Honey Taffy

Honey taffy is one of those old-fashioned recipes that never goes out of style. These rich caramel-like candies start out hard and then slowly soften into chewy melt-in-your-mouth goodness. They have a warm honey flavor that’s hard to resist. Plus the taffy-pulling process is a fun activity to to with kids, and I remember helping with several taffy pulls at family gatherings growing up. I shared these with family at a recent movie night, and they were a big hit, perfect for slowly savoring as we enjoyed the movie together.

This recipe is in honor of my ancestor (through my Mom’s side) Emma Brooks Landon (1846-1919). She was born in Norfolk, England, and recalled growing up in a little village that was green and filled with beautiful flowers and birds singing everywhere. Later in life she would tell her children how much she missed those birds. Her parents were kind, hardworking people, and when Emma was one year old, her mother, Maria Spink Standley joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in England. Her father, Robert Brooks, also joined the Church a year later, in 1848. Emma remembered him being a good man who was a dedicated provider for his family. She also said he was kind but firm with his children, expecting them to be obedient to their parents.

Emma also remembered her mother as a loving, faith-filled woman, and said that whenever they had a big storm, with lots of thunder and lightning, her mother would “gather the children together from the windows and doors, read the Bible to them and pray.” She also “taught them to love God and keep his commandments.” When Emma was in her teens, her mother became ill with consumption (tuberculosis), and was pregnant at the same time. The baby was born sickly, and they both died not long after its birth. Emma was devastated by her mother’s death, and afterwards would often go on long walks to grieve alone, even walking long distances through slush and snow. Because of this, she caught a severe cold, but was eventually able to recover through the use of different herbs. This knowledge of the medicinal properties of herbs was one that she would later use in her home and in behalf of neighbors when no doctor was available and she taught it to her children as well.

In 1866, when Emma was twenty years old, she and her sister Harriet emigrated to the United States, where they were to join with other members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in walking across the plains to the Utah territory. Emma said that on the ocean trip, her sister Harriet became very seasick, and Emma cared for her belowdecks. Sometimes Emma would walk above deck to enjoy the fresh sea air, but noted that at times it was rough sailing. She said that one day a fierce storm arose while she and two of her friends were out together on deck. One of the girls was wearing a chain necklace, and lightning struck her, killing both of the other two girls. When the ship finally reached land, Emma said she was so nervous she couldn’t stand still.

Emma and Harriet travelled across the plains with the Captain John D. Holiday company, and reached Salt Lake City late in the summer of 1866. There, Emma was introduced to Charles Porter Landon, a young man from Missouri who was six feet tall, and was described as “very handsome.” Emma was a petite, pretty woman, so they must have made a cute couple. Emma wanted to work off the cost of her passage before she married, but Charles offered to pay it for her, so they were married in October 1866. They settled in Kaysville, UT, and lived there for several years before moving to a homestead in Idaho. Emma gave birth to ten children, one of whom died the same day she was born. Emma still raised ten children, however, since her sister Harriet died young, and Harriet’s nine-year-old daughter Annie came to live with them.

Emma worked hard to care for her family, and was kind and generous towards others as well. She sewed for others (perhaps to earn a little extra money), used her knowledge of herbs to nurse her children and neighbors when needed (doctors were scarce), and never turned a beggar from the door empty-handed. While in Idaho, she also cooked and made bread for the local Wasco Indians with whom Charles had a close friendly relationship. Once, two of her children caught typhoid fever, and she was able to nurse them back to health, but then she caught it herself and nearly died. Polygamy was still practiced by some members of the Mormon church at the time, and after Charles and Emma had been married for about 12 years, Charles took a second wife, Maria Ashton, which led to some tension and strife in their relationship. Emma and Charles eventually divorced in about 1888, and Emma returned to Utah, where she later married Henry Leland at the age of 62.

Her daughter, Martha Landon Fitzpatrick, wrote about her mother’s life, and concluded by saying that along with all the challenges, there were happy times as well. They had orchards and gardens growing up, and she remembered that they had a big chain swing to play on as children. They would also sometimes have candy pulls and make taffy from honey they collected. This pioneer “honey taffy” is the inspiration for today’s recipe, and I hope you enjoy making sweet, sticky, taffy-pulling memories together just as much as Emma and her children did.

Here’s the recipe, which I adapted from Taste of Home.

Honey Taffy

2-4 Tbs butter, as needed, for buttering pan and hands, etc

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 cup honey

1 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

Generously grease a large baking sheet with butter. (Really make sure it’s well greased.) Place in the refrigerator to chill if you have room. Otherwise, set aside until needed.

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the cream, honey, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is melted and the mixture begins to boil. At this point, stop stirring.

Cover pan with a tight-fitting lid for one minute to dissolve any remaining sugar crystals on the sides of the pan. If it looks like there are still any remaining bits of sugar, you can dip a pastry brush in water, and run it along the sides of the pan to try and dissolve them. Otherwise, let it be and avoid stirring, to prevent the mixture from seizing up later due to any undissolved crystals.

Cook, uncovered, until a food thermometer registers 180 degrees Fahrenheit, or soft crack stage.

Remove from heat and pour the hot mixture into the prepared pan. Don’t scrape the bottom or sides of the saucepan as you pour, just use what comes out on its own. (This helps avoid negatively impacting the final texture of the taffy.)

Let the hot mixture cool for 5 minutes in the buttered pan. At this point, use a buttered utensil or bench scraper to fold the edges of the mixture into the center of the pan, forming a blob. You might need to have extra butter handy to re-butter the pan as you go, if it seems to be sticking.

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Cool 5-10 minutes longer, until cool enough to handle with your bare hands, then butter your fingers well and pick up the taffy. (If others are helping you pull, you’ll want to divide it into sections at this point.)

Using buttered fingers, pull and stretch the taffy (repeat by folding it and stretching again) until ridges form and the taffy becomes light tan in color.

Quickly pull into ropes about 1/2-inch thick, set on the baking sheet, and use buttered scissors to cut the taffy in pieces about 1-inch thick.

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Let cool completely, wrap individually in plastic or waxed paper wrappers if desired, and enjoy!