and pectins. Candying can be a tedious
process because it takes time for sugar to
diffuse from the syrup evenly into the fruit.
Typically the fruit is gently cooked to soften
it and make its tissues more permeable, then
soaked for several days at room temperature
in a syrup that starts out at 15–20% sugar, and
is made more concentrated each day until it
reaches 70–74%.
Canning
Canning was a cause for wonder when it was
invented by Nicolas Appert around 1810:
contemporaries said that it preserved fruits
and vegetables almost as if fresh! True, it
preserves them without the desiccated texture
of drying, the salt and sourness of
fermentation, or the sweetness of sugar
preserves; but there’s no mistaking that
canned foods have been cooked. Canning is
essentially the heating of food that has been