The Farmer Family Cookbook

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I originally got this recipe from Evelyn Cameron, life long friend since Blackfoot. When I first tasted hers, I ate three pieces one right after another. Evelyn noticing this, said, "Would you like the recipe?" to which I readily agreed. Jennifer Crites: I remember well how Gary would make divinity Sundays evenings, and boy was he a master at it!

Ingredients

• 30.0625 cups sugar
• .6670.0138958333333 cup white Karo syrup
• .6670.0138958333333 cup hot water
• 30.0625 egg whites
• 20.0416666666667 tsp vanilla

Steps

1. Using a medium sized kettle, put into the kettle the sugar, Karo syrup and hot water and cook to the hard ball stage which is 252F in the Blackfoot area. (See instructions below on how to get the correct temperature. It will be different for your area.) During the cooking time, it is only necessary to stir until the sugar is dissolved and then do not stir. Add a lid for a minute or two to melt down the sugar particles which are clinging to the sides of the kettle. Meanwhile beat the egg whites until stiff and add the vanilla. When the syrup has cooked to the desired temperature, pour it slowly over the stiffly beaten egg whites beating rapidly with an electric beater, until it will hold peaks. When the candy will hold peaks, chopped nuts and/or maraschino cherries can be added, then drop by spoonfuls unto a buttered surface, and let cool. ENJOY!
2. It is an easy recipe, but the cooking time has to be perfect or it will not turn out well. The recipe calls for the candy to be cooked to the hard ball stage which on the candy thermometer is 260F, but this temperature has to be adjusted according to the altitude of where you are living. You do this by inserting a candy thermometer into a kettle of boiling water and reading the temperature at which water boils, which is 204 for Blackfoot. So subtracting 204 from 212 equals 8. Then substracting 8 from the hard ball reading on the thermometer, the temperature for Blackfoot is 252 and this is the temperature that the candy should be cooked to.