Of assorted sugar comfits

 Originally published on Patreon Oct 5, 2022

Thomas Dawson lists comfets (comfits) as one of the "necessaries appertaining to a banquet". Comfits were often served at the end of the feast to freshen the breath, act as a digestive, as decoration, and sometimes used in the treatment of specific illnesses.

Aromatic seeds such as anise, fennel, or caraway were coated with sugar and colored using beet, spinach, or saffron. They can also be made using almonds or ginger. Comfits can still be purchased today, for example, Jordan almonds or pastilles. They are a bit time-consuming to make but oh so much tastier than the ones you purchase!

The easier comfits to make are the ones with seeds such as caraway, fennel, or anise. Making cinnamon comfits is a bit of a process. To start I will walk you through the process of candying seeds such as anise, caraway, coriander, fennel, or other seeds or nuts.

Many of the cookbooks that were published in the 1700s and after suggest coating the seeds with a solution of gum arabic. To create your solution use 1 tsp. of gum arabic, to 3 tsp. rosewater. I let mine sit overnight and it becomes a thick, honey-colored gel. If you are going to use gum arabic to coat your seeds, the first few coats (charges) will need to use this solution. Then you can move on to your sugar.

For more information on making these historic treats, please visit Historic Comfits Using Modern Equipment by Dame Alys Katharine (Elise Fleming).

Original Recipe

CLXXIX

Von allerley Zucker Confect

Ausz der Apotecken.

Of assorted sugar comfits

(as) from the apothecary

I. Almonds coated.

2. Anise coated.

3. Cinnamon-bark coated.

4. Cloves coated.

5. Coriander coated.

6. Caraway coated.

7. Fennel coated.

8. Pinion nut coated

9. Walnuts coated

10. Hazelnut (Filbert) kernels coated.

11. Peach kernel coated (I assume only the soft kernel inside the pit)

12. Citron peel coated.

13. Apricot kernel coated.

14. Assorted plum kernel(s) coated.

15. Assorted cherry kernels coated (is there a soft center to a cherry pit?)

16. Chestnuts coated.

17. (Sauer) Orange peel coated.

18. Lime peel coated (there is debate if Limonien were limes or lemons)

19. Eichorium (unsure what this is... perhaps oak???) root coated.

20. Pimpernell (Pimpinella saxifraga L) root coated. (greater Burnett???)

21. Glockenwurtz or Helmenkraut (Inula helenium L) root coated. (Elecampane is an expectorant, root also dyes blue)

22. Sugar root coated (sugar beet root)

23. Violet (or pansy) (Viola odorata L, Viola tricolor L) root coated.

24. Ginger coated.

25. Of assorted roots/ that have a well tasting scent/smell.

If you wish such comfits to coat with sugar/ so take a clean copper vessel/ that has two handholds/ hang it in the height on a rope at both handholds/ set a glow kettle with glowing coals thereunder/ put the comfits into the vessel/ and make it fine warm/ pour nice clarified (clean) sugar thereto/ and stir it often therewith/ till the confits the sugar takes to it/ so it becomes nice white and dry. Also coats one assorted grains (do they really mean wheat, rye, etc? or are they talking about kernels as in individual anise seeds?) with sugar/ and assorted spices/ so it becomes good and also welltasting.

Original Recipe How to cover all kinds of Seeds, or little pieces of Spices, or Orange or Limon Pill, with Sugar for Comfits. First of all you must have a deep bottomed Basin of Brass or Latin, with two ears of Iron to hang it with two Cords over some hot Coals. You must also have a broad Pan to put Ashes in, and hot Coals upon them. You must have a Brass Ladle to let run the Sugar upon the Seeds. You must have a Slice of Brass to scrape away the Sugar from the sides of the hanging Basin if need be. Having all these things in readiness, do as followeth; Take fine white Sugar beaten, and let your Seeds and Spice be dry, then dry them again in your hanging Basin: Take to every two pounds of Sugar one quarter of a pound of Spices or Seeds, or such like.  If it be Aniseeds, two pounds of Sugar to half a pound of Aniseeds, will be enough. Melt your Sugar in this manner, put in three Pounds of Sugar into the Basin, and one Pint of Water, stir it well till it be wet, then melt it very well and boil it very softly until it will stream from the Ladle like Turpentine, and not drop, then let it seeth no more, but keep it upon warm Embers, that it may run from the Ladle upon the seeds.  Move the Seeds in the hanging Basin so fast as you can or may, and with one hand, cast on half a Ladle full at a time of the hot Sugar, and rub the Seeds with your other hand a pretty while, for that will make them take the Sugar the better, and dry them well after every Coat. Do thus at every Coat, not only in moving the Basin, but also with stirring of the Comfits with the one hand, and drying the same: in every hour you may make three pounds of Comfits; as the Comfits do increase in bigness, so you may take more Sugar in your Ladle to cast on: But for plain Comfits, let your Sugar be of a light decoction last, and of a high decoction first, and not too hot.  For crisp and ragged Comfits make your decoction so high, as that it may run from the Ladle, and let it fall a foot high or more from the Ladle, and the hotter you cast on your sugar, the more ragged will your Comfits be; also the Comfits will not take so much of the sugar, as upon a light decoction, and they will keep their raggedness long; this high decoction must serve for eight or ten Coats, and put on at every time but one Ladle full. A quarter of a pound of Coriander seeds, and three pounds of sugar, will serve for very great Comfits. See that you keep your Sugar in the Basin always in good temper, that it burn not in Lumps, and if at any time it be too high boiled, put in a spoonful or two of water, and keep it warily with your Ladle, and let your fire be always very clear, when your Comfits be made, set them in Dishes upon Paper in the Sun or before the Fire, or in the Oven after Bread is drawn, for the space of one hour or two, and that will make them look very white. 

 Comfits 

1 tbsp. seed of choice (anise, fennel, caraway, etc.) 

1 cup sugar 

1/3 cup water

Instructions 1. If you choose to coat your seeds with gum arabic you will need to do that in the first few charges of syrup. The ratio that most of the later confectionary books used was 6:1 - 6 parts sugar syrup to 1 part gum arabic solution. It has an odd smell when you "cook" it, but that does not affect the taste  2. Heat the sugar and the water until it reaches 170 degrees for a smooth coat, or  225 degrees for a jagged coat.  3. While the sugar syrup is heating, you will want to heat your seeds or nuts in a large flat pan such as a wok or frying pan in order to release its essential oils.  If you cannot use your fingers to stir the seeds as they heat it is too hot.   4. Once the syrup has reached the temperature you want, take a teaspoon of it and pour it over the seeds in the pan. I shake the pan until the syrup has cooled enough I can smooth the seeds around with my fingers. However, you can use the back of a wooden spoon, and stir the seeds until the sugar dries.

• If the seeds stick together, you have used too much syrup.
• If the sugar forms pellets in the bottom of the pan then you have used too much syrup.
• 
  

NOTE: In the first few charges (coats) of the syrup the seed will look grayish, and then they will gradually begin to turn white.   5. After about 12 charges, you are done for the day. I prefer my comfits smaller, so I usually do not do this process a second day. However, you can, if you wish, make another solution of syrup and coat your seeds again after they have had time to dry out overnight. The larger the comfits get, the more you will need to divide your batch. You need to be able to work with the pan.

NOTE: Beet juice, spinach juice, and saffron can be used to color your comfits in the last several charges of syrup, or, you can add a few drops of food coloring if you wish.  

To Make Cinnamon Comfits

 Cinnamon comfits require an extra step. First,  you need to make sure that you are using "true" cinnamon, that is Ceylon Cinnamon, which is soft, crumbly, and brittle. When you look at it, it is "compact" and consists of many layers. Cassia cinnamon is what you normally find in the store, and it is thick, and darker in color than Ceylon cinnamon which is a light rusty brown in color. Once you have obtained Ceylon cinnamon you will need to soak it overnight in water. This is so that you can shave it down into the needle-like strips that are needed to make the comfit. Then you will need to let your cinnamon dry thoroughly.  Once the cinnamon has dried completely, proceed as above, being careful to coat the cinnamon with the gum arabic/syrup solution in the first three charges (coats). You will need to stop coating your comfits after about eight charges of syrup and let them dry overnight. Then you can make another solution of syrup and continue the next day.  Enjoy! 

 Update: Regarding cinnamon comfits,  I have been able to make these successfully without soaking ahead of time. 

 Sources

"Deutsches Textarchiv – Rumpolt, Marx: Ein New Kochbuch. Frankfurt (Main), 1581.". Deutschestextarchiv.De, 2022, https://www.deutschestextarchiv.de/book/view/rumpolt_kochbuch_1581/?p=418&hl=Rote. Accessed 4 Oct 2022.

Palmer, Sharon. "Ein New Kochbuch". Academia.Edu, 2022, https://www.academia.edu/6272538/Ein_New_Kochbuch. Accessed 4 Oct 2022.