Keep corn hot & crisp in slow oven (300°F). Boil sugar, syrup, water and salt until 254ø- 260°F. Add vanilla and vinegar and boil to 264°F. Food coloring can be added at this point. Slowly pour over corn, stirring well so every kernel is coated. Press into balls and let cool until hard. Wrap in plastic wrap.

Mary was a spinster neighbor when I was a child who had to be the youngest woman I have ever know and the best substitute grandmother a child could have ever wished for. She knew that her mother had been making this recipe as far back as 1880.