Comfits and Candies - Finnocchio dolce verde- Sweet Green Fennel (Candied Fennel Stalks)

 

Plates of Candies and Comfits waiting to be served 

Domenico Romoli's "La Singolare Dottrina," published in 1560, is a comprehensive guide for cooks and maîtres d'hôtel, offering insights into the selection, preparation, and service of various foods and wines. In its fourth book, Romoli presents detailed menus for each month, including the "Banquet of January." This banquet showcases a variety of dishes suitable for the winter season, reflecting the culinary traditions of 16th-century Italy.

Sweet Green Fennel from Domenico Romoli's Banquet of January

Domenico Romoli's La Singolare Dottrina (1560) offers a fascinating glimpse into Renaissance cuisine for those who love diving into historical recipes. This culinary guide, written by Romoli—nicknamed Panunto—details elaborate feasts for every month of the year. Among the dishes featured in the Banquet of the Month of January is Finnocchio Dolce Verde, or Sweet Green Fennel, a unique Renaissance treat that transforms humble fennel stalks into candied delights.

A Taste of 16th-Century Italy

Fennel was a staple in Italian Renaissance kitchens, prized for its digestive properties and aromatic qualities. This particular preparation, which candies the fennel stalks in sugar syrup, reflects the era's fascination with preserving flavors and enhancing natural sweetness. The result is a delicately flavored confection, perfect for pairing with cheeses and wine or simply enjoying as a sweet snack.

The Recipe: Sweet Green Fennel (Candied Fennel Stalks)

Yield: About 3/4 cup candied fennel and 1 cup syrup

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 5 to 6 ounces of fennel stalks, cut on the diagonal into thin sticks (about 1 1/2 cups)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 250°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone liner.
2. Prepare the syrup: In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the sugar and water. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
3. Candy the fennel: Add the sliced fennel stalks to the syrup and reduce heat to medium. Cook until the fennel stalks become translucent.
4. Strain and bake: Strain the fennel stalks, reserving the syrup for future use (it's great for cocktails or drizzling over desserts). Spread the syrup-coated fennel slices in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.
5. Dry the fennel: Bake for about 30 minutes, then separate any sticking slices. Continue baking for 30 minutes or until the fennel is dry yet slightly sticky.
6. Cool and serve: Allow the fennel to cool completely before serving or storing.
7. 
   

Bringing History to Your Table

The candied fennel from Romoli's Banquet of January offers a glimpse into the refined tastes of Renaissance Italy. Its delicate sweetness and herbal notes make it a versatile addition to modern dishes—try it as a garnish for cheese boards, an elegant topping for desserts, or even infused into a winter tea.

By recreating historical recipes like this one, we can appreciate how Renaissance chefs balanced sweetness, texture, and aromatic flavors. Next time you're in the kitchen, why not step back and savor the flavors of a 16th-century banquet?

17th Century Dessert - Spanish Wedges

Spanish Candy Wedges from A Book of Fruits and Flowers, 1653

Originally published:  Jul 2, 2022

https://giveitforth.wixsite.com/giveitforth/post/medieval-desserts-spanish-wedges

To Preserve all kinde of Flowers in the Spanish Candy in Wedges.

Take Violets, Cowslips, or any other kinde of Flowers, pick them, and temper them with the pap of two roasted Apples, and a drop or two of Verjuice, and a graine of Muske, then take halfe a pound of fine hard Sugar, boyle it to the height of Manus Christi, then mix them together, and pour it on a wet Pye plate, then cut it it in Wedges before it be through cold, gild it, and so you may box it, and keep it all the year. It is a fine sort of Banquetting stuffe, and newly used, your Manus Christi must boyle a good while and be kept with good stirring.

Download Recipe Here

Ingredients

2 apples (I used granny smith)
1-2 drops white wine vinegar (to replace verjuice)
1 grain of musk *opt.
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup water
Pinch of dried edible flowers

Directions

1. Peel and core your apples, cut into wedges, and roast in a 400-degree oven for approximately 20 minutes, or until apples have started to brown.

2. While apples are roasting bring your sugar and water and boil it until it reaches 245 degrees.

3. Add sugar syrup, roasted apples, white wine vinegar, or verjuice to a blender and blend until smooth. Opt. Add a drop or two of food-grade musk flavoring at this point.

4. Prepare a mold by spraying it with a little bit of oil and lining it with parchment paper.

5. Sprinkle flowers on the bottom of the tin, add the apple mixture. Be sure to sprinkle more flowers on top.

6. Allow drying until no longer sticky to the touch, cut as desired.When completely dry this candy has the texture of maple sugar candy, otherwise, it is very similar to fruit leather. Store in air tight container

NOTES:

There are two different ways this recipe can be read. The first is the method that I used where the pureed apple is added to the boiled sugar syrup and allowed to dry. The second is that the pureed apple is added to the sugar and water and that mixture is then brought to a boil before being poured into your mold.

It took several days for this beauty to dry completely. When it had dried became a crystalized sugar candy. I did allow it to dry overnight in the oven before removing it from the mold. I veered from the recipe by using a 6" tart pan instead of an 8" pie pan, and I believe this made the candy thicker than originally intended.

I also believe that this very thick candy should have been allowed to dry two or three days before I removed it from the mold and cut it into wedges. The thing that I would do differently in the future would be to make a thinner candy by using a larger plate.

I believe this is a very luxurious treat, that would enhance any dessert course at an event. The taste is a very sweet apple, with just a touch of floral note at the end of the bite. I cut this 6" tart-shaped treat into 12 wedges and I would not want to make it any bigger. At this size, it creates a two to three-bite candy.

TOA Documentation

Source

"The Project Gutenberg Ebook Of A Book Of Fruits And Flowers". Gutenberg.Org, 2022, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/13265/13265-h/13265-h.htm?fbclid=IwAR1UD2bx6I7bO97kplgubSC10fQE05PsXq0GMT8gFpH9C-xvmtRwouCh_x8.

(German) - Lebkuchen - Gingerbread

 Originally published Oct. 10, 2022

Das Kochbuch der Sabina Welserin (c. 1553)

Cookies! Who doesn't like a good cookie? With the cultivation of sugar in the 7th century, came cookies, or rather, test cakes that were used to test the temperature of an oven.

When we think of cake, a dense, bread-like product that is sweetened with honey, and perhaps flavored with nuts and fruits is not what we think of. However, this is an apt description of the earliest cakes. They were a food that was made to last many months.

According to Etymology, the word "cake" comes from the Old Norse kaka, which derives its roots from the West Germanic *kokon, from the Middle Dutch "koke" or Dutch "koek" meaning a cake or gingerbread dumpling. Its earliest usage is in the 13th Century, referencing a flat or thin bit of baked dough. The cakes that we are familiar with come into existence sometime in the middle of the 19th Century.

How did cakes become cookies?

In the early 1800s the word cookie is referenced in American English, in the sense of a "small, flat, sweet cake" from the Dutch koekje a diminutive of koek.

Ammonia Cookies - Hartshorn

I have seen some rather pithy debates over the use of hartshorn in the period, and this prompted me to do a little bit of research on the Food History Timeline (foodies--if you are not using this resource you are missing out). Here is what I found:

Ammonium carbonate, aka Hartshorn, Baker's Ammonia, or, hirschhornsalz, is a substance that is extracted from deer antlers. Hart is the term applied to a male deer, also known as a stag. It is reputed to have a very pungent odor which dissipates when cooked.

How was hartshorn made?

To create hartshorn cooks would heat and pulverize the horns. Once ground it could be added to baked goods where it would act similar to baking powder does today. When heated, it produces ammonia and carbon dioxide gas that lifts the dough as it escapes creating a light, springy texture.

Is hartshorn period for the SCA?

The earliest recipe I was able to locate is for Hartshorn Jelly, from a book published in 1659 purportedly a collection of recipes from as early as the 15th century. The author of this collection, Leonardo Fioravanti died in 1588. The style of writing is similar to the writing of the time that I am familiar with, but I am NOT the expert, based on what I have discovered, it is plausible. More research needs to be done.

℞. Two ounces of Hartshorn being small rasped, and a pint of fair water, one Nutmeg sliced, one race of Ginger, a branch of Rosemary, boyle all these together in an earthen Pipkin over a soft fire, till it be very clammy, then strain it into a Bason, and put to it Rosewater and Sugar.

Original Recipe

Gút lezelten zú bachen

Nim am ersten ain pfúnd zúcker, ain qúertlin geleúterts

honig, nit gar ain fiertellin mell/ nim 5 lot rerlen, 3 lott negellen,

4 lott kerner/ gestossen, die andere wirtz schneid

aúffs klainest, die rerlen aúfs grebest gestosen, thú jmber

aúch darein/ vnnd thú zúcker in das honig, lasß es mitainander

sieden, thús mell jn ain múolter, geúsß die kerner am

ersten ein, darnach den jmber vnnd dan die andern wirtzen.

Interpretation

#151 To bake good Lebkuchen

Take first a pound of sugar, a quart of clear honey, not quite a third quart of flour, take two and a half ounces of cinnamon, one and a half ounces of cloves, two ounces of cardamom. Cut the other spices as small as possible, the cinnamon sticks are ground as coarsely as possible. Also put ginger therein and put the sugar into the honey, let it cook together, put the flour in a trough, pour the cardamom into it first, afterwards the ginger and the other spices.

Ingredients

¾ cup honey

¾ cup sugar

½ cup flour

3 tbsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. cloves

1 ½ tsp ginger - fresh if you can get it

½ tsp cardamom

Instructions

1. Mix together flour, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger.

2. In a heavy-bottomed pan add sugar and honey and slowly heat over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. NOTE: If scum rises to the top, skim it off. This is normal when using honey.

3. Heat the honey and sugar mixture together until small bubbles begin to form and the syrup starts to get foamy. Approximately ten minutes.

4. Make a hollow in the flour and spice mixture and gently pour the honey into the hollow. Stir gently until well mixed. NOTE: This is a very sticky dough, and you may be tempted to add more flour. If you must, only add enough to allow the dough to form and no more.

5. Set the dough aside and allow it to cool for about 15 minutes.

6. While the dough is cooling, cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 275 degrees.

7. Dust hands with flour (do not forget this step or you may end up regretting your life's decisions--this dough sticks to everything!), rough your dough into a log, and section off pieces of it using a bit of waxed, unflavored floss.

8. Pick up a bit of the sectioned-off dough, roll it into a ball and place it on the cookie sheet. You will want to space them about 2 1/2 to 3 inches apart. Push an almond into the top of your cookie and bake for about 10 minutes. Store in an airtight container while still slightly warm.

Thoughts

OMG! These are a sticky mess, but ohhhssssooooo worth it!! They are spicy and chewy and delicious. They would be excellent to bring with you on a camping trip and are modern enough in flavor that even the most discriminating cooking connoisseur will not complain.

You do want to store them while they are still warm so they remain soft. These cookies keep for a very long time. Do try them.

Sources

"An Exact Collection Of The Choicest And More Rare Experiments And Secrets In Physick And Chyrurgery (Both Cymick And Galenick) Viz. Of Leonard Phioravant, Knight And Doctour In Physick And Chyrurgery, His Rational Secrets And Chyrurgery &C. : Whereunto Is Annexed Paracelsus's One Hundred And Fourteen Experiments : With Certain Excellent Works Of G.B. Áa Ortu Aquitano ; Also Isaac Holandus, His Secrets Concerning His Vegetal And Animal Work : With Quercetanus His Spagyrick Antidotary For Gun-Shot : Also Certain Collections Out Of Some Manuscripts Of Dr. Edwards And Other Physitians Of Note ...". Quod.Lib.Umich.Edu, 2022, https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A41325.0001.001/1:39.9.6?firstpubl1=1640;firstpubl2=1660;rgn=div3;singlegenre=All;sort=occur;subview=detail;type=simple;view=fulltext;q1=hartshorn. Accessed 2 Oct 2022.

"Cake | Etymology, Origin And Meaning Of Cake By Etymonline". Etymonline.Com, 2022, https://www.etymonline.com/word/cake. Accessed 2 Oct 2022.

Crew, Kitchen. "The History Of Cookies". Just A Pinch, 2022, https://www.justapinch.com/blog/articles/read/209514/the-history-of-cookies/. Accessed 2 Oct 2022.

"Das Kochbuch Der Sabina Welserin (C. 1553)". Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, 2022, https://www.uni-giessen.de/fbz/fb05/germanistik/absprache/sprachverwendung/gloning/tx/sawe.htm. Accessed 2 Oct 2022.

"Sabrina_Welserin.Html". Daviddfriedman.Com, 2022, http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Sabrina_Welserin.html. Accessed 2 Oct 2022.