Szaloncukor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |
| Type | Confectionery |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Hungary |
| Main ingredients | filling such as jelly, marzipan, coconut covered in chocolate |
Szaloncukor (Hungarian: [ˈsɒlont͡sukor] ⓘ; Slovak: salónka, plural salónky;[1] literally: "parlour candy", Romanian: bomboane de pom) is a type of sweet traditionally associated with Christmas in Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.[2] It is a typical imported and adapted Hungarikum. It is usually made of fondant, covered by chocolate and wrapped in shiny coloured foil, then hung on the Christmas tree as decoration.
Every year, almost a kilo and a half of it are consumed per household during Christmas season.
The tradition of hanging these candies on the Christmas tree started in the 19th century. It was named szaloncukor because the tree usually stood in the parlour (szalon in Hungarian; Cukor means "sugar" or "candy"; in Slovak salón is "parlour" and -ka is diminutive suffix).
The name comes from the German-Austrian Salonzuckerl, this is why the original name was szalonczukkedli.
The whole procedure was manual until the first fondant-machines have appeared. These were made by Stühmer chocolate factory for the famous sweet-shop, Gerbaud.[3] The last part of the procedure to be mechanized was the thrumming of the end of the paper cover. Considering that it has such a typical shape to keep, this part was not to be omitted.
Fondant candies originally came in a few flavours (vanilla and strawberry for example), but now there is a variety of candies, including jelly, coconut, hazelnut and many other flavors.[4] It is usually hung on the tree with strings or small metal hooks. It is considered traditional on children's part, no matter how adults may frown, to empty all the wrappers on the tree before the season is out.
