Itria – Sesame Seed Biscuit & Basyniai – Fig and Walnut Cakes: Ancient Roman Sweets

Course: Mensa Secunda (Final Course / Dessert)
Origin: Ancient Rome
Served: Itria cooled; Basyniai warm
Event: Push for Pennsic 2004 – Early Roman Feast

Originally published: June 29, 2025 | Updated: June 3, 2026

Updated 6/3/2026: This post has been refreshed to current Give It Forth standards with expanded historical context, clearer recipe formatting, feast service notes, dietary notes, FAQ, internal links to the Roman feast series, and structured recipe data.

What are Itria and Basyniai? These two Roman-inspired sweets were served as part of the mensa secunda, the final course of the feast. Itria is interpreted here as a honeyed sesame-and-nut sweet, while Basyniai are small fig-and-walnut pastries fried in oil and finished with warm honey.

Itria and Basyniai in the Roman Feast

The final course of a Roman-style meal was not always a modern dessert course in the strict sense. Roman diners enjoyed fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts, honeyed sweets, cakes, and small confections, but sweet and savory flavors could appear throughout the meal. A final course might refresh the palate rather than act as a heavy sugary ending.

For the Push for Pennsic 2004 – Early Roman Feast, these two sweets were served alongside assorted fresh and dried fruit and sugared nuts. Together, they offered the kind of small, rich, portable treats that work beautifully at the end of a large feast.

Both recipes are practical for event cooking. The sesame sweet can be made ahead, portioned into small bites, and served cooled. The fig-and-walnut pastries are best warm, but the filling and dough can be prepared in advance, making final service easier.

🏛️ Roman feast note: These sweets were part of the mensa secunda, served after the more substantial dishes of the feast. They pair especially well with fruit, nuts, grape juice, apple juice, lemonade, or other light beverages for a modern event table.

Historical Background

Sesame and honey confections were beloved across the ancient Mediterranean. Greek and Roman foodways both made use of small sweets made from seeds, nuts, dried fruits, and honey. These were compact, rich, and easy to portion, making them especially useful for feast service.

The Greek pasteli and Roman iritia or itria bear some resemblance to seed-and-honey sweets, although ancient food terms can shift in meaning depending on source, period, and context. For this feast, Itria was interpreted as a honey-bound sesame-and-nut confection: simple, fragrant, and portioned as small bites for the end of the meal.

Basyniai reflects another familiar ancient pattern: fruit and nuts enclosed in simple dough, fried in oil, and finished with honey. Figs, walnuts, olive oil, and honey were all well-suited to Roman-style sweets. The result is rustic rather than delicate, but rich, memorable, and feast-friendly.

These sweets also help modern diners understand that Roman final courses were not necessarily the same as modern desserts. A Roman-inspired ending could include fruit, nuts, honeyed cakes, fried pastries, and small confections rather than a single large cake or pudding.

⚖️ Humoral note: Later medieval dietary theory often treated nuts as rich and substantial, dried fruits as warming and nourishing, and honey as warming and drying. Although these are Roman-inspired sweets rather than medieval recipes, the practical balance is clear: dense nuts and figs are lifted by crisp pastry, toasted sesame, and warm honey.

🌸 Suger Plate - Medieval Sugar Candy with Flowers

Originally published 5/10/2015 - Updated 5/27/2026

Sugar plate looks simple at first glance: sugar, rosewater, a little water, and flowers. In practice, it is a small master class in medieval sugarwork. It asks the cook to understand heat, texture, timing, humidity, and the mysterious moment when syrup becomes candy.

When I first made this recipe, I worked from the version in Pleyn Delit. I originally associated it with Harleian MS. 279, but while revisiting the recipe for this update I traced the attribution more carefully. In the second edition of Pleyn Delit, the recipe is identified as GK13, which points to Goud Kokery, recipe 13, preserved in Harleian MS. 2378 and printed in Curye on Inglysch.

That discovery changed the way I read the recipe. The original Middle English text does not describe a modern hard candy in thermometer language. Instead, it tells the cook to test the sugar between the fingers, remove it from the fire, stir it, work it, and make the “plate.” That suggests a softer, worked confection may be closer to the historical method, though the hard-crack version is still beautiful for feast display.

Violet petals preserved in sugar plate. The clearer amber candy was cooked to hard crack; the paler version was cooked lower and beaten.

What Is Sugar Plate?

Sugar plate is a medieval confection made by cooking clarified sugar, flavoring it, and forming it into a sheet or slab. The word “plate” here does not mean a dinner plate. It means a flat piece, layer, or formed sheet of sugar.

This is different from sugar paste. Sugar paste is usually a kneadable mixture used for molded or sculpted sugarwork, often involving a binder such as gum tragacanth. Sugar plate, by contrast, begins as cooked sugar and is poured or worked into a flat confection.

In a medieval feast setting, sugar plate belonged to the same elegant world as comfits, preserved fruits, marchpane, wafers, and subtlety work. It was sweet, scented, decorative, and expensive enough to make a statement. A small dish of rose-scented sugar with flowers would have been both dessert and table ornament.

The Source Trail: From Pleyn Delit Back to Goud Kokery

This recipe began for me with Pleyn Delit, but the revised edition gives the source as GK13. That abbreviation refers to Goud Kokery, one of the Middle English recipe collections included in Curye on Inglysch. The printed source identifies the recipe as Suger plate, from Harleian MS. 2378.

Finding the original mattered because it changed how I interpreted the cooking process. The modern recipe gives a practical adaptation, but the Middle English instructions are more revealing about texture and technique.

Original source: Suger plate, GK13, from Goud Kokery in Curye on Inglysch, Harleian MS. 2378.

Modern interpretation: The Pleyn Delit version used for my original kitchen testing.

You can explore the digitized source here: Curye on Inglysch, page 152, “Suger Plate” .

What the Original Recipe Tells Us

The original recipe gives several clues that are important for a modern cook:

• It begins with clarified sugar.
• The sugar is tested between the fingers, not with a thermometer.
• The cook is told to avoid letting it become too stiff.
• The sugar is removed from the fire and stirred.
• Rosewater is added after cooking.
• The sugar is worked or formed into a “plate.”

This makes me think the historical preparation was probably not a clear, glassy hard-crack candy in the modern lollipop sense. It seems more likely to have been a worked sugar confection, cooked to a stage where it could still be stirred, handled, flavored, and formed.

That does not make the hard-crack version wrong as a modern feast interpretation. It is beautiful, dramatic, and useful for display. But if I were choosing the version that feels closest to the manuscript process, I would choose the softer worked sugar plate.

Medieval Sugar Stages for Modern Cooks

Modern candy recipes usually give temperatures. Medieval recipes usually do not. Instead, cooks judged sugar by appearance, texture, behavior, and touch. That is why older confectionery language includes terms such as thread, pearl, feather, ball, and crack.

The exact temperatures below are modern approximations. They are useful for home cooks, but historical cooks would have relied on experience and physical tests.

Stage	Approx. Temp.	What It Does	Modern Use
Thread	223–235°F	Forms thin threads from spoon or fingers	Syrups, preserves
Pearl / Blow	230–240°F	Thick syrup, bubbles, stronger strands	Candied fruits, soft sugarwork
Soft Ball	235–240°F	Forms a soft ball in cold water	Fondant, fudge-like candies
Firm Ball	245–250°F	Forms a firmer but pliable ball	Caramels, chewy candies
Hard Ball	250–265°F	Holds shape but remains chewy	Nougat, divinity-style candies
Soft Crack	270–290°F	Forms flexible brittle threads	Taffy, butterscotch
Hard Crack	300–310°F	Sets hard and glass-like	Lollipops, brittle, clear candy
Caramel	320°F and above	Sugar browns and develops caramel flavor	Caramelized sugar

For this recipe, the manuscript clues point most strongly toward the thread, pearl, or soft-ball range rather than hard crack. In testing, about 230°F produced a softer, paler sugar plate that could be beaten and worked before setting.

Humoral Notes: Sugar, Rosewater, and Flowers

Medieval sweets often lived at the border between food and medicine. Sugar was valued not only for sweetness, but also for its usefulness in medicinal preparations, preserves, and digestive confections.

Rosewater adds another layer. Roses were associated with cooling and comforting properties, especially for the heart and stomach. Violets were also often understood as cooling and soothing. A rose-scented sugar confection served at the end of a meal therefore made sense as both pleasure and digestive finish.

For a modern cook, this helps explain why such a small sweet could matter. Sugar plate was not meant to be eaten by the handful. It was a fragrant, elegant closing bite: sweet, floral, and showy enough to belong on a banquet table.

Modern Recipe: Sugar Plate with Edible Flowers

I am including two modern approaches below. The softer worked version is the one I now think is closest to the manuscript process. The hard-crack version is a useful feast-table adaptation when you want clear, dramatic candy with flowers suspended inside.

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• Enough water to thoroughly wet the sugar
• 2 tablespoons rosewater
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice, optional, to help reduce crystallization
• Edible flowers or petals, such as violets, roses, pinks, calendula, borage, or lavender
• Confectioner’s sugar, rice flour, or lightly oiled parchment for preventing sticking

Equipment

• Heavy-bottomed saucepan
• Reliable candy thermometer, preferably digital
• Heat-safe spatula
• Parchment paper or a marble slab
• Rimmed baking sheet or shallow candy molds

Safety note: Hot sugar syrup is dangerous. It sticks to skin and burns deeply. Keep children and pets away from the stove, use care while pouring, and do not taste until fully cooled.

Version 1: Softer Worked Sugar Plate

This is the version I now favor as the more historically plausible interpretation. It produces a pale, opaque, rose-scented sugar confection rather than a clear hard candy.

Method

1. Prepare your work surface. Line a baking sheet with parchment, or prepare a clean marble slab. Dust very lightly with rice flour or confectioner’s sugar if needed.
2. Prepare the flowers. Use only edible, unsprayed flowers. Remove stems and green parts. Petals are easier to use than whole blossoms.
3. Dissolve the sugar. Place the sugar in a heavy saucepan with just enough water to wet it thoroughly. Add lemon juice if using. Heat gently, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
4. Cook the syrup. Increase the heat and cook to about 230°F. This is in the thread to soft-ball neighborhood, not hard crack.
5. Remove from heat. Let the syrup cool slightly, then stir in the rosewater carefully. It may steam or bubble.
6. Beat and work the sugar. Stir with a heat-safe spatula as it cools. The sugar will begin to thicken and turn paler.
7. Add flowers. When the sugar is no longer violently hot but still workable, fold in the petals.
8. Form the plate. Pour or spread the sugar onto the prepared surface before it becomes too stiff.
9. Cool and serve. Let set fully, then cut or break into small pieces.

The result is softer and more delicate than modern hard candy. It is also more sensitive to humidity, so store it carefully between layers of parchment in an airtight container.

Version 2: Clear Hard-Crack Sugar Plate

This version is less likely to be the exact historical method for GK13, but it is beautiful and practical if you want a dramatic display candy. Flowers suspended in clear amber sugar look like tiny stained-glass windows.

Method

1. Line a rimmed baking sheet with lightly oiled parchment.
2. Scatter edible petals across the parchment, or have them ready to add just before pouring.
3. Cook the sugar syrup to 300°F.
4. Do not stir once the sugar has dissolved, as stirring can encourage crystallization.
5. Pour quickly over the petals or into molds.
6. Let cool completely before breaking into pieces.

This version sets rapidly. Work quickly, and do not try to handle the sugar while it is hot.

Kitchen Testing Notes

My first two attempts at hard-crack sugar plate were unsuccessful. I tested using the cold-water method, but both batches resulted in a soft, gummy candy. After that, I bought a digital thermometer, and the third attempt finally produced the clear amber candy I had been trying to make.

The lesson was immediate: sugarwork rewards accuracy. Humidity, pan size, water amount, heat level, and thermometer reliability all affect the finished candy. Medieval cooks would have learned these stages by experience. Modern cooks can absolutely learn the same skills, but a thermometer makes the learning curve less sticky.

I also tested the lower-temperature version because the manuscript wording seemed to suggest a pourable but not overly stiff candy. That batch was cooked to about 230°F and beaten as it cooled. I added petals of violets and pinks after the sugar began to turn pale.

Both versions were beautiful, and both were approved by my team of test teenagers. I had dim hope there would be leftovers based on the amount consumed by the test subjects. There were not many leftovers. This is, in my opinion, a successful sign.

Which Version Should You Make?

If you are making sugar plate for the first time, I recommend starting with the softer worked version. It is closer to the manuscript clues and gives you a better sense of how medieval sugar cookery worked by texture.

If you are making this for a feast display, a dessert board, or a dramatic final-course sweet, the hard-crack version is lovely. It may be less historically exact, but it creates a beautiful edible decoration.

Version	Temperature	Result	Best Use
Worked sugar plate	About 230°F	Pale, softer, opaque	Historical reconstruction, small sweets
Hard-crack flower candy	300°F	Clear, amber, brittle	Feast display, decorative shards

Flowers for Sugar Plate

Edible flowers turn sugar plate from simple candy into feast art. Use only flowers that are safe to eat and have not been sprayed with pesticides or florist preservatives.

Good Choices

• Violets
• Rose petals
• Pinks or dianthus petals
• Calendula petals
• Borage flowers
• Lavender blossoms, used sparingly

Delicate petals may discolor in very hot sugar, so add them late. For the hard-candy version, scattering petals onto parchment and pouring the syrup over them may preserve their shape better than stirring them into the pot.

For SCA Feasts, Classes, and Historical Demonstrations

Sugar plate is a useful recipe for teaching historical cooking because it shows how much older recipes depend on observation. The original does not give a thermometer reading. It gives behavior: test the sugar, watch the texture, stir it, and do not let it become too stiff.

• For a class: Make both versions and let people compare texture.
• For feast service: Serve small pieces with wafers, comfits, preserved fruit, or marchpane.
• For display: Use the hard-crack version for dramatic translucent shards.
• For historical discussion: Use the softer version to talk about sugar stages before thermometers.
• For transport: Pack pieces between parchment and keep dry.
• For humid weather: Store airtight and avoid leaving the candy uncovered for long periods.

Dietary Notes 🥕

• Vegetarian: Yes
• Vegan: Yes, assuming vegan sugar is used
• Gluten-Free: Yes
• Dairy-Free: Yes
• Egg-Free: Yes
• Common Allergens: None inherent, but confirm flower safety and possible cross-contact

Serving Suggestions

• Serve as part of a banquet or final course with comfits, wafers, marchpane, and preserved fruits.
• Break hard-crack sugar plate into irregular shards and arrange them on a small plate.
• Cut or mold the softer worked version into small pieces once it has set.
• Use rose petals for a romantic final-course sweet, or violets for a spring feast.
• Package small pieces in paper twists or tiny dishes for an event treat.

...

Sources

• Hieatt, Constance B. Pleyn Delit: Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks. 2nd ed. University of Toronto Press, 1996. See “Sugar Plate,” p. 175, attributed to GK13.
• Hieatt, Constance B., and Sharon Butler, eds. Curye on Inglysch. Early English Text Society, 1985. “Suger Plate,” GK13, from Goud Kokery, Harleian MS. 2378.
• Internet Archive record for Curye on Inglysch

AI Assistance Disclosure

AI Assistance Disclosure: Historical transcription, formatting, and redaction support were provided with the help of AI tools for research and editing. Some images were created or edited with AI tools. All historical interpretation and final text are curated and verified by the editor of Give It Forth.

🍊 Oranges after the Portugal Fashion - Candied Renaissance Oranges (Sir Hugh Plat, 1609)

Originally published 1/18/2015 - Updated 9/10/2025 - Refreshed 5/27/2026

Imagine being served what appears to be a glossy orange at a Renaissance banquet, only to discover that it has been boiled, candied in sugar syrup, filled with marmalade, and sliced open like a jewel-bright hard-boiled egg. Sir Hugh Plat’s Delights for Ladies (1609) preserves exactly that kind of culinary theater in his recipe “To preserve Orenges after the Portugall fashion.”

This is not a simple orange preserve. It is edible display. Whole oranges are softened, sweetened, filled with a stiff orange marmalade made from their own pulp, returned to syrup, and then served in slices. Plat promises that the finished fruit “will cut like an hard egge,” which is one of those historical recipe instructions that sounds impossible until you see it happen on the plate.

I have served these at feast, and one of the best things about them was that people thought they were table decorations. They sat on the table looking so bright, polished, and ornamental that diners did not immediately realize they were meant to be eaten. The servers had to explain that yes, the oranges were part of the menu. That moment is exactly why this recipe matters. It shows how Renaissance sweets could blur the line between food, decoration, luxury, and conversation piece.

Best historical choice: use Seville or bitter oranges if you can find them. I first made this recipe with ordinary sweet oranges, which worked, but later a generous member of the historical food community sent me bitter oranges and helped refine the quantities. I wish I could remember whether it was Ken Albala or David Friedman, but I remain deeply grateful for the opportunity. The bitter orange version was, to my taste, far better: more balanced, less cloying, firmer in set, and much closer to what Plat seems to describe.

Whole oranges simmering in sugar syrup. Plat’s method creates both candied fruit and marmalade in one showpiece.

Why This Recipe Matters

Plat’s preserved oranges are a perfect example of early modern English banquet culture. By the late 16th and early 17th centuries, elite tables used sugar, preserved fruits, marchpane, comfits, and molded sweets to display wealth and skill. These foods were often served in a banquet course, not necessarily as the main meal, but as a refined display of delicacy, hospitality, and status.

The phrase “after the Portugall fashion” is especially interesting. Portugal was strongly associated with citrus, sugar, maritime trade, and fashionable imported luxuries. Sweet oranges were sometimes linked with Portuguese trade and cultivation, while bitter oranges remained especially useful in preserves and marmalades because of their peel, acidity, bitterness, and natural pectin. In a recipe like this, the name signals more than geography. It suggests refinement, foreign fashion, and an expensive style of sweetmaking.

It is also worth remembering that “marmalade” did not always mean the soft breakfast spread we know today. Early marmalades were often stiff fruit pastes, closer to quince paste or fruit cheese. Plat’s instruction that the oranges should slice “like a hard egg” makes much more sense when we imagine a firm, sliceable citrus paste tucked inside the candied peel.

Historical Recipe

To preſerue Orenges after the Portugall faſhion. Take Orenges & coare them on the ſide and lay them in water, then boile them in fair water til they be tender, ſhift them in the boyling to take away their bitterneſſe, then take ſugar and boyle it to the height of ſirup as much as will couer them, and ſo put your Orenges into it, and that will make them take ſugar. If you haue 24. Orenges, beate 8. of them till they come to a paſte with a pounde of fine ſugar, then fill euery one of the other Orenges with the ſame, and ſo boile them again in your ſirup: then there will be marmelade of orenges with your orenges, & it will cut like an hard egge.

- Sir Hugh Plat, Delights for Ladies (1609)

Modernized Transcription

To preserve oranges after the Portugal fashion: core each orange on the side and soak them in water. Boil them in clean water until they are tender, changing the water during boiling to reduce their bitterness. Then boil sugar to a syrup, enough to cover the oranges, and put the oranges into it so they take sugar. If you have 24 oranges, beat 8 of them to a paste with a pound of fine sugar, then fill each of the remaining oranges with that paste. Boil them again in the syrup. Then there will be marmalade of oranges within your oranges, and it will cut like a hard egg.

Bitter Oranges vs. Sweet Oranges

If you can find them, Seville oranges, also sold as bitter oranges, sour oranges, marmalade oranges, or sometimes naranja agria, are the best choice for this recipe. They are more bitter than supermarket navel or Valencia oranges, but that bitterness is exactly what makes the preserve work. The sharpness balances the sugar and gives the finished confection a much more complex flavor.

Bitter oranges also behave better in the kitchen. Their peel is well suited to candying, and their higher pectin helps the marmalade filling set firmly. Sweet oranges can certainly be used, and I include a sweet-orange adaptation below, but they tend to produce a softer, juicier filling unless the pulp is drained and cooked down.

Factor	Seville / Bitter Oranges	Sweet Oranges
Historical fit	Best choice	Modern adaptation
Flavor	Bittersweet, complex, aromatic	Milder and sweeter
Pectin	Higher, firmer set	Lower, softer filling
Best use	Historical recreation and feast display	Accessible home version

Where to look: Seville or sour oranges are often seasonal, usually appearing in winter. Try Latin American groceries, Mediterranean or Middle Eastern markets, specialty produce shops, or online citrus growers. If you see “marmalade oranges,” those are usually exactly what you want.

Humoral and Feast Notes

In early modern food theory, oranges were often understood as cooling and drying, with bitter or sour oranges especially valued for cutting richness and stimulating appetite. This makes them a sensible banquet sweet after heavy meats, sauces, and rich dishes. The sugar, while luxurious, was also treated as useful in preservation and digestion, not merely as indulgence.

For a feast table, these oranges work beautifully as an entremet, subtlety, or banquet-course confection. They can sit among marchpane, comfits, candied peels, preserved fruits, wafers, or hippocras. They are especially effective because they do not immediately announce themselves as food. They invite the diner to ask: “Is that decoration?” And then the feast begins to talk back.

Fride Creme of Almaundys – Medieval Almond Cream Cheese (Harleian MS. 279)

Fride Creme of Almaundys – Cold Cream of Almonds, a Medieval Almond “Cheese” (Harleian MS. 279)

Fride Creme of Almaundys – Cold Cream of Almonds

Originally published: November 15, 2015 at 6:07 PM | Updated: May 19, 2026

Updated 5/19/2026: This post has been fully revised to current Give It Forth standards with expanded historical context, a clearer modern translation, a feast-scaled redaction serving eight, dietary notes, related almond-milk recipes, FAQ, source links, and structured recipe data.

What is Fride Creme of Almaundys? This fifteenth-century recipe from Harleian MS. 279 makes a thickened, drained almond cream: something between sweet almond curd, almond cream cheese, and a soft dairy-free spread. It was especially useful for Lenten and fast-day tables, when animal dairy might be restricted.

Almond milk cream cheese? Yes, yes, yes! This dish is definitely being added to my repertoire of things to make at feast. Despite the fact that the instructions sound forbiddingly difficult, this dish is very easy to make. It starts with my quick and dirty almond milk recipe and ends with a sweet, creamy Lenten substitute for cheese or butter.

Why Almond Cream Matters in Medieval Cooking

Almond milk appears again and again in medieval European cookery, especially in elite and urban recipe collections. It was not merely a modern-style dairy substitute; it was a flexible kitchen technology. Almonds could be ground, steeped, strained, boiled, thickened, colored, sweetened, or soured. The resulting milk or cream could stand in for dairy in fast-day cookery, enrich sauces, thicken pottages, and create elegant dishes for feast tables.

Fride Creme of Almaundys is especially interesting because it treats almond milk almost as though it were dairy. The cook makes a thick almond milk, heats it, salts it, lets it rest, drains it through linen, sweetens it, and dresses it in the manner of mortrewys, a soft, rich pottage or paste-like dish. The result is not cheese in the biological sense, since it is made from almonds rather than animal milk, but the texture and use are familiar: soft, spreadable, rich, and suited to careful presentation.

📖 Fast-day cooking: In medieval Christian food culture, periods such as Lent and many weekly fast days restricted meat and sometimes animal dairy. Almond milk gave cooks a luxurious way to create creamy sauces, soups, desserts, and “cheese-like” dishes without relying on cow, sheep, or goat milk.

This recipe also gives a glimpse into the practical intelligence of medieval kitchens. The almond cream is drained in linen, adjusted with sugar and salt, and loosened with sweet wine if it becomes too thick. This is exactly the kind of instruction that suggests hands-on cookery: the cook is expected to watch the texture and correct it as needed.

Original Text and Modern Translation

Original Text

Modern Translation

.xij. Fride Creme of Almaundys. — Take almaundys, an stampe hem, an draw it vp wyth a fyne thykke mylke, y-temperyd wyth clene water; throw hem on, an sette hem in þe fyre, an let boyle onys: þan tak hem a-down, an caste salt þer-on, an let hem reste a forlongwey or to, an caste a lytyl sugre þer-to; an þan caste it on a fayre lynen clothe, fayre y-wasche an drye, an caste it al a-brode on þe clothe with a fayre ladel: an let þe clothe ben holdyn a-brode, an late all þe water vnder-nethe þe clothe be had a-way, an þanne gadere alle þe kreme in þe clothe, an let hongy on an pyn, and let þe water droppe owt to or .iij. owrys; þan take it of þe pyn, an put it on a bolle of tre, and caste whyte sugre y-now þer-to, an a lytil salt; and ȝif it wexe þikke, take swete wyn an put þer-to þat it be noȝt sene: and whan it is I-dressid in the maner of mortrewys, take red anys in comfyte, or þe leuys of borage, an sette hem on þe dysshe, an serue forth.

12. Cold Cream of Almonds. Take almonds and pound them, and draw them up into a fine thick milk tempered with clean water. Put it on the fire and let it boil once. Then take it down, add salt, and let it rest a furlong-way or two. Add a little sugar. Then cast it onto a fair linen cloth, well washed and dried, spreading it broadly with a ladle. Let the cloth be held wide so that the water beneath may drain away. Gather the cream together in the cloth and hang it on a pin, letting the water drip out for two or three hours. Then take it down, put it in a wooden bowl, and add enough white sugar and a little salt. If it becomes too thick, add sweet wine so that it is not noticeable. When it is dressed in the manner of mortrews, garnish the dish with red anise comfits or borage leaves, and serve it forth.

Recipe can be found here: Full text of Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 (ab. 1430), & Harl. MS. 4016 (ab. 1450), with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS. 55.

For more information on this and similar recipes, please visit Dan Myers’ Medieval Cookery by clicking the link below.

xij – Fride Creme of Almaundys. Take almaundys, an stampe hem, an draw it vp wyth a fyne thykke mylke, y-temperyd wyth clene water; throw hem on, an sette hem in the fyre, an let boyle onys: than tak hem a-down, an caste salt ther-on, an let hem reste a forlongwey (Note: Other MS. forlange.) or to, an caste a lytyl sugrether-to; an than caste it on a fayre lynen clothe, fayre y-wasche an drye, an caste it al a-brode on the clothe with a fayre ladel: an let the clothe ben holdyn a-brode, an late all the water vnder-nethe the clothe be had a-way, an thanne gadere alle the kreme in the clothe, an let hongy on an pyn, and let the water droppe owt to (Note: two.) or .iij. owrys; than take it of the pyn, an put it on a bolle of tre, and caste whyte sugre y-now ther-to, an a lytil salt; and 3if it wexe thikke, take swetewyn an put ther-to that it be no3t sene: and whan it is I-dressid in the maner of mortrewys, take red anys in comfyte, or the leuys of borage, an sette hem on the dysshe, an serue forth.

Interpreting the Recipe

The original instructions describe several important techniques:

• Make a thick almond milk: This is not a thin drinking almond milk. It should be rich enough to leave body behind after straining.
• Boil once: Heating thick almond milk helps it thicken and set into a creamier texture.
• Salt, rest, and sweeten: The balance is not purely sweet. A little salt gives the finished almond cream a more cheese-like character.
• Drain in linen: This is the key step. The texture depends on removing enough liquid to make a soft, spreadable cream.
• Adjust with sweet wine: The recipe assumes correction. If the almond cream grows too thick, it may be loosened discreetly with wine.
• Garnish beautifully: Red anise comfits or borage leaves make this a feast-worthy presentation rather than a plain kitchen paste.

🌰 Texture note: This is best understood as a drained almond cream or almond curd. It will not behave exactly like dairy cheese, but when properly drained and sweetened it becomes smooth, rich, and spreadable.

Humoral and Dietary Context

In medieval medical and dietary writing, almonds were generally considered nourishing, temperate, and useful in refined cookery. They were often recommended in preparations intended to be gentle, strengthening, or suitable for restricted diets. Sugar, depending on context, was also valued medicinally as well as culinarily. Sweet spices such as cinnamon, cloves, mace, cubebs, and related spice mixtures were frequently associated with warmth and digestion.

Within that framework, Fride Creme of Almaundys makes sense as more than a novelty. It is rich without meat, creamy without animal dairy, elegant without being complicated, and adaptable for feast service. The optional additions of wine, saffron, comfits, and borage place the dish firmly in the world of careful presentation and sensory balance.

🥕 Dietary Notes:

• Vegan / Dairy-Free: This recipe is naturally dairy-free when made with almond milk and sweet wine or vinegar.
• Vegetarian: Suitable as written.
• Gluten-Free: Suitable as written, provided all garnishes and spice blends are gluten-free.
• Nut Allergy: This recipe is almond-based and is not suitable for those with tree nut allergies.
• Alcohol-Free: Use vinegar or verjuice instead of wine for curdling and omit the final sweet wine adjustment.
• Feast Service: Serve in small bowls, molded portions, or as a spread with wafers, bread, sops, or fruit.
• Camping/Event Use: Best made ahead and packed cold. Keep refrigerated in a cooler and serve in small portions with bread, wafers, crackers, or fruit. Not ideal for making from scratch at camp unless you have reliable heat, clean straining cloths, and adequate chilling.

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.

Pumpion Pie (1658 & 1670) — The Earliest English Pumpkin Pie from The Compleat Cook and The Queen-Like Closet

England’s earliest spiced pumpkin pies: 1658 & 1670 English “pumpion” pies layered with apples or scented with sack and rosewater—two period versions, two modern bakes.

Pumpion Pie (1658 & 1670) — The Compleat Cook & The Queen-Like Closet

Home › Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series › Pumpion Pie (1658 & 1670)

Part of the Tudor & Stuart Thanksgiving Series — Early modern English cooks balanced spice, fruit, and rich sauces to delight feast guests. In that spirit, we imagine how 17th-century dishes—roasts, puddings, and pies—might grace today’s Thanksgiving table with historical flavor and good cheer.

A Pie of Pumpion and Apple — England’s First Pumpkin Pies

By the mid-1600s, New World “pumpions” (pumpkins) found a home in English kitchens. Two of the earliest printed examples—The Compleat Cook (1658) and Hannah Woolley’s The Queen-Like Closet (1670)—reveal different approaches: one layers herbed pumpkin fritters with sliced apples and currants, finished with a wine-egg caudle; the other stews and mashes the pumpkin, perfumes it with rosewater and sack, and glazes it with a sweet caudle. Together, they prefigure the later Anglo-American pumpkin custard pie while retaining a distinctly Restoration palate.

Historical Context: The Journey of the Pumpkin

From the New World to the Old: Pumpkins (Cucurbita pepo) are among the oldest cultivated crops in the Americas, domesticated in Mexico around 7000–5500 BCE. By the 15th century they were a staple from South America to New England. Spanish and Portuguese explorers carried seeds home in the early 1500s, where the “Indian gourd” quickly took root in Iberian and Italian gardens.

Arrival in England: The word pompion (later spelled pumpion or pumpkin) entered English by 1548, from French pompon and ultimately Latin peponem, “melon.” William Turner’s Herbal (1551–68) lists the pompion among familiar garden plants, and John Gerard’s Herbal (1597) describes “the great round pompion,” judging it “cold and moist in the second degree.” English cooks viewed it as a vegetable requiring the balancing warmth of spice, wine, and butter.

Early English Recipes: By the mid-1600s, the pumpkin had moved from curiosity to kitchen. The herbed, apple-layered pie in The Compleat Cook (1658) and Hannah Woolley’s sweeter rosewater version in The Queen-Like Closet (1670) mark its first recorded uses in English cookery. Both reflect a transitional taste—part vegetable fritter, part custard pie—infused with the season’s abundance of spice.

Across the Atlantic Again: English colonists in New England found pumpkins thriving in Indigenous fields and adopted them eagerly. By the late 17th century, colonial cooks abandoned herbs and apples for smooth spiced custards, giving rise to the pumpkin pie of early American tradition, immortalized in Amelia Simmons’s American Cookery (1796).

Date	Event	Location
~7000 BCE	Pumpkins domesticated	Mesoamerica
Early 1500s	Introduced to Europe by Spanish explorers	Iberia
1536	Described in Mattioli’s Commentarii	Italy
1548	First English record of “pompion”	England
1597	Gerard’s Herbal notes “great round pompion”	England
1658	The Compleat Cook publishes “Pumpion Pie”	London
1670	Hannah Woolley’s Queen-Like Closet	London
1796	Amelia Simmons’s American Cookery	United States

Humoral Insight: Early modern physicians classified pumpkins as “cold and moist.” Period cooks corrected this by adding warming ingredients—spice, sugar, and eggs—making dishes like pumpion pie both healthful and seasonally balanced.

Glossary: Pompion — early English spelling of pumpkin; Caudle — a warm sauce of egg yolk and wine; Verjuice — acidic juice from unripe grapes used for tartness.

Original Recipes

A. The Compleat Cook (1658)

To make a Pumpion Pie.
Take about halfe a pound of Pumpion and slice it, a handfull of Tyme, a little Rosemary, Parsley and sweet Marjoram slipped off the stalks, and chop them small, then take Cinamon, Nutmeg, Pepper, and six Cloves, and beat them; take ten Eggs and beat them, then mix them, and beat them altogether, and put in as much Sugar as you think fit, then fry them like a froiz; after it is fryed, let it stand till it be cold, then fill your Pye, take sliced Apples thinne round wayes, and lay a row of the Froiz, and a layer of Apples with Currans betwixt the layers while your Pye is fitted, and put in a good deal of sweet Butter before you close it; when the Pye is baked, take six yolks of Eggs, some white Wine or Verjuice, and make a Caudle thereof, cut up the Lid, and pour it in, then sugar it, and serve it up.

B. Hannah Woolley, The Queen-Like Closet (1670)

To make a Pumpion Pye.
Take the Pumpion, and pare it, and slice it thin, and stew it till it be tender, then mash it and season it with beaten Spice, Sugar, and Rosewater, and lay it in your Pye, and put in good store of Butter, and when it is baked, pour in a Caudle made of Eggs, Sack, and Sugar, and serve it hot.

Period Technique: A caudle is a lightly thickened sauce of wine (or sack) and egg yolks, poured into a hot pie to glaze and enrich it just before serving.

Choose Your Pie: The 1658 version is savory-sweet with herbs, apples, and currants; the 1670 version is silkier and perfumed with rosewater and sack. Both are unmistakably 17th-century.

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.

How to Make Elizabethan Fruit Pastes & Marmalades (Quince, Peach & Plum)

Paste of quince (amber), apricot (yellow), and strawberries (red).

Originally published: December 2020
Updated: October 24, 2025

Sweet Preserves for a Banquet Table

In the Elizabethan era, fruit pastes—sometimes called marmalades or “chardequynce”—were glittering jewels of sugar, fruit, and spice. They appeared at the close of grand meals as part of the banqueting course, alongside marchpane, candied spices, and comfits. Far from our modern breakfast spreads, these were confections of luxury—delicate, perfumed, and designed as edible art.

My earliest experiment with fruit paste was a quince paste, followed by a Spanish-style marmalade made with dates, powdered pearls, and gold leaf. Since then, I’ve made pastes of apples, raspberries, strawberries, apricots, and plums. For our Baronial Twelfth Night, the table featured a full assortment of these sparkling fruits.

Historical Context

The first fruit pastes appear in late medieval manuscripts such as *A Leechbook* (Royal Medical Society MS 136, c.1444) and continue into the Tudor and Elizabethan printed cookbooks like A.W.’s A Book of Cookrye (1587) and John Partridge’s The Treasurie of Commodious Conceits (1573). These recipes often recommend honey or sugar as preservatives, with quinces or wardens (a firm pear) providing natural pectin. Sugar was believed to “close the stomach” and aid digestion—so these confections were thought medicinal as well as delightful.

By the late 16th century, “marmalade” had expanded beyond quince to include peaches, plums, and even medlars. Unlike modern spreads, these were boiled until firm and cut into decorative shapes, sometimes impressed with moulds and dusted with sugar to gleam like gemstones.

The very word marmalade comes from the Portuguese marmelada, meaning a preserve of quince (marmelo). It entered English through imported Iberian sweetmeats and gradually expanded to mean any thick fruit conserve. Only in the 17th century did citrus marmalades—especially bitter orange—become fashionable in England.

Sugar, Trade, and Luxury

In the 1400s and early 1500s, sugar was a costly import from Mediterranean trade routes, used sparingly in medicines and aristocratic kitchens. By Elizabeth’s reign, Caribbean plantations and new trade networks made sugar more available, transforming what had been a medicinal luxury into a fashionable indulgence. Elaborate sugarwork became a mark of refinement—these pastes were served on gilded dishes at banquets to showcase both taste and status.

Period Tools & Presentation

Household inventories list *marmalet boxes*—small wooden or pewter containers used to store fruit pastes—and carved boxwood moulds for shaping them into knots, roses, or heraldic badges. Displayed among marchpane and candied fruits, these confections were edible sculptures. At feasts, they were offered in the banquetting house alongside spiced wine, wafers, and sugar plate, eaten in tiny bites rather than spread on bread.

Humoral Theory Notes

According to Galenic medicine, quinces and other tart fruits were considered cold and dry in the second degree, balancing the hot and moist qualities of meats and wines. The addition of sugar, cinnamon, and ginger “warmed” the mixture, making it more agreeable to the stomach. Thus, fruit pastes served both as decoration and as digestive aid.

Iberian Influence

England’s fascination with “Spanish marmalades” reflected the influence of Iberian confectionery traditions using honey, rosewater, and spice. Early imports were prized gifts, inspiring English cooks to recreate them at home. A.W.’s peach marmalade and Partridge’s plum version show how continental recipes adapted to local fruits and English tastes.

Renaissance Candied Fruit, Roots & Flowers (Markham, 1623) — Step-by-Step + Modern Method

Sugared Plums (Renaissance method)

Originally published: 2015  •  Updated: 2025-10-24

Context. This post expands on Gervase Markham’s early-17th-century candying method from The English Huswife (1623), part of his famous “banqueting-stuffe”—the delicate sugarwork served at the end of elite meals. Candying preserved seasonal produce for winter and created jewel-like sweets for feast courses and subtleties. Below you’ll find Markham’s original text and a carefully tested modern method I use for SCA feast work.

Okashi – Anmitsu and Japanese Sweet Traditions (Muromachi Feast Recreation)

Jasmine green tea ice cream on agar (kanten), surrounded by red bean paste and a drizzle of black sugar syrup.

Imagine my surprise when I realized I’d never published the final tray of the feast! This course—built around Anmitsu—was my nod to banquet finales that closed with fruit and confections. My interpretation layers agar jelly, fresh fruit, shiratama mochi, sweet red bean paste (anko), black sugar syrup (kuromitsu), and jasmine green tea ice cream.

Historical Frame: Okashi in Context

In the Muromachi period (1336–1573), formal banquet cuisine (honzen ryori) treated sweets as refined, seasonal endings rather than everyday fare. Sugar was scarce and costly; sweetness often came from beans, grains, or fruit. As long-distance trade expanded, imported sugars and new tools elevated confectionery into an art closely linked with tea culture—favoring elegance and balance over intense sweetness.

Seasonal Aesthetics: Confections mirrored the time of year—spring blossoms, summer greens, autumn leaves, winter snows. Their fleeting forms encouraged contemplation of impermanence and gratitude at table.

Trade, Technique, and Evolution

Maritime trade in the 16th century brought refined sugar and new implements that influenced sweet-making. Hybrid sweets (like castella sponge) arose from cultural exchange. Meanwhile, temple kitchens and courtly households continued to favor plant-based textures and subtle flavors, keeping okashi aligned with ideals of restraint.

Cross-Cultural Parallels

Just as medieval Europe prized marchpane and sugar plate as status-laden table art, Japan refined bean- and rice-based sweets into edible miniatures of the natural world. In both traditions, confectionery served as display, diplomacy, and delight.

• Heian → Kamakura: fruits, nuts, lightly sweetened treats
• Muromachi: codified banquets; sweet courses as refined finales
• Edo: wagashi artistry flourishes with broader sugar access

Ingredient Insights

Agar (kanten): a seaweed-derived gelling agent long valued in Buddhist vegetarian cooking and later central to clear, delicate jellies in confectionery.

Anko (red bean paste): sweetened adzuki paste that underpins many classic sweets. Texture ranges from smooth to rustic and chunky.

Kuromitsu (black sugar syrup): made from unrefined brown sugars—deeper, rounder, and more mineral than modern white sugar syrups.

Comfits of Anise and Fennel – Medieval Candied Spices & Seeds (A Sweet Treat from the Past)

Comfits—candied spices & seeds—served as sweet digestives and table decoration in late medieval & Renaissance feasts.

Comfits – Medieval Candied Spices & Seeds (How to Make Historic Comfits)

Originally published 9/15/15 / updated 10/1/2025

Please note this correction: gum arabic and gum tragacanth are not the same substance. I originally conflated them—mea culpa, and thank you to the reader who flagged it.

Baronial 12th Night Comfits

Comfits were often served at the end of a feast as a digestive, to perfume the breath, and to decorate subtlety dishes and table settings. Aromatic seeds such as anise, fennel, or caraway were built up with repeated coats of sugar syrup—sometimes tinted with beet, spinach, or saffron. Almonds, ginger, and cinnamon splinters appear in later sources as well. You can still buy descendants of these sweets today (think Jordan almonds and pastilles), but handmade comfits are more delicate and—yes—tastier.

Rose Conserve – Medieval Sugared Petals for Heart & Spirit

Rose conserve — my original 2017 photo, refreshed here with updated notes and historical context.

Originally published: October 2, 2017 • Updated: September 19, 2025

Rose Conserve – A Medieval Confection of Petals & Sugar

Rose conserve — also called conserva rosarum — is a perfumed paste of fresh rose petals pounded with sugar. It sits right on the border of food and medicine: sweet enough for the banquet table, soothing enough to appear in apothecary lists. Cool, fragrant, and very old-fashioned in the best way.

Hannah Woolley’s Queen-like Closet (1675) – Recipe LXXXVI: To Make the Best Orange Marmalade.

Originally published: May 28, 2017 — Updated: September 19, 2025

Elizabethan Orange Marmalade – From Hannah Woolley’s Queen-like Closet (1675)

Historical Context

This recipe comes from Hannah Woolley (1622–1675), one of the first Englishwomen to publish cookery and household books under her own name. Her Queen-like Closet (1675) offered not only food recipes but also remedies, preserving techniques, and domestic advice. Orange marmalade, recipe LXXXVI, is one of her standout entries, and I’ve been itching to try it for years. When I found a pile of blood oranges on clearance, that was my excuse. No pressure, right? 😊

Marmalade in England: The word “marmalade” originally meant a quince paste (marmelada) from Portugal. By the late 16th century, imported Seville oranges became the fruit of choice for marmalade. These bitter oranges, full of pectin, set well and gave a sharp tang. Woolley specifies “deepest coloured oranges,” and while she probably meant Sevilles, I used blood oranges—sweeter and ruby-red. Everyone who tasted my batch loved it, but it is sweeter than a true bitter-orange preserve would have been.

Cultural Notes

• Cost of Oranges: In Woolley’s day, oranges were still a luxury. A pound could cost as much as a laborer’s daily wage. To serve marmalade at table was as much a statement of wealth as it was hospitality.
• Orangeries: Wealthy households began building “orangeries”—brick or glass houses to protect citrus trees through the English winter. Having one was as fashionable as wearing pearls. Preserves like marmalade were an edible extension of that prestige.
• Sugar as Luxury: Sugar came in loaves, had to be clarified, and was still expensive in the 17th century. It was considered medicinal as much as culinary. Combining oranges and sugar meant this marmalade straddled the line between health remedy and confection.
• Storage: Woolley instructs to “put it up in gally-pots.” These were small glazed jars sealed with paper, leather, or wax. Unlike our modern sealed canning jars, period marmalade wasn’t shelf-stable for years—it was eaten within months.

💰 Cost of Citrus & Sugar in Period

In the 16th–17th centuries, both oranges and sugar were expensive luxuries. A pound of imported oranges could cost as much as a day’s wage for a laborer, and sugar came in hard loaves that had to be chipped and clarified. Serving marmalade wasn’t just a treat — it was a visible display of wealth and refinement.

🍽️ Menu Placement & Humoral Theory

Marmalade and fruit preserves were served at the banquet course—a light, sweet table after the heavy meats. Oranges were considered cold and dry, while sugar and apples were warm and moist. Together, they made a more balanced food, thought to help digestion at the end of a feast.

The Original Recipe

Queen-like Closet (1675)

Modernized Text

LXXXVI. To make the best Orange Marmalade. Take the Rinds of the deepest coloured Oranges, boil them in several Waters till they are very tender, then mince them small, and to one pound of Oranges, take a Pound of Pippins cut small, one Pound of the finest Sugar, and one Pint of Spring-water, me't your Sugar in the Water over the fire, and scum it, then put in your Pippins, and boil them till they are very clear, then put in the Orange Rind, and boil them together, til you find by cooling a little of it, that it wil jelly very well, then put in the Iuice of two Oranges, and one Limon, and boil it a little longer; and then put it up in Gally-pots.

To make the best Orange Marmalade: Take the rinds of the deepest-colored oranges. Boil them in several changes of water until very tender, then mince them small. For each pound of orange rind, take a pound of pippins (apples), a pound of fine sugar, and a pint of spring water. Melt the sugar in the water over the fire and skim it. Add the apples and boil until clear. Add the orange rind and continue boiling until it will set like jelly when cooled. Then add the juice of two oranges and one lemon. Boil a little longer, then put into jars.

Dry Peaches and Red Quince Paste served at Curia Regis (9/10/2017)

To Dry Peaches – 17th-Century Fruit Paste (Hannah Wolley, 1670)

Originally published 9/16/17. Updated 9/19/2025.

Golden peach pastes adapted from Hannah Wolley’s Queen-Like Closet (1670): jewel-bright confections, oven or dehydrator friendly, ideal for SCA feasts.

This sweet preserve comes from The Queen-Like Closet (1670), a cookbook and household guide by Hannah Wolley. While late for the SCA timeline, her preserving methods represent skills widely practiced in the 16th and 17th centuries—perfectly in line with late-period banquet fare.

About Hannah Wolley

Hannah Wolley (1622–c.1674) was among the first Englishwomen to make a career from writing. She was the first to publish cookery books under her own name, the first to openly market them to servants and housewives as well as the gentry, and one of the earliest women in England to claim authorship professionally. Her career began with The Ladies Directory (1661) and The Cook’s Guide (1664), before culminating in The Queen-Like Closet (1670). The latter went through multiple editions, was translated into German, and became her best-known work. She blended recipes for food, preserves, and medicines, establishing herself as the “Martha Stewart” of her day.

What Kind of Peaches?

In 17th-century England, peaches were a luxury fruit, grown in walled gardens or imported at high cost. Period peaches were closer to older European cultivars: smaller, firmer, often slightly tart, and prized for their fragrance. They were valued in preserves where structure and color mattered as much as flavor.

• Period style: Older white-fleshed clingstone peaches (smaller, firmer).
• Modern substitutes: White peaches (delicate, aromatic), yellow peaches (bright amber color), or apricots (documented in the original recipes).
• Practical feast kitchen: Frozen peaches or reconstituted dried apricots work beautifully when fresh fruit is out of season.

Sources in Period

CCXV. To dry Apricocks. Take your fairest Apricocks and stone them... boil them till they are clear... lay them out upon Glasses to dry in a stove, and turn them twice a day.

CCI. To dry Apricocks or Pippins to look as clear as Amber. Take Apricocks... set them into a warm Oven... every day turn them till they be quite dry. Thus you may dry any sort of Plumbs or Pears as well as the other, and they will look very clear.

—Hannah Wolley, The Queen-Like Closet (1670)

Editor’s Note: Although Hannah Wolley’s Queen-Like Closet (1670) is technically outside the SCA’s 1600 cut-off, the method of drying fruits with sugar syrup was already well established centuries earlier. Wolley’s text preserves a technique that was in active use during the medieval and Renaissance periods, even if not written down until her time.

• 14th century – Forme of Cury (c.1390): preserves and sugared fruits appear.
• 15th century – Harleian MS. 279 (c.1430): recipes for fruit pastes and conserves.
• 16th century – Platina and Scappi describe sugared fruits, marmalades, and pastes on elite banquet tables.
• 17th century – Hannah Wolley records these long-standing practices in print (1670).

This timeline shows that while Wolley’s printed version is late, the preservation technique itself is “in period” and entirely appropriate for SCA feasts.

Menu Placement

Dried fruits and fruit pastes were served as part of the banquet course—the sweets and subtlety table that followed the main meal. They also travel well, making them practical for camping feasts today.

Humoral Notes

According to humoral theory, peaches were considered cold & moist. Drying them and cooking them with sugar shifted them toward balance, making them more wholesome. Serving them with warming spices like cinnamon or ginger further balanced their nature.

Apple & Curd Pancakes (1682) — A Fryed Meate in Haste for the Second Course

A Fryed Meate (Pancakes) in Haste for the Second Course (The Whole Body of Cookery Dissected, 1682)

A Fryed Meate in Haste for the Second Course — apple & curd pancakes finished with sugar.

Originally published 10/29/2017 - updated 9/17/2025

 In late 17th-century English cookery, “meat” can simply mean food/dish, not specifically animal flesh. This recipe from The Whole Body of Cookery Dissected (1682) makes quick, delicate apple-and-curd pancakes scented with rosewater, sack (fortified wine), cinnamon, and nutmeg. It’s a natural fit for a brunch or as a sweet course between heavier roasts. I originally made these for our Curia Regis Brunch set—now updated to my modern format.

Source: The Whole Body of Cookery Dissected (1682) — “A Fryed Meate (Pancakes) in Haste for the Second Course.”

Original Text (1682)

Take a pint of curds made tender of morning milk, pressed clean from the Whey, put to them one handful of flour, six eggs, casting away three whites, a little rosewater, sack, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, salt, and two pippins minced small, beat this all together into a thick batter, so that it may not run abroad; if you want wherewith to temper it add cream; when they are fried, scrape on sugar and send them up; if this curd be made with sack, as it may as well as with rennet, you may make a pudding with the whey thereof.

Notes: “Pippins” = firm cooking apples. “Sack” ≈ fortified white wine (e.g., dry sherry). “Curds” today map neatly to drained cottage cheese or farmer’s cheese.

Modern Recipe — Apple & Curd Pancakes (makes ~12 small)