To Make Callishones – Elizabethan Coriander Marchpane Candies (John Murrell, 1621)

Callishones drying on the stovetop — fragrant marchpane sweets gilded with coriander and gold dust.

Updated: October 30, 2025 | Originally Published: 9/17/2015

Part of the Baronial 12th Night series.

To Make Callishones – Coriander-Scented Marchpane Candies

This elegant sweetmeat comes from John Murrell’s A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen (1621), a household guide filled with refined banqueting recipes — comfits, marchpanes, fruit pastes, and perfumed lozenges meant to close an Elizabethan feast. Callishones (or calysons) were pressed from almond paste and spiced with coriander and musk, then dried into aromatic lozenges.

The Elizabethan Banqueting Course

In the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, a banqueting course was a distinct final act of a feast — a separate table laden with sugarwork, spiced wines, candied fruits, comfits, and perfumed pastes. These dishes were not meant to fill the stomach but to delight the senses and demonstrate refinement.

The fashion for such displays began in the Tudor court and reached its height under Elizabeth I, when sugar was imported from Madeira, the Azores, and later the Caribbean. Wealthy hosts commissioned sugar plate sculptures and marchpane castles, while smaller households imitated them with printed or molded sweets like callishones. The very word “banquet” came to mean not a meal, but a ceremonial table of confections.

Surviving accounts from royal and noble households show that banqueting rooms were sometimes separate from dining halls — built atop towers or in garden pavilions — so that guests could “walk to the banquet” after dinner and admire both the view and the artistry of the table.

📜 Original Recipe (1621)

To make Callishones.
Take halfe a pound of Marchpane paste, a thimble-full of Coriander seeds beaten to a powder, with a graine of Muske; beat all to a perfect paste, print it, and drie it.

— John Murrell, A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen, 1621

About John Murrell

John Murrell was a professional cook and author active in early 17th-century England. His A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen (1621) and companion volume A New Booke of Cookerie (1615) were among the first printed guides to combine courtly cookery with domestic confectionery. Unlike earlier medieval manuals for stewards, Murrell’s works targeted gentlewomen who managed their own households and took pride in mastering the banqueting arts.

His recipes reflect a world in transition — where the medieval idea of sugar as medicine met the Renaissance fascination with display. Recipes like callishones, marchpane, and perfumed comfits were designed as much for appearance and fragrance as for taste.

Modern Adaptation

• 10 oz almond paste (≈½ lb)
• 1½ tsp ground coriander seed
• Up to ½ cup confectioners’ sugar (for rolling)
• 1 tsp rosewater (substitute for musk)
• Optional: edible gold luster dust (affiliate link placeholder)

Method:
Chill almond paste overnight. Grate into a bowl and mix with ½ tsp coriander. Combine the remaining coriander with sugar on wax paper. Press portions of almond paste into the sugar mixture and roll to ¼" thickness. Cut into small shapes (flowers, hearts, or coins) — this “printing” mirrors the original instruction. Brush edges with rosewater, dip into a mix of luster dust and coriander, and allow to dry near a warm hearth or in a low oven for several hours. Yields about 80 candies.

Homemade Marchpane:
Blend equal parts almond flour and confectioners’ sugar. Add 1 egg white (or pasteurized substitute), 1 tsp almond extract, and 1 tsp rose or orange-flower water until a pliable paste forms. Traditionally, raw egg white bound the paste; for food safety, use syrup or aquafaba instead.

🥕 Dietary Notes

• Vegetarian
• Gluten-Free
• To make Vegan: use vegan marzipan and syrup or aquafaba instead of egg white.
• Allergens: Almonds (tree nuts)

Historical & Cultural Context

During the late 16th and early 17th centuries, sugar was a luxury commodity thought to have medicinal virtues. Physicians described it as a “hot and moist” substance that comforted the chest and stomach. Combined with “warming” spices like coriander, it was believed to aid digestion after heavy meat courses.

By the late 1500s, apothecaries and confectioners were nearly indistinguishable: pills and lozenges became pastilles and sweetmeats. What had once been dispensed for health was now displayed for pleasure — sugar evolving from medicine to dessert.

From Medicine to Dessert

During the Middle Ages, sugar was classed as a spice rather than a staple, imported in small quantities and sold by the ounce in apothecaries. It appeared in recipes for cough syrups, digestive lozenges, and electuaries — pastes of herbs and honey rolled into medicinal balls.

By the early 17th century, expanding global trade through the Levant Company and early Caribbean plantations made sugar more accessible. Though still costly, it was no longer purely medical — it became symbolic of gentility. London confectioners sold marchpane, candied fruit, and perfumed comfits to an emerging consumer class, transforming a pharmacological ingredient into a culinary art form.

Techniques & Tools of the Confectioner

Recipes like this required precision and patience. Marchpane paste was beaten in a mortar or worked by hand for hours to achieve a smooth, elastic texture. Molds of wood, pewter, or carved boxwood impressed floral or heraldic designs — some of which survive in museum collections. Drying took place near the hearth or in the gentle warmth of a cooling oven.

Color and decoration were essential: gilding with leaf gold or dusting with tinted sugar transformed humble almond sweets into edible jewels fit for noble tables.

Serving Suggestion

Serve callishones alongside comfits, candied citrus, and quince paste (membrillo) for an authentic banqueting table. Pair with Hypocras or spiced wine to complete the course.

Sources & Further Reading

• Murrell, John. A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen, London, 1621. (EEBO)
• Albala, Ken. The Banquet: Dining in the Great Courts of Late Renaissance Europe. University of Illinois Press, 2007.
• Wilson, C. Anne. Food and Drink in Britain: From the Stone Age to the 19th Century. Penguin, 1973.

More from the Elizabethan Banqueting Course

➤ To Make Hypocras (Spiced Wine)
➤ Baronial 12th Night Banquet
➤ To Make Gingerbread (1600s)