By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
When Keith Guion’s family gathers at his mother’s house for the Thanksgiving dinner, the big meal will be a respite from the sweet toil that occupies them the rest of this week.
Cassie Greenlee demonstrates chocolate dipping.
More than a dozen members of the Guion family are continuing a candy making tradition that goes back four generations. The Guion family will be busy this week making up to 300 pounds of fudge, caramels, creams and toffees. Those will be packed in half-pound and pound boxes and shared with friends.
It’s a tradition that dates back to the Depression in Indiana when Guion’s grandmother and a friend decided they wanted to learn to make dipped chocolates, said Cassie Greenlee, Guion’s daughter. But the chocolates came out gray and streaky instead of smooth and glossy. So she approached a local candy maker to ask advice. Greenlee’s great-grandmother ended up getting a job as a window dipper, Greenlee said. She dipped chocolate in the shop’s window to lure people into the shop for a closer look.
Butter melts on warm chocolate.
And because the family needed money, she and her husband started making chocolate, 300 pounds of it, and sold it door to door, accompanied by their son, Guion’s father.
With the Depression passed, Greenlee said her great-grandmother said she’d had enough of the peddling. “I never want to sell this again. I just want make it and give it away as gifts to friends.”
That spirit of giving has continued for almost 90 years.
Guion’s grandfather taught his wife the candy making craft, and they passed it along to their five children, including Keith.
Keith Gion pours out chocolate.
The Guions still love making candy, and still love sharing them. They’ll even teach others the craft.
Earlier this month Guion and Greenlee presented a workshop on candy making at the Wood County Library.
They set up shop the historic Carter House with Guion getting an early start making the fudge by boiling cocoa, sugar, corn syrup, and milk to bring it to 238 degrees.
Then he poured it onto a marble slap with a frame around it. Let it cool, but not too much, before using a putty knife he worked in butter then vanilla extract, and the secret ingredient, Sucrovert.
He admitted that at this phase of the process, he always wonders: “Is this going to be an absolute disaster? I never now until it’s done.”
He works it until the fudge is the right consistency until it can be rolled into strips and cut into bite-bite-size pieces that will be rolled further and dipped.
During the family week of chocolate making this is when the grandkids get called into action to do the rolling and cutting.
Greenlee said her aunt, though, is always on hand for quality control to make sure the pieces are the right size.
The kids, Greenlee said, are usually excited and careful at first, but can start slacking as they get bored.
Creating 300 pounds of candy takes a lot of labor.
They once, just once, employed a midnight shift, with the younger generation cooking from midnight to 3 a.m.
They do try to get enough done to be able to take Thanksgiving Day off to spend with the family matriarch.
Cassie Greenlee assists her father Keith Guion was he melts chocolate.
Even then they may have to get back to work in the evening once she’s retired for the night.
They show up in Bowling Green with some work already done. Caramels and toffee are made before the family gathers from Columbus, upstate New York, Ypsilanti, Michigan, and Rhode Island.
One aunt always shows up with new flavors to try.
Greenlee said there are now 26 varieties. Too many more, Guion warns her, and there won’t be enough room in the boxes and people won’t get a taste of each flavor. Greenlee’s not concerned. Twenty-nine pieces can fit in a box.
Those flavors include pumpkin, banana and a spicy Mexican fudges.
Each candy type is marked, Greenlee said, so someone doesn’t unexpectedly take a bite of the fudge spiked with cayenne and chili powder.
Some flavors have fallen out of favor. Wintergreen is no longer made in Bowling Green, much to Guion’s disappointment. But his brother in Portland, Oregon who is not able to come to Ohio for Thanksgiving, does make some and shares it with Guion at Christmas. Another sister in North Carolina also makes candy on her own in North Carolina, so the Guion candy making venture is a coast-to-coast tradition.
As with any family endeavor there are different ways of doing things. One aunt swears by using a thermometer to check the chocolate while in progress, while Guion does it by feel.
The perfect room temperature for working the chocolate is 68 degrees.
The heat in the room is regulated, Greenlee said, by two windows, controlled by ropes and pulleys.
Not a precise art, but chocolate is forgiving to a point. “There’s a bit of wiggle room,” Guion said. “It’s not an exact system. Sometimes things go wrong, and you know why. Sometimes things go wrong, and we don’t know why.”
The chocolate to be melted for dipping is ordered from a company that requires a minimum 500 pound order. It arrives in 10 pound slabs
That’s done earlier in the fall. The family then sells what it doesn’t need to students and former students from its chocolate making classes. They can break down the slabs in half, but no smaller.
They offer the classes in autumn.
It’s a cottage industry that runs from a little after Labor Day through early December.
There’s fifth generation coming up with a baby born. The baby is too young to get into the act, Greenlee said, but maybe next year.
RECIPES ROM THE GUION FAMILY KITCHEN
Caramels
Melt 1/4 lb. Butter in a large pan.
Add 1 1⁄2 lbs. Sugar (3 cups),
1 3/4 lbs corn syrup (3 cups), and
One large can of Carnation Evaporated Milk.
Stir and cook to 242 degrees. Remove from heat.
Stir in 2 tsp. Vanilla.
Add nuts if desired.
Pour into a well-buttered 9 x 13 pan. Cool. Remove from pan; cut into square. Dip in chocolate.
Rice Krispies Caramels
Follow the recipe for caramels and add 4 cups of slightly crushed Rice Krispies and stir them in just before you pour the caramels into the pan.
Cream Centers
In a large pan, mix:
2 1⁄2 lbs. Sugar
less than a pint of water
Heat on stove, stirring constantly until mixture boils.
At 160 degrees, add 12 drops of 36% acetic acid.
At 200 degrees, add 2 1⁄2 tsp. Glycerin
After mixture begins to boil, do not stir. Boil to 238 degrees, then pour out on a marble slab (within a frame) that has been sprinkled with water. Cool slightly, then add one (1) stiffly beaten egg white, 1⁄2 tsp. Sucrovert, and 1⁄2 tsp. Vanilla. Work with putty knife until candy is white and creamy and stiff enough to roll into balls.
Any of the following may be added at this time to all or part of the batch:
Butter (for buttercreams) Almond paste or extract
Orange Spearmint
Maple flavor with or without chopped nuts Wintergreen
Coconut Etc.
Peppermint
Peanut Butter
Raspberry
Pomegranate Blueberry
Chocolate Fudge
2 lbs. Sugar
5 T. cocoa
5 T. white corn syrup
3/4 cup milk
Stir until well mixed.
Heat on stove; keep stirring until it begins to boil.
Cook without stirring to 238 degrees
Spread marble slab with oleo or butter (within frame), plus 1/4 lb. Of oleo or butter. Pour fudge over butter on the slab. Cool slightly. Add 1⁄2 tsp. Sucrovert and 2 tsp. Vanilla. Work with putty knife until it is stiff enough to roll into balls.
Peppermint Fudge
Follow Chocolate Fudge recipe and add peppermint flavor when you add the vanilla and sucrovert.
Mexican Fudge
Follow Chocolate Fudge recipe and add cinnamon, cayenne and chili powder to taste.
Vanilla Fudge
1 lb. Sugar
1 lb. Brown sugar* .
5 T. white corn syrup
3/4 cup milk
Stir until well mixed.
Heat on stove; keep stirring until it begins to boil.
Cook without stirring to 238 degrees
Spread marble slab with oleo or butter (within frame), plus 1/4 lb. Of oleo or butter. Pour fudge over butter on the slab. Cool slightly. Add 1⁄2 tsp. Sucrovert and 2 tsp. Vanilla. Work with putty knife until it is stiff enough to roll into balls.
* NOTE: Make sure the brown sugar is real brown sugar. Some brown sugar contains molasses and that will ruin the batch.
Peanut Butter Fudge
4 cups (2 lbs.) Sugar
4 T. White Corn syrup
1 cup milk
2/3 cup peanut butter
4 T. (perhaps a bit more) Butter or oleo
1⁄2 tsp. Sucrovert
2 tsp. Vanilla
Cut up the butter and spread it around on the slab inside the frame. Put the peanut butter inside the frame as well.
Mix sugar, corn syrup and milk in a pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Continue cooking without stirring to 238 degrees.
Note: when mixture boils, reduce heat slightly to avoid boiling over and reaching 238 degrees too quickly.
At 238 degrees, pour mixture over the butter and peanut butter on the marble slab. Let cool slightly, then add Sucrovert and vanilla. Work with putty knife until it loses its gloss and stiffens. Roll into balls and dip in chocolate.
Pumpkin Fudge
2 lb. sugar
5 T corn syrup
3/4 cup Half & Half
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1⁄2 tsp (heaping) cinnamon
1⁄2 tsp (heaping) pumpkin spice
1⁄2 tsp Sucrovert
1 tsp vanilla
Combine sugar, corn syrup, half & half and canned pumpkin in a large pan and cook SLOWLY, stirring constantly until mixture boils (Mixture will scorch, but will scorch less if cooked slowly). Once mixture comes to a boil, cook without stirring to 238 degrees.
Break up one stick of butter in the frame on the marble slab. Pour mixture over butter and let it cool a bit.
Add the cinnamon, spice, Sucrovert and vanilla and then work it up until it loses its gloss and becomes
stiff.
Roll in balls and dip in white chocolate and drizzle with melted cinnamon chips.
Banana Fudge
Same recipe as Pumpkin Fudge, except use 3/4 cup banana instead of pumpkin and omit cinnamon and
pumpkin spice.
2 lb. sugar
5 T corn syrup
3/4 cup Half & Half
3/4 cup bananas
1⁄2 tsp Sucrovert
1 tsp vanilla
Combine sugar, corn syrup, half & half and bananas in a large pan and cook SLOWLY, stirring constantly until mixture boils (Mixture will scorch, but will scorch less if cooked slowly). Once mixture comes to a boil, cook without stirring to 238 degrees.
Break up one stick of butter in the frame on the marble slab. Pour mixture over butter and let it cool a bit.
Add the Sucrovert and vanilla and then work it up until it loses its gloss and becomes stiff.
Roll in balls and dip in milk chocolate and top with yellow sprinkles.
Lemon Fudge
2 lbs sugar
1 cup of evaporated whole milk, unsweetened
3 T fresh lemon juice
1⁄2 t salt
2 (2 inch) strips of lemon zest
4 T of butter (plus some)
1⁄2 t lemon oil
1⁄2 t Sucrovert
Spread the butter on the prepared marble slab. Mix the sugar and milk in a heavy saucepan, then add the lemon juice, salt and strips of lemon zest. The mixture may look curdled, but it will be fine. Cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Stop stirring, continue cooking to 238 degrees. Pour the cooked fudge over the butter, and cool slightly. Add the lemon oil and the Sucrovert and work with a putty knife until the fudge loses its gloss and stiffens. Roll into balls and dip in dark chocolate.
Egg Nog Fudge
1 1⁄2 cups eggnog
4 T corn syrup
4 cups sugar
4 T of butter (plus more)
2 t vanilla
1 t Sucrovert
Spread the butter on the prepared marble slab. Put eggnog, corn syrup and sugar in a heavy saucepan, and cook, stirring, over medium-low heat until it starts to boil. Continue to cook without stirring to 238 degrees. Pour the mixture over the butter, allow to cool slightly and add vanilla and Sucrovert. work with a putty knife until the fudge loses its gloss and stiffens. Roll into balls and dip in white chocolate.
Sprinkle nutmeg on each piece before they dry. (Use powdered nutmeg or grate your own.)
Toffee
Melt one pound of butter (not margarine or oleo) in a pan.
Add 2 cups of sugar. Cook and stir until sugar is dissolved.
Add 2 T. white corn syrup and
1/4 cup water.
Continue cooking and stirring to 293 degrees. Add nuts, if desired.
Pour out on two large cookie sheets and spread fairly thin with the back of a wooden spoon. Score toffee into squares with a table knife while still warm. When cool, break off squares and dip in chocolate.
