SUGAR  AND  ITS  USES  513

It  now  assumes  a  yellow  color,  and  great  care  must
be  used  or  it  will  burn.  The  cooking  must  be  arrested
as  soon  as  it  is  taken  from  the  fire  by  holding  the
pan  in  cold  water  for  a  minute  or  so.  A  skewer  or
stick  is  the  best  thing  to  use  for  testing,  as  the  little
sugar  that  adheres  to  it  will  cool  quickly.  Dip  the
stick  first  into  water,  then  into  the  sugar,  and  again
into  water.
SYRUPS

To  use  a  syrup  gauge  have  a  glass  deep  enough  to
allow  the  gauge  to  float.  A  small  cylindrical  glass  like
the  one  shown  in  illustration  is  best,  as  it  requires  so
little  syrup  that  removing  and  pouring  it  back  does  svrupkept
not  arrest  the  boiling.  Syrups  can  be  prepared  and  in  stock,
kept  in  air-tight  preserve  jars  until  needed  for  use.
It  is  well  to  have  in  stock  syrup  at  34°  for  soften-
ing fondant  when  used  for  icing  cakes,  eclairs,  etc.
Water-ices  should  register  18^-20°  on  the  gauge  when
ready  to  freeze.  Fruits  to  be  frozen  are  better  when
sweetened  with  syrup  at  32°  than  when  sugar  is  used.
To  prepare  syrup  without  a  gauge  the  following     Making
method  can  be  employed :  Put  into  a  saucepan  three    ^t^^  a
and  one  half  cupfuls  of  sugar  and  two  and  one  half      gauge,
cupfuls  of  water.     Stir  it  over  the  fire  until  the  sugar
is  dissolved.    After  it  has  boiled  five  minutes,  count-
ing from  the  time  it  is  actually  boiling,  it  will  register
28° ;  every  five  minutes'  additional  boiling  will  thicken
it  one  degree.
At  the  end  of  15  minutes  it  is  30°.
At  the  end  of  25  minutes  it  is  32°.
At  the  end  of  35  minutes  it  is  34°.
