SC - Redheads (actually re: sugar)

[THLRenata at aol.com]

Katja writes:

>>Seriously, I thought I'd found a reasonable facsimile of cone sugar in the
King Arthur Flour catalogue, but it's compressed raw sugar. The local cooking
laurel here, Mistress Michaele del Vaga, told me that the sugar would have
been refined, in keeping with the medieval noble's desire to have everything
pure and white (such as flour). I'm wondering how they refined it in period.
Any comments?<<

Cone sugar can usually be found in the Latin or Hispanic section of the
supermarket (if your local store has one) under the name piloncillo. It smells
and tastes lik ebrowm sugar bout is very, very hard. I mostly use it for
demos, and hve to break the cones with a hammer to pass out pieces.

While I've been too lazy to refine it into white sugar myself (so far) I would
think that to do so one must melt it -- without added additional liquid (very
tricky -- use a pot with a very heavy bottom and stir the sugar constantly
until it liquidfies) and then bring it to a boil and remove the resulting scum
that rises to the top. Then continue boiling until the whole batch re-
crystalizes -- pour it into a pan *before* it sets in your pot. When it cools,
chip off pieces and grind them to the desired constancy in a mortar.

Elizabethan recipes I've seen say to boil and scum the sugar, then go on with
the recipe, thereby avoiding the setting phase of the refining operation.

Warning -- be very careful with hot sugar! If it splashes on you it is like
napalm -- it sticks and causes terrible burns. Likewise, try to keep it off
your stovetop, where it will harden to a rock-like consistancy that won't
scrub or even chip off!

Good luck!

Renata

     
     
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