Confectionery

Making sweet treats is a fun art.

You can bake cakes and cookies.

You can also make candy.

These treats use lots of sugar. Long ago, people used honey for sweets. In India, people made sugar crystals.

Some treats are made by bakers. These use flour to make pastries. Other treats are made of sugar. These include chocolate and gum. People all over the world love them.

Confectionery is the art of making sweet foods.

These treats are rich in sugar. People divide them into two main groups.

The first group is baker's confectionery. These are baked goods that use flour. This group includes cakes, cookies, and pastries.

Some pastries are plain. Others have sweet fillings like fruit or cream.

The second group is sugar confectionery. In the US, people call this candy. In the UK, they call it sweets.

This group includes things like chocolate, gum, and candied nuts.

Sweet treats have a very long history. Long ago, people used honey to coat fruit. Around 500 BCE, people in India made sugar crystals. These crystals were called khanda. This name is where we get the word candy. In the past, some sugar treats were even used as medicine. For example, people made small sticks of sugar to help with coughs. Today, confectioners make these treats in many ways. Some are made by hand. Others are made in big factories.

Confectionery is the wonderful art of making sweet foods.

These treats are usually very rich in sugar and carbohydrates. People often divide these tasty items into two main groups. The first group is called baker's confectionery, or flour confections. This includes baked goods like cakes, cookies, and sweet pastries.

The second group is sugar confectionery, which many call candy. This group includes things like chocolates, chewing gum, and candied nuts.

Some people even treat ice cream as its own special category.

Making these treats involves many different skills and steps. Baker's confections use flour as a main ingredient to create dough. This dough can be fried or baked to make doughnuts. Some pastries are plain, while others have sweet fruit fillings.

Sugar confectionery works a bit differently because it relies on sweeteners. Most treats use table sugar, which contains glucose and fructose. Some makers also use syrups made from starch, like corn syrup.

These ingredients help create everything from hard candies to soft fudges.

Sweet treats have a very long history in our world. Long ago, people in Egypt, Greece, and Rome used honey. They used honey to coat fruits and flowers to preserve them.

By about 500 BCE, people in India made sugar crystals. They called these crystals khanda, which is where the word candy comes from. Later, the Persians and Greeks learned about sugarcane from India. They helped spread the use of sugar to other parts of the world.

In the past, making sugar treats was often a medical job. Apothecaries, or people who prepared medicines, used sugar for healing. They made small, twisted sticks of pulled sugar to help with fevers.

In England, these were sometimes called penidia or pan sugar. By 1390, an Earl of Derby paid two shillings for two pounds of them. Eventually, making sweets became a separate trade called comfitmaking. Comfitmakers specialized in coating seeds and nuts in sugar.

Today, you can find confectionery in many different forms. Different countries even use different names for these treats. In the US, people say candy, but in the UK, they say sweets.

In Australia, children might call them lollies. You can find these treats made by hand or in big factories.

Whether it is a chocolate bar or a piece of gum, confectionery is a part of life everywhere.

Confectionery is the specialized art of creating sweet foods.

These items are characterized by being rich in sugar and carbohydrates. While exact definitions can be difficult, experts generally divide them into two broad categories. The first is baker's confectionery, often called flour confections. These are sweet baked goods like cakes and pastries.

The second is sugar confectionery, which is known as candy making in the United States. This group includes chocolates, chewing gum, and candied nuts.

Some people even treat chocolate or ice cream as separate, unique categories.

Baker's confectionery relies on flour as a primary ingredient. This category includes several distinct types of treats. Cakes may have a bread-like texture, such as the centuries-old stollen. Some cakes, like the Boston cream pie, are technically cakes despite their names.

Pastries are another large category defined by flour-based doughs. These doughs can be plain or filled with fruit, chocolate, or cream. Doughnuts are a common variety that can be either baked or fried. Cookies are small, sweet treats that originated as miniature cakes. Some cookies are crisp, while others remain soft and cake-like.

Sugar confectionery works through the use of various sweeteners. Most home cooks use table sugar, a disaccharide containing glucose and fructose. Through a process called hydrolysis, sucrose can become invert sugar. This substance is even sweeter and is a common commercial ingredient. Many large-scale manufacturers also use syrups made from starch. Corn syrup is a frequent example of these starch-based sweeteners.

These processes allow makers to create everything from hard candies to soft fudges.

The history of sweets stretches back to ancient times. Before sugar was widely available in the West, people used honey. Ancient civilizations in China, India, Egypt, Greece, and Rome used honey to coat fruits. This helped preserve the fruit or create sweetmeats.

By approximately 500 BCE, people in India developed technology to produce sugar crystals. They called these crystals khanda. This local name is actually the source of the English word "candy." Later, the Persians and Greeks learned about sugarcane from the Indian subcontinent. They helped spread sugarcane agriculture to other regions.

In early European history, making sugar treats was often a medical task. Apothecaries, or people who prepared medicines, were the primary producers. They learned about the medicinal uses of sugar from Arabs and Byzantine Greeks. One Middle Eastern remedy involved small, twisted sticks of pulled sugar. In England, these were called penidia or pan sugar. They were the ancestors of modern cough drops.

In 1390, the Earl of Derby paid two shillings for two pounds of these treats.

As sugar moved from medicine to snacks, new trades emerged. The comfitmaker, or confectioner, became a distinct professional. In the 16th century, a "cumfit" was a seed or nut enclosed in sugar. This was a core skill for early confectioners in England.

Later, Ottoman confections became very fashionable in European high society. "Turkish delight" is a famous example of these treats. In England, the first confectionery shop was opened by Elizabeth Raffald. This marked the growth of confectionery from a medical craft into a commercial industry.

Today, confectionery is a massive global industry with many names. Terminology varies significantly depending on where you live. In North America, people say candy or treats. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, people say sweets.

In Australia and New Zealand, the term lollies is common for boiled sweets. This industry is organized through complex international systems. The United Nations uses the ISIC scheme to classify chocolate and sugar confectionery.

These systems help track the manufacturing of everything from caramels to chewing gum.