Jams not period??? (was SC - Mulberry question)

[Philip & Susan Troy]

> Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 14:08:26 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Karen Evans <tyrca at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: Jams not period??? (was SC - Mulberry question)
> 
> Several years ago, I spent about 16 months living in Northern
> Brazil, and found in the grocery stores a canned product called (in
> English) guava paste.  It was approximately what our High Priest
> described, made of guava.  It was not as sweet as some preserves I
> have had, and had that grainy guava texture, but I enjoyed it.  They
> also had banana paste, that I liked even more.  Much to my delight, I
> have found the guava paste (not the banana, alas :-( ) in the area of
> local grocery stores that cater to the hispanic population.  The cans
> are flat, and about 6"in diameter, about 2" thick.  Now that I know
> that this approximates medieval preserves, I can pack a can along on
> camping trips with a clear conscience!!
> 
> Tyrca

There's a quince variety that is more or less perfectly period, for what
may be the utmost in convenience-food decadence. It's called Queso de
Membrillo in Spanish, but I don't know what it would be in Portuguese.
AFAIK, guava paste, while certainly tasty and prepared according to a
fairly medieval method, is from a New World fruit, isn't it? Quince
paste is a little closer to  period marmalades, and you can do neat
stuff like melting it in a double boiler or other pan, and pouring it
into a nice mold. I have a big wooden shortbread stamp with a thistle on
it, and I wrap wax paper around the edges to add depth to it. I usually
make my own quince paste, and cook it slightly thicker, drier, and a tad
more leathery than the commercial stuff, so it's easier to remove from
the mold when it's simply been oiled. For a softer paste, it would
probably be a good idea to oil your mold and dust it with sugar before
filling it with the hot paste.

BTW, you will probably see in period recipes for this stuff, an
instruction to put it up, or print it, in boxes. An Elizabethan
marmalade box is made from tin or copper or some such, molded with a
pattern in relief, usually with a hinged lid punched full of holes, to
facilitate drying of the paste.     

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