the mod em sense was used in Mexico and Central America before it appeared in Europe where it was probably brought through the medium of Spain.