The Christmas candy called saloon fondant (szaloncukor in Hungarian) is a common Christmas tree ornament and candy in Hungary. It is a real Hungaricum, but it is less or not known at all other countries.
Its origin is a fondant which was a soft dollop made of supersaturated sugar solution. It was produced in France already in the 14th century. It arrived to Hungary only at the first half of the 19th century but became popular very soon. Saloon fondant was first produced by hand and wrapped in tissue and tinfoil paper. Aphorisms were printed on the inner side of the paper.
The first fondant production machines appeared at the end of the 19th century. These were working in Stühmer chocolate factory and made saloon fondants for Gerbeaud confectionery. Only the thrumming of the paper remained manual operation but later it was mechanized also. There are already 17 types of saloon fondant recipes could be found in the Kugler confectionary book published in 1891. The candy was produced for custom orders of the customers also. In this case, the customer could define the flavoring and the color of the wrapping also.
Although it is a glittering ornament of Christmas trees nowadays also, hanging it on the tree is not favored by everybody, because of the remaining empty papers hanging there when „somehow” chocolates „disappear” from them. They will be showy accessories as well put on a nice tray or in a bowl under the tree.
Countless flavored and colored saloon fondants are available in shops today, we can choose among many companies’ products. It is a matter of taste which one you prefer, however it’s worth to pay attention of quality.