SC - Re: Peanuts, Sweet Potatoes, Etc.

[Decker, Terry D.]

Mark Harris wrote:
> 
> I bought several sticks of cinnamon at the grocery tonight with the
> idea of trying to sugar them as was mentioned here in the past week.
> 
> I was going to use the procedure(s) described for sugaring citrus
> peel. But Alys' comments here on comfits make me wonder if that is
> the correct (or period) method.

I'm inclined to think that since candying, as for citrus peel, is
intended as a method of preserving a perishable item, and cinnamon
sticks aren't especially perishable when stored correctly, that it
wouldn't have been done that way. I'm not aware of having seen any
recipes for the process, but this really isn't my area of
specialization, either.
 
> Can someone quote me the period recipe and perhaps a redaction for
> doing candied cinnamon? While a referance to a period recipe would
> be good, I don't have many of the books often quoted here, yet. Has
> anyone tried this?

Not me...again, the comparative unpleasantness of crunching down on a
stick of cinnamon, at least compared to some of the other things that
have been confited in period, leads me to suspect some other process
would be preferred. One would be in the form of suckets, which are in
general more wet than confits. Part of the process would presumably be
to boil the cinnamon for a while, which might improve its texture.
Another process to look into would be making some kind of candy drops
from either powdered cinnamon, or perhaps even from some kind of
distilled essential oil, which might have been used in late period. An
example would be Sir Hugh Plat's recipe for flavoring ale with sage oil,
~ c. 1609.

Adamantius
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================