"Cancer necks" are one of the favorite delicacies of Soviet children, many of whom, having become adults, have retained their taste preferences. However, both children and adults often wonder why these candies have such a strange name.
Real cancerous necks
River crayfish are arthropods that are found in fresh water bodies in many regions of Russia. Some lovers consider their meat a real delicacy and prefer it to the meat of other sea and river inhabitants. In theory, many parts of the cancer's body are edible, such as claw meat and caviar, but the fleshy part is the so-called cephalothorax - a part of the body formed by the fused sections of the breast and head of the cancer, which experts in the study of these arthropods also call the Latin word "cephalothorax".
Among ordinary fishermen and ordinary lovers of crayfish meat, this term, of course, is used extremely rarely. The much more common names for this mouth-watering crayfish body part are "tail" or "neck." In this case, if such a word is used out of context, from which it is possible to unambiguously understand which tail or neck it is about, it is customary to add the adjective "cancerous" to it - respectively, "cancerous tail" and "cancerous neck".
At the same time, crayfish meat is usually eaten boiled: it is recommended to boil them for 10-15 minutes, after which the pan must be removed from the heat and the crayfish should be allowed to stand in it for another 10 minutes. In the process of cooking, they acquire a bright red color, and it spreads to the entire surface of the crayfish body, including, of course, the neck, beloved by gourmets. This, incidentally, became the basis for the emergence of another common expression - "red as cancer".
Crayfish tints sweets
Thus, the reason for the appearance of such an unusual at first glance name for caramel, upon closer examination, turns out to be quite simple: it lies in the ordinary external resemblance of these confectionery products to boiled crayfish tails. At the same time, despite the fact that "Cancer necks" received their main fame in Soviet times, they were invented much earlier.
The recipe for making such sweets was proposed back in the 19th century by the supplier of the imperial court, the famous confectioner Alexei Ivanovich Abrikosov. He was the first to notice the funny similarity of caramel with boiled crayfish necks and gave it that name. By the way, it was he who became the inventor of the recipe and the author of the name of the caramel with an equally interesting name - "Crow's Feet".
At present, the name of the candies "Crayfish tails" has actually become a household name for all caramel made according to this or a similar recipe. However, sometimes you can find similar sweets on sale, which are called "Rachki"
