The Candywoman Can (Sort Of)

Belle Starr

The figure of Belle Starr is shrouded in hyperbole, conjecture, and pure fabrication. I did my best to create a portrait of her in our July/August issue’s article “Petticoat Terror of the Plains,” but encapsulating her fascinating life in less than three thousand words is nearly impossible.

I had to leave out so many wonderful little details, like the time she met a drunk man during a trip to town who was devastated because he bought a piano he couldn’t afford. She paid him $50 for it, and spent even more to have it hauled to her home many miles away—a feat that took weeks. Then there’s the time she tried unsuccessfully to trick her daughter Pearl into giving up her baby for adoption. The latter doesn’t make her look great, but I think it also demonstrates her ferocity as a mother trying to protect her child.

But some of my favorite details of her life are the most mundane. She loved corn bread; In fact, the last thing she did before she was murdered was stop by a friend’s house for a piece. She wasn’t known as a goddess of domesticity, but she also loved to cook on occasion. In fact, in the middle of Glenn Shirley’s book Belle Starr and Her Times, there are two recipes that the “Outlaw Queen” shared with another woman while awaiting trial in Fort Smith (not for the first time).

Sugar Candy—Six cups white sugar, one cup vinegar, one cup water, teaspoon butter put in last with one teaspoon soda dissolved in hot water. Boil without stirring one-half hour. Flavor to suit taste.

Cream Candy—Four cups sugar, two cups water, three-fourths cup vinegar, one cup cream or rich milk, piece of butter the size of an egg, two teaspoons vanilla. Let boil until it cracks in water, then work until white.

I’ve never made candy before, but armed with my moderate baking skills and a strong desire to get to know Belle a little better, I made both of these recipes this past weekend with mixed results.

The first batch of sugar candy I flavored with coconut extract. It tasted good, but it was so thick it was hard to break up or eat. Photo by Karlie Ybarra

The “cream candy” tastes wonderful—a nice, chewy caramel—but I don’t think they turned out how they were supposed to. They were also difficult to cut, but luckily I got me a man who helps in the kitchen. Photo by Karlie Ybarra

I learned a lot during this process. For instance, vinegar keeps sugar from crystalizing. A large egg is about fifty grams. And three hundred degree sugar syrup will burn through a plastic trash bag in approximately two seconds (my husband gave himself second-degree foot burns discovering that last one).

Since it’s so removed from the way she would have done it, I’m not sure if this experience actually gave me insight into Belle. But as I was standing in the kitchen contentedly watching my sugar turn into rich, golden syrup, I did enjoy thinking about her doing the same. I like to picture her lovingly wrapping those candies and making her friends and families smile when she distributed them. Her life was so filled with sorrow and horror, so it’s nice to know she had some sweetness too.

Written By

Karlie Ybarra

Managing editor Karlie Ybarra loves to explore her home state—and meet many of its animal citizens—any chance she gets.