In the UK and other Anglophoniccommonwealth countries sprinkles are denoted by different signifiers. For example, hundreds and thousands is the most popular denotation used in Britain, Australia and New Zealand to refer to nonpareils, a type of sprinkles. Another UK variant of the term is vermicelli, especially when said of chocolate sprinkles.[1][2] This name can be seen borrowed into spoken Egyptian Arabic as faːrmasil.[3]
Jimmies is the most popular term for chocolate sprinkles in the Philadelphia, Boston and New England regions.[4] The origin of the name jimmies is uncertain, but it was first documented in 1930, as a topping for cake.[5] The Just Born Candy Company of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, claims to have invented jimmies and named them after an employee.[6][7][8]
Another unlikely claim on the name jimmies originates from Dr. Sidney Farber and Edward Brigham. Dr. Farber co-founded the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, as well as a charity, The Jimmy Fund, named after one of his child patients. Brigham opened an ice cream restaurant called Brigham's and charged an extra penny for chocolate sprinkles on a cone, which benefited The Jimmy Fund. The fund however, was started in 1948, well after the first historical reference.[9]
In Connecticut and other places in the U.S., as indicated by including the sense in the official Merriam-Webster, shots is a specific term for sprinkles.[10][11][12][13]
History
Nonpareils date back at least to the late 18th century, if not earlier. They were used as decoration for pièces montées and desserts.
Dutch hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles) were invented in 1913 by Erven H. de Jong from Wormerveer.[14][15] Venz,[16] another Dutch company, made hagelslag popular. Hagelslag is used on bread and other things made of bread. Most of the time butter is spread out so the hagelslag does not fall off. After much research and venture, Gerard de Vries and Venz created the first machine to produce the tiny cylindrical treats.[17] They were named hagelslag after their resemblance to a weather phenomenon prominent in the Netherlands: hail. (This reference is also transferred to the Finnish word for sprinkles, "Koristerakeet" which literally means "decorative hail"). Only hagelslag with a cacao percentage of more than 32% can bear the name chocoladehagelslag (chocolate sprinkles). If it is lower than 32%, it is to be referred to as cacaofantasie or cacaofantasie hagelslag (cacao fantasy sprinkles).
The American candy company Just Born cites its founder, Sam Born, as inventing the "chocolate" sprinkles called "jimmies" (which might never have contained any chocolate) in Brooklyn, New York.[18][19] However, advertisements for chocolate sprinkles as a confection exist in the United States as far back as 1921,[20] predating Just Born by two years.
A related product, sanding sugar has been commercially available in a small range of colors for decades. Now it comes in a wide variety, including black and metallic-like "glitter".
Popular terminology for this confection tends to overlap, while manufacturers are more precise with their labeling. What consumers often call "sprinkles" covers several types of candy decorations that are sprinkled randomly over a surface, as opposed to decorations that are placed in specific spots. Nonpareils, confetti, silver, gold, and pearl dragées – not to be confused with pearl sugar (which is also sprinkled on baked goods) – and hundreds-and-thousands are all used this way, along with a newer product called "sugar shapes" or "sequins". These latter come in a variety of shapes, often flavored, for holidays or themes, such as Halloweenwitches and pumpkins, or flowers and dinosaurs. Candy cane shapes may taste like peppermint, and gingerbread men like gingerbread cookies.
Sanding sugar is a transparent crystal sugar of larger size than general-use refined white sugar. Crystal sugar tends to be clear and of much larger crystals than sanding sugar. Pearl sugar is relatively large, opaque white spheroids of sugar. Both crystal and pearl sugars are typically used for sprinkling on sweet breads, pastries, and cookies in many countries.
Some American manufacturers deem the elongated opaque sprinkles the official sprinkles. In British English, these are sugar strands or hundreds-and-thousands (the latter term alludes to their supposed uncountability). In the Northeastern United States, sprinkles are often referred to as jimmies. "Jimmies", in this sense, are usually considered to be used as an ice cream topping, while sprinkles are for decorating baked goods, but the term can be used for both.[21]
The sprinkles, known as nonpareils in French are tiny opaque spheres that were traditionally white, but that now come in many colors. The sprinkle-type of dragée is like a large nonpareil with a metallic coating of silver, gold, copper, or bronze. The food-sprinkle dragée is now also made in a form resembling pearls.
Toppings that are more similar in consistency to another type of candy, even if used similarly to sprinkles, are usually known by a variation of that candy's name—for example, mini-chocolate chips or praline.
Uses
In the Netherlands black chocolate sprinkles (called chocoladehagelslag) are commonly used as a sandwich topping.Red, white and blue sprinkles on an ice cream cone
Sprinkles generally require frosting, ice cream, or some other sort of sticky material in order to stick to the desired food surface. They can be most commonly found on smaller confections such as cupcakes or frosted sugar cookies, as these generally have more frosting and smaller diameter than do cakes.
In the Netherlands, chocoladehagelslag (chocolate sprinkles) is used as a sandwich topping (similar to muisjes and vlokken); this is also common in Belgium and the former colonies of the Netherlands, Suriname and Indonesia.[22] These countries also use vruchtenhagel and anijshagel (made of sugar and fruit/anise-flavour respectively) on sandwiches (mainly at breakfast). In Indonesia, it is commonly known as meses or meises, presumably derived from the Dutch muisjes, which are also similar. In Belgium it is often called muizenstrontjes (mouse droppings), due to the resemblance.
Fairy bread is the name given to the children's treat of sprinkles or nonpareils on buttered white bread. Fairy bread is commonly served at children's parties in Australia and New Zealand.
A dessert called confetti cake has sprinkles mixed with the batter, where they slowly dissolve and form little colored spots, giving the appearance of confetti. Confetti cakes are popular for children's birthdays in the United States. The Pillsbury Company sells its own variation known as "Funfetti" cake, incorporating a sprinkle-like substance into the mix.[23]
Dessert is a course that concludes a meal. The course consists of sweet foods, such as cake, biscuit, ice cream and possibly a beverage such as dessert wine and liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly savory to create desserts. In some parts of the world there is no tradition of a dessert course to conclude a meal.
Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories: bakers' confections and sugar confections. The occupation of confectioner encompasses the categories of cooking performed by both the French patissier and the confiseur.
Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate and which share features with desserts such as pastries, meringues, custards, and pies.
Caramel is an orange-brown confectionery product made by heating a range of sugars. It can be used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons or candy bars, or as a topping for ice cream and custard.
Chocolate syrup is a sweet, chocolate-flavored condiment. It is often used as a topping or dessert sauce for various desserts, such as ice cream, or mixed with milk to make chocolate milk or blended with milk and ice cream to make a chocolate milkshake. Chocolate syrup is sold in a variety of consistencies, ranging from a thin liquid that can be drizzled from a bottle to a thick sauce that needs to be spooned onto the dessert item.
Nonpareils are a decorative confectionery of tiny balls made with sugar and starch, traditionally an opaque white but now available in many colors. They are also known as hundreds and thousands in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
A dragée, is a bite-sized confectionery with a hard outer shell.
Muisjes are aniseed comfits and are a traditional Dutch bread topping. While customary on bread, they are traditionally eaten on beschuit, or rusk. Muisjes is a registered trademark of Koninklijke De Ruijter BV. Muisjes are made of aniseeds with a sugared and colored outer layer. They are currently only produced by the Dutch food processing company De Ruijter, a brand acquired by Heinz in 2001.
A suikerboon (Dutch), or sugar bean, is a type of sweet traditionally given on the occasion of the birth or baptism of a child in Belgium, where they are also known as doopsuiker, and parts of the Netherlands. In French, they are called dragées. They resemble Jordan almonds and Italian Confetti.
Confetti candy is a confectionery food product that is prepared with cooked sugar and corn syrup that is formed into sheets, cooled, and then cracked or broken into pieces. It has a hard, brittle texture. To add eye appeal, colored sugar is sometimes sprinkled atop after the cooking and shaping process has been performed.
Fondant is a mixture of sugar and water used as a confection, filling, or icing. Sometimes gelatin and glycerine are used as softeners or stabilizers.
Vanparys Confiserie B.V. is a Belgian confectionery company founded in 1769 by Felix Vanparys in Brussels, near Sablon, Belgium. The company produces chocolate and sugar-coated confections but specializes in dragées, which features often in Christian and Islamic traditions and celebrations. The recipe and the preparation of its dragées, dates back over 125 years ago, and are still being continued today.
The first season of Top Chef: Just Desserts was broadcast on Bravo. It featured 12 pastry chefs fighting to win the title of Top Chef.
Hagelslag are small, oblong, sweet-tasting chocolate granules, which are sprinkled on slices of buttered bread or rusks. The name refers to hail, hagel meaning hail and neerslag meaning precipitation.
References
↑ Mackley, Lesley; Handslip, Carole (1996). The Chocolate Book. Wigston: Salamander. p.14. Chocolate vermicelli (sprinkles) are available in milk and semisweet chocolate.
↑ "طريقة عمل الدونات مثل الجاهز"[Recipe for store-bought donuts]. مصر اليوم (in Arabic). 2020-10-10. Retrieved 2020-10-11. Ingredients: ... - powdered sugar - vermicelli - chocolate chips ...
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