The long-lost peanut

brittle recipe was found folded inside the pages of a cookbook from 1913. C O U R T E S Y G R E A T E R

MIDWEST FOODWAYS ALLIANCE/PHOTO BY PETER ENGLER Peanut

Brittle
Second Prize, 2011 Illinois State Fair
Amy Wertheim, Bloomington, Illinois
In 2004, Amy Wertheim saw her family’s candy store burn to the ground. Along
with equipment and more than 500 pounds of treats, she lost something far more
precious: her grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ handwritten recipes. “Of
everything we lost, that was the most devastating,” she writes.

One way Wertheim filled the void was by collecting cookbooks. At an auction
in 2010, she picked up a weathered collection of personal recipes written down
for a new bride. “As I turned the pages, I started seeing names I recognized …
and then I saw the name, Mother Hoblit.” It was her great-grandmother’s family
nickname. She also noticed something stuck in the book’s folds. “My hands
were shaking as I unfolded the crackling paper … there, in my Great-
Grandmother’s handwriting, was our lost peanut brittle recipe.”
Wertheim’s presentation at the Illinois State Fair featured the book, along with
the handwritten peanut brittle recipe and a plate of the sweet, crunchy treat, a
fixture at family and church gatherings for generations. “I can only speculate
why out of all the cookbooks I picked up that one … We still cannot believe that
after all this time, the book and the recipe found its way home.”

1 1/2 cups sugar

2/3 cup glucose (Karo corn syrup for the home cook)
1 cup water
1/2 pound unroasted Spanish peanuts
1 teaspoon butter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1. Cook the sugar, glucose, and water until it makes a soft ball in a water bath
(drop a few bits of syrup in water and if it balls, then it’s at a soft ball stage).

2. Add the peanuts and butter to the syrup and cook until golden brown. Add the
soda and vanilla, stirring quickly, and pour onto a marble slab or buttered
platter. Allow it to cool slightly, and then stretch until thin and brittle.

3. Break into pieces, and enjoy. Recipe makes enough for four people and can
be doubled or tripled as desired.