SC - Kissing Comfits or Muscadines.

[Elaine Koogler]

OK.  It's time for the obligatory "dumb question".  I have run across several
recipes that call for ambergris, musk, gum arabic and/or orris root.  Where does
one acquire such ingredients (please remember...I live 'way out in the "boonies"
in Southern Maryland.  Getting our own Mongolian Barbeque place was a MAJOR
event!)?

And, particularly with the ambergris and musk...is it safe to use these in
foods?  I had been told that they were used exclusively in perfume-type
applications and were unsafe in food.

Kiri

Seton1355 at aol.com wrote:

> This comes from my Tudor list
> Phillipa
>
> <<
>  This recipe comes from "Dining with William Shakespeare" by Madge Lorwin.
>  The author has adapted Tudor recipes to modern measurements.  The original
>  was published in 1621 by John Murrell in "Delightfull daily exercise for
>  Ladies and Gentlewomen."
>
>  3 tablespoons rose water
>  1 teaspoon gum arabic powder
>  3 eyedropper drops essence of ambergris
>  2 eyedropper drops essence of musk
>  4 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
>  1 teaspoon powered orris root
>  2 drops yellow food color (optional)
>  2 drops blue food color (optional)
>
>      Pour rose water into a saucer, add gum arabic and stir until the gum is
>  dissolved.  Add the ambergris and musk, set aside until needed.  Sift two
>  cups of the sugar and the orris root into a bowl,  Add the gum arabic
>  mixture, a tablespoonful at a time and work into the sugar until the paste
> is
>  smooth.
>      For white pastilles, sprinkle the third cup of sugar on a large plate
>  and, with your fingers, work the paste into the sugar until it is smooth.
>  For colored pastilles, divide the white paste into two equal parts, add a
>  drop of food color to each part.  Blend in each of the colors and set one
>  aside covered (they dry out very quickly) while you work with the other.
>      Sprinkle half the remanning sugar on a clean plate and work in until
>  smooth. Pat the paste into a square and cover it with a piece of wax paper.
>  Roll it out gently to a sheet about 3/8 inch thick.  Mark and cut off small
>  squares, triangles and rectangles with a knife.  Sprinkle a cookie sheet
> with
>  the remanning sugar and place the pastilles on it about an inch apart.
>      When the pastilles have hardened, loosen them gently with a spatula
> (they
>  break easily) and store them in an airtight container.  You should be able
> to
>  get about four dozen pastilles from this recipe.  They will keep for six to
>  eight weeks.
>   >>
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