CONFECTIONERY (from ML. confection arias, confectioner, from Lat. confectio, prepara tion, from canficere, to make up, from cam-, to gether + faccre, to make). Preparations of sugar, or of material of which sugar is the prin cipal ingredient, used as sweetmeats.
Where confectionery is pure its use may involve little danger to health. Unfortunately, a. certain proportion of the cheaper kinds are adulterated and colored with poisonous ingredients. The common adulterants used are terra alba, kaolin, and other mineral substances intended to give weight and Volume to the mass. Most organic colorino. materials are harmless, but mineral colors coloring never be used.
Until the beginning of the nineteenth century the art of making sweetmeats was practiced chiefly by physicians and apothecaries, who used sugar and honey to conceal the taste of their medicines. Medicated candies are still largely made by drug manufacturers. During the ear lier half of the nineteenth century the art of candy-making was largely an English specialty. In 1851 an international exhibition was held in London, and the unique collection of candies there exhibited attracted to this industry the attention of other nations, especially Germany and France. The latter soon excelled all other countries in the art of making chocolate bonbons, and still maintains its supremacy. In the United States, as early as 1816. there were twenty candy factories in the city of Philadelphia, and probably as ninny more in New York. Previous to 1845 each candy dealer made his own goods by hand, the assortment being limited to stick and molasses candy and sugar plume, and a few iin-• ported fancy candies. In 1845 the first Machin ery, in the form of a revolving steam-pan, was introduced by Sebastian Chauveau, of Phila delphia, and the following year a lozenge-making machine was invented by Oliver Chase, of Boston, and put into operation in his candy factory. Since
that time new forms of machinery have con stantly been added to such an extent that the manufacture of candy forms a separate and im portant industry.
The following table, taken from a chapter on the confectionery trade, by A. F. Hayward, in the work entitled One Hundred Years of American Commerce (New York, 1895). shows the growth of the confectionery industry in the United States as represented by the large factories. In addition, an enormous amount of candy is made every year by small establishments from which statistics are not obtainable.
day the convention of Alabama made the propo sition more specific by inviting the other South ern States to send delegates to a convention to be held at Montgomery, Ala., on February 4, in order that they might consult "as to the most effectual mode of securing concerted and har monious action in whatever measures may be deemed most desirable for the common peace and security." Similar action was taken by the con In 1884 the National Confectioners' Association of the United States was organized. It includes all the leading manufacturers of the country; and one of its purposes, as defined by its consti tution, is "to advance the standard of confection ery in all practicable ways and absolutely to prevent harmful adulterations." The association has secured the necessary legislation in the dif ferent States whereby the manufacture or sale of any candy containing harmful ingredients or poisonous colors is punishable by law.