a simple, old type of English boiled syrup sweet, with a distinctive twisted shape. Originally, in the 17th century, the sugar syrup was made with barley water, an infusion of boiled barley which gave it an agreeable, mild flavour. Now the most usual flavouring is lemon juice, whose acidity favours the making of a clear, uncrystallized sweet. The syrup is cooked to the hard crack stage (see sugar boiling), poured out onto a slab in a sheet, and quickly cut into strips which are twisted before they harden.
In France a special sucre d'orge was being made by the Benedictine nuns of Moret-sur-Loing in the 17th century. After enjoying great popularity in the 18th century it underwent various vicissitudes, (including a move to another town, Provins, and a commission given by Napoleon to a former nun, Félicité, to keep him supplied with the product) before finishing up in modern times back in Moret, but with its manufacture in secular hands. There is reputed to be a secret ingredient, known to only one person and tantalizingly called poudre de perlimpinpin; it has proved to be imperceptible to chemical analysis. This barley sugar is not twisted, as in England, but comes in triangular pieces (berlingots) or ‘rods’.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
