SC - interesting URL - food shopping!

[Jenne Heise]

Greetings.  The best (and most definitive?) book on the 
topic of marmelades is by C. Anne Wilson, _The Book of
Marmalade_, Prospect Books, 1999, ISBN 1 903018 03 X.  (It
should be on Prospect Book's website.)  Chapter III deals
with orange marmelade, and the short of it is (if I read
correctly) that what we know as orange marmalade was developed
around the reign of Charles II, out of period.  

Her first sentence reads, "Quince marmalade was the basic form 
of the conserve, the one that the Tudor and Stuart preserving 
books simply designated as 'marmalade', often without further 
qualification.  However, _The Secrets of Alexis of Piedmont_ 
(1562 into English) has a quince recipe which concludes, "In 
the like manner may you dress and trim peaches, pears, and other 
kinds of fruits."  These marmalades, however, were fairly stiff 
and were stored in boxes, not glass jars.

On page 49 Ms. Wilson says, "The idea of cutting orange-peel into 
the shreds or chips which were later to characterise British 
can be traced back to this period, and in particular to the pippin 
jellies and marmalades invented by the members of the circle of the 
Court of King Charles II."  La Varenne (definitely OOP) had a recipe 
for a soft jelly which could be/was stored in pots or glasses, and 
was (if I read correctly) called a marmelade.  "A true orange 
marmelade had now emerged, made from Seville oranges set by their 
pectin without any assistance from pippins, and this too was potted, 
not boxed...one very early maker of true marmelade was the mother 
of Rebecca Price...(who)...copied the instructions for 'marmelett 
of oringes: my mother's receipt' into her own recipe book in 1681."

So, no.  Orange marmelade can't really be considered period unless
one makes a thick, solid marmelade that contains apples to help it
set, and has no real shreds of peel in it.

Wilson's book has recipes in it, arranged in chronological order.
The first is from the 1st century AD and is made from quinces and
honey.  Also included are selected recipes for meat cookery which
incorporate marmelade, as well as sauces, puddings and desserts,
cakes, and sandwiches.  These do not appear to be "historical"
since no dates are attached, or if they are, they are from recent
times.  I'm hungry...

Alys Katharine