Image source: http://sweetschocolates.com/everyday/imgs/english_toffee.jpg
Foreigners, being polite, do give the English credit for it wonderful tea making. After after all it only takes some hot water, milk, tea bag and sugar to creat a nice cuppa! The English desire for fish and chips is also well documented! By the way, the alternative spelling for toffee is toffy, although the latter is mostly used their is no reason why the former can not be used.
Who do we we have to thank for the toffy apple and other great add ons such as sticky toffee pudding recipe and the sensous almond toffee recipe? Well if ever you have been to an English fair, it is probably here that as a child your parents purchased your first ever delicious red toffee apple!. Enter the Gypsy.
The travelling Gypsy have by tradition lived apart from the mainstream of society, some may even say, excluded from it. Despite this, their colourful Romany language has had more than a little impact on English as it is spoken.
When you have shouted Oi, Mush (boy) or call someone your pal (brother), a chav (lad), a nark (a nose) or a spiv (pusher), or perhaps, a sparrow), which happens to be my nickname, you are using vocabularly that have arrived with the Gypsies, who have roots going back to Eastern Europe and India.
Ever heard the word stir? Well once again it is there word for prison for hitting someone with a cosh (bit of wood) or a shiv (sharp knife), or if its kushti (good) (well used by del boy in only fools and horses), to invite someone back to your gaff (lit. village), and the lovely term wonga, which is used to borrow money (money, lit. glowing coal). Finally where does toffee apple come into all this jargon? i.e. to buy a lollipop. Well lollipop literally means 'red apple' (loli phaba) in Romany and originally meant the bright red toffee apples sold by Gypsies in fair grounds with guaranteed overnight delivery.
So there you have it, thank you gypsies for the great memory of my first toffe apple, that lovely unbeatable scrumpous feeling as the lovely toffee hits the tast buds. The feel on the teeth as the edge of the toffee finally curls itself around the back of the throat, and the lovely feeling of the apple juice mixing with the toffy as the excitment of the fairground is heard in the distance.
Foy you foreigners who dare to call our invention candy lolly here is our secret recipe for a great toffee apple.
1. Place the sugar in a large saucepan together add 150ml/5fl.oz. Water and heat up, stirring until the sugar has melted. (metric and imperial weights)
2. You then add the remaining treacle toffee (toffy) ingredients (yum) and bring to the boil. Continue to keep boiling until the temperature reaches 132C, 270F. This stage is called "soft crack". Then a little of the mixture when dropped into cold water will separate into a solid, but pliable ball, for you to observe.
Please note:. At this stage the mixture can be turned into a greased shallow square tin and left to set to make Treacle Toffee. Make sure you allow this to cool for 5 minutes. You can then mark into squares with an oiled knife and leave to set.
3. Skewer the apples onto long sturdy wooden skewers, these are readily available from supermarkets.You then dip each apple into the toffee mixture, make sure you coat evenly all the way around the lovely scrumptous apple. Do not give into temptation here!!! Although its nice to be naughty sometimes!
4. Place on waxed, lightly oiled or parchment paper and leave to set. It is advisable to eat withing a day, before the toffee goes off.
The Treacle Toffee recipe is good to make at Christmas or Easter as gifts, I promise no one will forget such a gift especially first timers!. You can wrap them up in a waxed paper and put into pretty boxes tied with lovely ribbon.
The same toffee can be used for a sticky toffee pudding recipe and you can even add almonds to create a sensous almond toffee recipe flavour. But thats another story!
