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.

White Bread in Early Modern England: Manchets (1594) vs. Robert May’s French Bread (1685)

Fine white breads on the English table, 16th–17th c.

Can you imagine eating two to three pounds of bread a day—and washing it down with ale? In late medieval and early modern kitchens, bread was the staple, from four-day-old trencher loaves to fine white table bread. This overview compares two elite white breads I bake often: manchet “after my Ladie Graies use” (1594) and Robert May’s “French bread” (1685).

To Stew Shrimps – A 17th-Century Dish from Robert May’s Accomplisht Cook (1660)

To Stew Shrimps – A 17th-Century Dish from The Accomplisht Cook (c. 1660)

To Stew Shrimps being taken out of their shells – The Accomplisht Cook (c. 1660)

Source: The Accomplisht Cook, c. 1660 (Robert May). 

Originally published 10/29/2017. Updated 9/19/2025.

Historical & Culinary Context

This shrimp dish comes from Robert May’s The Accomplisht Cook, one of the most influential English cookbooks of the seventeenth century. First published in 1660, May’s work reflects both medieval traditions and the growing influence of Continental cuisine, especially French and Italian. His recipes were intended for professional cooks serving aristocratic and gentry households, showcasing both practicality and elegance.

Stewed shellfish such as shrimp, cockles, and prawns appear often in May’s book. They were common at English tables, especially in the second course of a banquet or feast, where lighter, more refined dishes were expected after heavier meats. The use of capers, wine, and butter in this recipe signals a clear French influence, blending sharp and savory flavors into a delicate sauce.

🍽️ Menu Placement

Dishes like To Stew Shrimps would likely appear in the second course of a formal meal, accompanying poultry, lighter meats, and vegetable preparations. Served on toast, it could also function as a transitional dish between heavier roasts and sweet entremets.

Humoral Theory

According to Galenic humoral theory still in use during May’s time, shellfish such as shrimp were considered cold and moist. To balance this, cooks paired them with warming, dry ingredients like mace, garlic, pepper, and toasted bread. The addition of vinegar and wine also sharpened and “opened” the dish, believed to aid digestion of the otherwise heavy shellfish.

Ingredient Notes & Substitutions

• Shrimp: Fresh or raw “peel-and-eat” shrimp work well. Pre-shelled shrimp save effort when cooking for a crowd.
• Wine: May’s recipe calls for claret, a light red wine. A dry white wine works beautifully in the modern kitchen.
• Capers: Add sharpness. Substitute chopped green olives if unavailable.
• Mace: The lacy outer covering of nutmeg. Substitute nutmeg in smaller quantity if mace is unavailable.
• Bread: Stale white bread was traditional. Any crusty white loaf or baguette makes a good toast base.

🥕 Dietary Notes

• Gluten-Free: Use gluten-free breadcrumbs and bread rounds.
• Dairy-Free: Replace butter with olive oil or dairy-free margarine.
• Allergens: Contains shellfish, eggs, and gluten unless substitutions are made.

Original Recipe (1660)

Wash them well with vinegar, broil or broth them before you take them out of the shells, then put them in a dish with a little claret, vinegar, a handful of capers, mace, pepper, a little grated bread, minced tyme, salt, and the yolks of two or three hard eggs minced, stew all together till you think them enough; then put in a good piece of butter, shake them well together, heat the dish, rub it with a clove of garlick, and put two or three toasts of white bread in the bottom, laying the meat on them. Craw-fish, prawns, or shrimps, are excellent good the same way being taken out of their shells, and make variety of garnish with the shells.

Robert May’s “French Bread” (1660s) – Enriched Rolls, Baked Hot

Robert May’s “To make French Bread the best way”

Originally published 3/6/2021 / Updated 10/2/2025

Robert May’s “French Bread” (not a baguette!)

I must smile whenever I reference “bread,” because people love the pastry-vs-bread debate. Here’s my stance in short: all pastries are bread, but not all breads are pastries—the line is mostly about fat and enrichment (and intended use). May’s “French bread” sits right on that line: a white, enriched roll—egg whites and warm milk—baked quickly and served hot. It’s not a Parisian baguette; it’s a 17th-century English cook’s idea of French-style white bread.

What May means by “French bread”

• Source: Robert May, The Accomplisht Cook (1660; 1685 ed.).
• Enrichment: whites of six eggs, warm milk + water, plenty of salt.
• Shape & bake: “rouls” or in little wooden dishes; quick hot oven; “chip it hot.”
• Leavening: ale barm/yeast (commercial yeast works fine; a splash of mild ale is a nod to flavor).

Deep dive on period white breads: see my pillar post White Bread in Early Modern England.