Callishones – Coriander Flavored Marchpane from A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen (1621)

Coriander Flavored Marzipan Callishones
Inspired by John Murrell’s A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen (1621)

Originally published: December 31, 2020, 3:28 PM
Updated: May 13, 2026

These coriander-flavored marchpane candies, called Callishones, are small molded sweetmeats made from almond paste, sugar, spice, and rosewater. They belong to the glittering world of Renaissance banqueting, where food, medicine, perfume, and display often shared the same sugared tray.

Callishones is likely related to the French calissons, traditionally pronounced roughly “cal-ee-SOHNS.”

The finished candies are delicate rather than strongly spiced. Coriander gives the almond paste a warm, citrus-like fragrance, while rosewater adds a floral note. With a touch of gold at the edges, they become tiny edible jewels fit for a feast board.

Source Spotlight: A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen

John Murrell’s A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen belongs to the early 17th-century English tradition of printed household and cookery books aimed at gentlewomen managing refined domestic tables. These books often included recipes for preserves, pastes, marmalades, comfits, marchpanes, and decorative banquet dishes.

The longer title associated with this work emphasizes learning “the whole Art of making Pastes, Preserves, Marmalades,” which places these callishones firmly in the world of sweetmeats and banquet confectionery.

Online reference: A Delightfull Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen at ckbk.

What Are Callishones?

Callishones were molded or printed sweetmeats made from marchpane paste. The name is related to calissons, almond-based sweets still associated with southern France. In this English recipe, the paste is flavored with coriander and musk, then shaped and dried.

Because almonds, sugar, floral waters, and aromatic ingredients were expensive, marchpane sweets were associated with wealth, banquets, weddings, and courtly hospitality. They were not merely “candy” in the modern sense. They were part dessert, part digestive, part edible art.

A Luxury Confection

In the 17th century, almonds, refined sugar, floral waters, and imported spices represented luxury ingredients. Even small sweetmeats like these reflected access to global trade and fashionable dining culture.

Original Recipe

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.

Modern Recipe

Ingredients

• 10 ounces almond paste
• 1 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
• Up to 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 tsp. rosewater
• Optional: gold luster dust for decoration

🥕 Dietary Notes: Vegetarian. Gluten-free if all purchased ingredients are certified gluten-free. Contains tree nuts and, if using homemade almond paste with egg white, egg.

Instructions

This works best if the almond paste is cold, so I put mine in the refrigerator overnight.

Grate the chilled almond paste into a bowl and mix in 1/2 tsp. of the ground coriander.

Combine the remaining coriander with the confectioners sugar. Spread a small amount of the mixture onto a sheet of wax paper.

Take about 1/3 of the almond paste and press both sides into the coriander sugar mixture. Roll the paste out to approximately 1/4 inch thick and cut into shapes using small cookie cutters or molds.

Repeat until all of the almond paste has been used. This made approximately 80 small candies.

To finish, I mixed gold luster dust with additional ground coriander and painted the edges of the callishones lightly with rosewater before dipping the edges into the decorative mixture. Allow the candies to dry before serving.

Making Homemade Marchpane Paste

To make the almond paste, I used equal parts almond flour and confectioners sugar, then added:

• 1 to 2 tsp. almond extract
• 1 tsp. orange flower water or rosewater
• 1 egg white

I know, I should probably worry about salmonella, but these were extremely fresh eggs purchased at the market that morning.

If preferred, pasteurized egg whites may be substituted.

Why Use Coriander in Candy?

Modern cooks often think of coriander as a savory spice, but in medieval and Renaissance cooking, coriander frequently appears in sweet preparations. Coriander seed has a warm, citrusy, lightly floral flavor that pairs beautifully with almonds, sugar, rosewater, and other banquet sweets.

Coriander was also valued for its digestive qualities. In a feast setting, spiced and sugared seeds, comfits, marchpanes, and aromatic sweetmeats were often served toward the end of the meal, helping close the stomach after rich foods.

About the Musk

The original recipe includes a “graine of Muske.” In Renaissance confectionery, musk was used as a luxury aromatic ingredient in both perfumes and sweets. Modern cooks generally omit it, though rosewater and coriander preserve the fragrant character of the original confection.

Humoral Qualities

From a humoral perspective, this candy would likely have been understood as a refined digestive sweet. Almonds were nourishing and gently strengthening. Sugar acted as both a sweetener and a medicinal carrier. Dried coriander seed was warming, drying, aromatic, and associated with settling the stomach.

Rosewater added a cooling and comforting quality, especially connected with the heart and spirits. Taken together, these callishones are not simply decorative sweets. They are a balanced little confection: gently warming to the stomach, fragrant, restorative, and suitable after a heavy feast.

Did You Know?

Marchpane was often molded, printed, gilded, or shaped into decorative forms for banquets. These sweets lived in the same elegant world as comfits, fruit pastes, sugar plates, and perfumed lozenges.

Marchpane vs. Modern Marzipan

• Marchpane was often firm enough to mold, print, dry, or shape for decorative banquet work.
• Modern marzipan is often softer, sweeter, and used for candy centers or cake covering.
• Historical marchpane might include rosewater, orange flower water, musk, ambergris, spices, or edible gilding.
• For this recipe, prepared almond paste is a useful shortcut while still preserving the character of the original sweet.

At the Banquet Table

Sweetmeats like these often appeared near the end of elaborate feast services alongside hippocras, wafers, comfits, candied seeds, and preserved fruits. Their role was both practical and theatrical: aiding digestion while displaying wealth, refinement, and artistic skill.

Feast Presentation Ideas

• Serve with hippocras, spiced wine, or cordial waters
• Arrange on a small gilded tray with candied citrus peel
• Use heraldic, floral, or geometric molds for SCA feasts
• Wrap individual pieces in parchment twists as favors
• Pair with comfits, dried fruit, wafers, or other banquet sweets

Storage

Store finished callishones in an airtight container between layers of parchment paper. They keep well for several days, and the flavor improves slightly as the coriander mellows into the almond paste.

Modern Variations

• Add orange zest for a brighter citrus flavor
• Use orange flower water instead of rosewater
• Dust with cinnamon sugar instead of coriander sugar
• Dip one edge in dark chocolate for a modern version
• Use small silicone molds for consistent feast presentation

Source

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

Online reference: A Delightfull Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen at ckbk.

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