Tablet ( in Scots) is a medium-hard, sugary

confection Confectionery is the art of making confections, or sweet foods. Confections are items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates, although exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confections are divided into two broad and somew ...

from Scotland. Tablet is usually made from

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

condensed milk Condensed milk is Milk#Cow, cow's milk from which water has been removed (roughly 60% of it). It is most often found with sugar added, in the form of sweetened condensed milk, to the extent that the terms "condensed milk" and "sweetened condensed m ...

, and

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

, which is boiled to a soft-ball stage and allowed to crystallise. It is often flavoured with

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...

and sometimes has nut pieces in it. Tablet differs from

fudge ''Fudge'' is a generic role-playing game system for use in freeform role-playing games. The name "''FUDGE''" was once an acronym for ''Freeform Universal Donated'' (later, ''Do-it-yourself'') ''Gaming Engine'' and, though the acronym has since b ...

in that it has a brittle, grainy texture, where fudge is much softer. Well-made tablet is a medium-hard confection, not as soft as fudge, but not as hard as

boiled sweets A hard candy (American English), or boiled sweet (British English), is a sugar candy prepared from one or more sugar-based syrups that is heated to a temperature of 160 °C (320 °F) to make candy. Among the many hard candy varietie ...

. Commercially available tablet often uses fondant instead of the milk products. This produces a slightly less granular texture compared to the traditional home-made tablet, and is supposedly easier to prepare on a commercial scale.

History

According to ''The Scots Kitchen'' by F. Marian McNeill, tablet is noted in '' The Household Book of Lady Grisell Baillie'' in the early 18th century. The traditional recipe uses just sugar and

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

. More modern recipes substitute condensed milk and butter for the cream, as cream has a tendency to burn when boiled.

Names

Tablet is sometimes referred to as ''Swiss Milk tablet'' (Swiss Milk being a term used by some for

)S.W.R.I. (1977). ''S.W.R.I. Jubilee Cookery Book''. Edinburgh: Scottish Women's Rural Institutes; Reprint of 8th Edition (1968), p180 or ''butter tablet''.

References

External links

Tablet recipe
Scottish confectionery {{Scotland-stub

History

Names

See also

References

External links