Old Fashioned Vinegar Taffy Recipe

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Reliving Memories with an Old Fashioned  Vinegar Taffy Recipe

Old Fashioned Vinegar Taffy Recipe

When I was growing up, we lived next door to the sweetest lady. We all called her Grandma Della. She really was like a grandma to all nine of us crazy Nelson kids. It was such a shock to me to grow up and learn she wasn’t really my Grandma by relation. Just a great neighbor and family friend that all us kids adopted to be a grandma. And it wasn’t just our family that were her adopted Grandkids. She was known as Grandma Della by all the kids in our little community.

One of my favorite memories as a kid was always visiting Grandma Della. She always had the best stories to tell, and delicious treats! The one treat she was most known for in our entire community was her old fashioned Vinegar taffy. I’m telling you this vinegar taffy recipe was famous!

Every Halloween kids would visit her house first just for the Vinegar Taffy. And every Christmas we’d get a plate full of these coveted goodies!

Old Fashioned Vinegar Taffy Recipe

Grandma Della passed away a number of years ago. She has been greatly missed. She left behind such an amazing legacy with her kindness, love and compassion. It is amazing how one can touch so many and make such a powerful impact on their lives. And she was definitely one of those women who impacted so many for good.

It amazes me how a simple flavor can bring back a flood of memories. The last time I was home visiting, I went through my Mom’s recipe cupboards to find some of my favorite recipes from growing up and I stumbled upon Grandma Della’s Old Fashioned Vinegar Taffy recipe. I knew instantly I had to bring this tradition to my family.

So we got started over Christmas Holiday making the Vinegar Taffy. The recipe is quite simple and so easy to get ready.

Old Fashioned Vinegar Taffy Recipe

Prepare the sugar, cream of tartar, vinegar and salt in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Boil until it reaches the hard ball stage (250 degrees F). Remove from the heat and then add in the butter.

Then you will spray a dish with a little coconut oil or lightly grease it. Just so it doesn’t stick to the plate/dish. And pour in the taffy mixture. And then allow it to cool until you can manipulate it with your hands without it burning.

Next is the part that begins to bring back the memories. The taffy pulling!

Wash your hands well. Then lightly butter them to prevent the taffy from sticking.

I set up a station for each kid and pulled off a smaller section of the taffy for them each to pull.

Then you start pulling the taffy.

Pull from the center out. Then put the ends together and pull from the enter out again.

Just keep pulling. Just keep Pulling (I think you can think up a song for this phrase right?)

 

A photo posted by Amber Edwards (@jadelouisedesigns) on

 

Pull the taffy until it is light in color and stiff. The whiter the better. This could take anywhere from 15 minutes to 60 minutes depending on how many people you have pulling the taffy and how much you each are working with.

 

How taffy begins #candy #Christmas #baking #treats #traditions

A photo posted by Amber Edwards (@jadelouisedesigns) on

This was a great activity with the kids, as I gave each one their own little section to pull. As we pulled we talked and I told them stories about Grandma Della and the history of the Old Fashioned Vinegar Taffy and what it has meant to our family.

Next shape into a nice long rope. And cut with greased scissors into 1″ pieces.

 

Hmmm old fashioned vinegar taffy! Brings back great memories. #taffy #oldfashioned #recipe #Christmas #christmastreats

A photo posted by Amber Edwards (@jadelouisedesigns) on

Then wrap up in wax paper.

Old Fashioned Vinegar Taffy Recipe

As we pulled, the memories of sitting in Grandma Della’s kitchen helping her to pull taffy as she told stories of when she was a little girl came flooding back to me in such a rush. I could remember the smells, the sounds, the colors. I could remember the love emanating from Grandma Della.

And then when I tasted my first bite of Grandma Della’s Vinegar Taffy, it was like I was transported back in time. It’s amazing what a little flavor associated with great memories can do.

And while mine doesn’t look as beautiful as Grandma Della’s vinegar taffy did (she has years more practice getting it to look just right) the flavor was exactly the same! And I may have been a bit emotional for the duration. But it was so worth it, having that little piece of Grandma Della back in my life again.

Old Fashioned Vinegar Taffy Recipe

I think this will definitely be a new family tradition; to make Grandma Della’s Vinegar Taffy near Christmas to share with friends and family and build our own memories around for my own kids. And it will give me a great time to remember back on such an amazing woman who had such a powerful impact on my life.

Old Fashioned Vinegar Taffy Recipe

Do you have a food that brings back such powerful memories?

Have you tried Old Fashioned Vinegar Taffy?

Yield:

Old Fashioned Vinegar Taffy Recipe

Old Fashioned Vinegar Taffy Recipe

An old recipe passed down the generations for a family favorite Old fashioned Vinegar Taffy candy.

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1/2 cup White distilled vinegar (could substitute apple cider if needed)
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 Tablespoons butter ( Or a diary free butter substitute if you need dairy free)

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients except butter in a pan.
  2. Bring to boil
  3. Boil until it reaches the hard ball stage (~250 degrees f)
  4. Remove from heat and add butter
  5. Lightly Grease a platter
  6. Pour the Taffy onto the platter and allow to cool until you can handle without burning your hands.
  7. Wash your hands
  8. Apply a thin layer of butter to your hands
  9. Begin to pull the taffy
  10. Pull until it is light in color and stiff (15-60 minutes)
  11. Roll into a rope
  12. Cut into 1" pieces
  13. Wrap in wax paper squares

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48 Comments

  1. I love salt water taffy but have never had vinegar taffy. I can see my kids saying they will help me pull it and then giving up after 5 minutes!

    1. @Kelly Hutchinson, let them each invite a friend. Let’s see who can get theirs to turn white first. You could even say Whoever gets theirs to turn whiteish first gets to eat more than anyone else/or some kind of reward. It use to work best when my kids got to have their friends help.

  2. Thank you to Grandma Della for this amazing recipe and thank you for sharing it with all of us. Such a sweet story with a sweet treat.

  3. I have not had this since i was a kid. I used to love helping make it. I will have to try making some this weekend.

  4. Amber,

    We have tried this twice, following the directions exactly except for cutting the recipe in half. Both times, the sugar burned between 300 degrees and 350 degrees. Your recipe notes 250 degrees celsius, which converts to 482 degrees farenheit, so we weren’t yet even close to the prescribed temperature.

    Is there an error in the recipe as written, whether temperature-wise or ingredients-wise? We have made caramels and other candies before with no difficulties, but this was our first foray into taffy-making, and we chose your recipe because we have corn-allergic children. We’d really like to have it work, but will need some advice before being willing to do this a third time.

    Thanks so much!

    1. Hi Christa! So sorry for the mix up! Yes there was a typo in the recipe. It’s Farenheit not Celcius that you heat it to! I edited and fixed it. Mostly you want to make sure it is at hard ball stage so it will set up right. Good luck!

  5. As a girl I was looking through my grandmother’s recipe book and found a recipe for Vinegar Taffy. That sounded like the strangest thing I had ever heard of and I wanted to try making it. It took quite a bit of persuasion to convince my grandmother to make a batch but she eventually made some with me watching every step. It took a lot of work to pull that hot taffy (if you let it get cool enough that you want to pull it then it will be too hard and won’t turn white) but I loved the result. We made taffy two or three times while I was young and I jotted down that recipe when I got married and took it with me. When my own children got old enough to pull taffy I introduced them to vinegar taffy. They love it, too. One of my sons-in-law really likes it – he says it works better than cough drops and is exactly what he wants all winter. With my kids all grown I have learned to “cheat” on this recipe and now I butter molds and cook it to a higher temperature and pour it into the molds so that it is a great size for the cough drops my son-in-law wants and just the right size for popping into my own mouth. I’ve made it with white vinegar, with apple cider vinegar, and with and without food coloring – but it is always excellent. I even made a batch one summer, pulled it until it was really white, and won first place for candy at the county fair! I love having recipes that bring family together and this is one that does it for my family.

    1. Now those are the type of memories that I love to hear surrounding a treat recipe!! I just love how something simple as making Taffy can create such fun memories! I never thought about it, but you are right! I love sucking on the vinegar taffy when I have a cough! It really does help!

  6. It was good, and I was happy to taste that it wasn’t sour, but for some reason it just tasted and smelled really buttery to me, and I didn’t like that. I used the two tablespoons on the recipe. Any suggestions?

    1. I wish I could help answer this one, but I really just don’t know. This is an OLD recipe and very temperamental. I know when my grandma Della forgot the butter it wouldn’t turn out right. You might try reducing it to 1 tablespoon but I can’t guarantee it turning out.

  7. Have now trashed two attempts. I will try for a third because the flavor is fabulous, but am disappointed over wasting ingredients. First I tested candy thermometer in boiling water to make sure it was still accurate. First batch of vinegar taffy, I cooked to the 250 degrees. It was a sauce. Second I cooked to 260, plus tested it in cold water for hard ball stage . It passed the test, was slightly thicker than sauce, but still soupy/droopy. I think once you put the butter in after cooking, you no longer have a hard ball stage. Don’t know the solution. Guess I’ll try for 270 degrees.

    1. my taffy mixture is still a very liquid mixture until it begins to cool down. It is when it cools that it begins to form into a solid. I leave it in the cooling dish until it is cool enough to handle. then I begin pulling. It is through this process that it begins forming into more of a solid. The actual cooling and pulling. It stiffens and solidifies. But if it actually reaches the hard ball stage, then it should form the right texture as it cools, as that is what happens at hard ball. If it still doesn’t work, it might be an issue with the thermometer reading incorrectly.

  8. I loved coming across this recipe! I too grew up making Vinegar taffy. We made a double batch every sunday along with popped popcorn. We then snuggled up and watched the Ed Sullivan Show on our tiny black and white TV! haha that dates me. My recipe is alittle bit different from yours. But absolutely one of my favorites. I will put it here just in case you want to try it. Old Fashioned Vinegar Taffy. 2 1/2 cups sugar… 1/2 cup water…1/4 cup apple cider vinegar…butter the size of a walnut…a pinch of salt. (I add 2 TBSP. light karo syrup…helps keeps it from sugaring) Combine the above ingredients…stirring until the sugar dissolves. Continue cooking WITHOUT stirring till it reaches 260 degrees. Pour onto a buttered platter or 9×13. Add Flavoring and coloring when you pull it. This makes a nice soft taffy. My mother cooked hers to 270…BUT you have to pull it when it is HOT! It is more like the cough drops mentioned above. LOL my mom made us put a piece of our pulled taffy in water to see if it would float!!! If you pull it right it will!!! Thanks for sharing brought back wonderful memories.

  9. Hi Amber,
    I decided last minute I wanted to teach my kids how to make a special treat I always loved having when I was little. This treat happened to be my grandma’s vinegar taffy. I knew I had the recipe somewhere but thought it might be quicker if I could find a similar recipe online. I came across your post about your sweet grandma Della and couldn’t stop the tears from flowing as I read what you had to say about her. I’m not positive but I’m pretty sure you are writing about my grandma. I don’t know very many grandmas named Della that almost always had vinegar taffy on hand when we came to visit. If not, we would be making it with her for sure! We lived a few hours away from her but I have so many special memories visiting my grandma. It doesn’t surprise me that she would be considered a grandma to so many of the neighbors. She had a kind heart and shared her love easily. I’m so excited to pass on a little of her legacy to my kids that never got the opportunity to know her. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

    1. Julie, Thank you for your kind words. It really makes it special when I can share such sweet memories of someone so cherished, and even more amazing when I can share them with someone who also shared similar memories! I wonder if our “Grandma Della’s” are the same person! Did your Grandma Della happen to be a Thurman who lived in Grover, Wyoming? That is where I grew up. And this sweet Grandma Della lived up the road from my house, and was our closest neighbor. You’d look out our Kitchen door and you could see her home a few acres away. We’d go visit her almost every Sunday, and whenever we could throughout the week. She was the sweetest lady, and I cherish every moment I had with her! I loved to just sit in her living room hearing the old Grandfather clock chime, and listen to her stories, or listen to her play her organ. And yes, she almost always had Vinegar Taffy on hand. Sometimes she’d be making a new batch when we’d go visit and we got to help her pull it too. She also had the best Crabapples that she’d share with us.

      1. Yes! That is my grandma! What a small world. It’s so nice to hear all of your memories of her. She was a very special lady!

          1. I just read this and I cried ! Julie , who were your parents ? I was old enough to even know and love Grandpa Mel! He taught me how to experience my first raw potato out of his garden ! Loved and cherished them both dearly ! )ps I’m ambers older sister )

  10. Hi
    My gramma made this for us when we were kids, we loved it. Now that I’m older, I’m diabetic so am wondering if this can be made with Stevia, or other type of sugar substitute?
    Thank you, from Connie

    1. Hi Connie,

      Unfortunately, traditional Taffy is a very temperamental confection and though I haven’t tried it myself I don’t believe stevia would be a substitute that would work due to the chemistry of the sugar syrup. Stevia has a very different chemical makeup than sugar. I would recommend seeking out a Taffy recipe that was specifically designed to use stevia.

      There is the possibility that Swerve MIGHT work. It is a great sugar substitute that is ok for diabetics. The switch amount is 1 for 1 – so the same as sugar. Though I haven’t tried Swerve, I can’t be positive that it would work. If you do decide to try it, I would love to hear how it turns out!

      1. Hi Amber:
        Well, I gave it a go. I halved the recipe for experimental reasons., stevia is so expensive. But, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I boiled it to the hard ball stage temperature however after cooling, it only reverted back to the crystal like stage. So, now we know! It was worth a try. I will still make this traditional yummy treat and add it in my Christmas cookie gifts.
        Thank you for posting this recipe

        1. Thanks for letting us know how it turned out. Now we know Stevia isn’t a good alternative with taffy. 🙂

          Hope all your Christmas cookie gift recipients enjoy the Vinegar Taffy!

  11. Can I make this 3 or 4 days before I pull the taffy? I want to make it for a family reunion before I get there. Thanks!!

  12. We use to make this every year for the 25 th of November which was Saint Catherine’s day. She use to be a teacher and a nun and to encourage children to come to school, she would give them some candies and it worked!

  13. I know this is an old post, but growing up every single Christmas, my mom made Apple cider vinegar taffy. She has since passed and the recipe was lost. I decided to give Google a try..you have no idea how happy this makes me. No one in my adult life has heard of this, but when they taste it, they love it. Thanks!!

  14. We made this growing up as well. It’s absolutely wonderful. But instead of wrapping it in wax paper, we dusted it with powdered sugar so the pieces didn’t stick together.

  15. Sorry, but I can’t recommend this recipe. When I was a kid, 65 years ago, my mother made great vinegar taffy. I’d help her pull it into snow-white strips. She, and her recipe, are long gone. I surfed the ‘net to find another recipe and happened on this one. I followed it to a T but, after almost 90 minutes of pulling, the blob remained runny and sticky, never reaching the consistency of taffy. It’s going in the trash, and I’ll search again for a recipe. I think my mother used corn syrup in addition to sugar, and maybe that’s the missing link. We’ll see…

    1. If it isn’t boiled to exactly hard ball stage, it won’t set up. Even just a few degrees off and it won’t work. Did you use a candy thermometer to ensure it reached the right temperature before you proceeded?

  16. We used to as a family go to Grandma’s house with all of our cousins and she would make this taffy. We would take half of it and instead of using butter to coat our hands we would use peanut butter. What wonderful memories.

  17. Hi! My son and I made this tonight because he has a colonial marketplace at school next week. Our taffy ended up being hard like a candy cane or hard candy? Any idea where I went wrong? I’m in high altitude, so I don’t know if that changes anything. I was thinking maybe we heated it a bit too long or just pulled it too much?

    1. Hi Brittani!

      You did it right. Vinegar taffy is supposed to be hard once it sets. It softens in your mouth as you suck on it and then it eventually is chewable.
      Salt water taffy is a soft chewy taffy and it cooked differently so that it keeps it’s soft consistency.

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