Mama's Divinity

I hope that y'all have noticed all these beautiful Christmas decorations

Well, there is a company from Jacksonville called Design Elements. It was probably a dozen people up here working for days

But Carol and Terry, I want y'all to come on up. Thank y'all so much

Thank y'all so much. They put 8,000 lights on the back of the house, y'all

I want y'all to look at these beautiful candle lights that they have on the tree

They look like real flickering flames. Way to go. Thank y'all. I am going to share a recipe with y'all that my mother used to make

My mother was the divinity queen, and I can see that beautiful red-headed woman standing up in her kitchen

twirling out the most perfect, beautiful divinity you've ever seen. She was gone at 44, but she did teach me how to make it

I'm going to try to pass this on to Bobby and Claudia. All right

Well, all right. All right. Divinity. Over the years, I never have still gotten it completely right

All right, but we're going to put in four cups of sugar. Okay. Into our pot

Now, we've got one going here that the sugar is dissolved. My mama and this divinity and some of the other sweets that she made when I was growing up

was responsible for a lot of my good grades. This stuff was made during the holidays at Christmastime and Thanksgiving

and Halloween, and Mama would wrap these up in the cutest little bags, and I'd bring them to my teachers

and then I would get good grapes. All right, so we're going to put four cups of sugar, cloud

Three. We're going to put a cup of water. And go straight to the dentist

All right, but you know what? This has got a little sugar in it but it no fat Yes pour it baby because our light on And spray your measuring cup and then spray out one cup of Light corn syrup Why are we using light corn syrup

That means color. There's a dark and there's a light. It ain't got nothing to do with calories

I took it wrong. One reason this is so hard to make is because thermometers today are so hard to read

You ready? Yes, son. Pour and stir. And we're just going to stir that until it dissolves

and then we're going to quit stirring. Now, what makes this so hard, like I said

is today's modern candy thermometers. Well, a lady heard me say that one day on a show

and she sent me her vintage candy thermometer. Oh, wow. That she had

Uh-oh. The little thing is missing off the back. That's beautiful. Where did that go

I keep this at home because I don't want anything to happen to it

Well, something just happened to it. And something happened to it. Oh, my goodness, because without the clip

it's basically no good. Useless. We made divinity all year round in my country

You did? I don't know what it is. Well, why am I teaching you how to make divinity? I've never made it before

Oh, you've never made it before? Oh, wow. So, no, we want to get to 255

It's almost up to 230. Yep. What happens when it reaches the temperature

Because it's not going to stay there. It's going to keep rising. So what do you do

Turn it off and move it off the fire. So it'll quit cooking. You're 20 to 30

Is it 240? It's at 240 right now. Look how easy this one is to reach

242. Yeah. Oh, it's pretty simple. You can just hold it. Just put it in there and hold it

Who wants to stand up there and hold it? That's all Bobby and I are here for. All right, let's do it

I'll do it. See, it's right here. And we want it. How many people does it take to rate a thermometer

255. Oh, we ain't beat the egg whites yet. It's a, it's a. Holy camoly

And it's at 255. So what now? It is at 255. Yep, 255 it is

Lord have mercy, it is. All right, so let's take these out

We going to beat our egg whites We going to beat those until they fluffy What do we do with this Well three egg whites right All right when these get fluffy Bobby

we're going to start pouring this syrup. I don't want to touch none of that. OK

Well, how did it get back in there? I took it out once. Well, I put it back in, because does it not have to be at exactly 255

Well, son, I can't do anything about it now. All right, now, a steady, slow stream

And your arm's going to get tired. You want me to do it? Look at that

See, it's starting to cook those egg whites. Yum. Oh, that's like super slow. Yeah. Why

Why slow? Because you've got to have it to give it time

Oh, Bobby, now you're making me nervous. Real slow, son. You know, this is like anything else, y'all

The more you do it, the better you get at it. And with me making it just once a year

That's not enough for me to ever meet up to my mother's quality

When does the extract go in, and what is this? Right now. You don't want it to lose its gloss, y'all

You want to stop when you think it's fixing to lose its gloss

I wish mama could send me down a sign. It's not happening

Sorry. It's not happening. But y'all... Oh, ! There you go. There's your sign

Was that the sign, Mom? Mm

All right, Bobby. Yes, ma'am. I want you to take your wooden spoon or something

and mix those in real quick like. And let's take a look

Good grief, that's big. It's supposed to be. Easily digestible. Wow. Do you need some help, son

No, I think I got it. I still don't think we beat it long enough

All right, now, Mama, will take it. How do you get it off the spoon? Like this with your other spoon

It's still not like my Mama's, y'all. We still didn't beat it long enough

because, see, it's falling down. My mother's never failed. Like you might need to spray your spoons I think so too That would be a good idea Well you can do that With a pan coating before you try this I going to beat it just another little second You not supposed

to beat it after your nuts go in. But I'm going to do it anyway

All right, Bobby, spray us a couple of spoons, son, since that'll help. Thank you

See, I can't remember how long Mama beat it. I'm not going to lie to you

It is not one of those candies that's easy to make. All right

I think it's better. I just can't remember how long Mama beat it

Oh, look at that. But now that looks like Mama's right there. Oh, because you sprayed the thing, Bobby

I think that helps a lot. Yeah, it helps a lot, Bobby. Oh, look at that. Look at that

That is Mama's. She's like a ball. All right, come get that ugly out of the way, okay, Cloudy

I don't want to look at that. We haven't made any. Look at this. Oh, yeah, now that's what you want right there

That was my mama's divinity right there, y'all. So that's the trick

You're going to have to beat it probably for 10 or 15 minutes. And then beat it again

And then... No, I'm talking about sun all together. Perfect. Perfect. Y'all, this makes me want to cry

When you can do something like your mama did, and you can relive those memories

Well, that's the beautiful thing about food, though, that food memories are often related to family memories

Absolutely, Bobby. This is so her divinity. Who wants some? Everybody. Oh

Look how big that one is. It's huge. So y'all come taste the divinity

That looks like my mama was in this room just for a minute

Y'all don't let the art of making divinity die