SC - Violet Sugar Plate Was Saxon Violets

[Lorix]

david friedman wrote:

> 'Lainie asked about violet recipes a while back. Here is what looks
> rather like a violet pudding?
>
> Vyolette
> Two Fifteenth Century Cookery Books p. 29

I have just found another recipe for violets for the use in making 'marbled'
sugar plate in a book that I have been devouring (well not literally ;-)
Sugar Plums & Sherbet - The Prehistory of Sweets, by Laura Mason
ISBN: 0907325 831

For those interested in the book, it would make a nice addition to the library.
Author goes thru the history of sweets & reprints 'period' recipes from various
sources & then offers a redaction for some of them.  It is extensively footnoted
& sources quoted.  It is also a good book for those learning how to make candy
has it gives lots of technique info.

I have given some extra info included in the book about the making & use of
sugar plate in general for those interested & have copied the period & redacted
recipe at the end.  I would note that the period recipe calls for a number of
different edible flowers.  However, given the profusion of colours in violets,
if all you needed was differing colours for the marbled effect, you could just
use violets ;-)

In her chapter on sugar paste she states that "One of the earliest known
detailed sugar paste recipes in English is for making:  "plate of sugar, whereof
a man maye make all manner of fruites, and other fyne things with theyr forme,
as platters, dishes, glasses, cuppes, and such thinges, wherewith you may
furnishe at table; and when you have doen, eate them up.  A pleasant thing for
them that sit at table." (William Warde, 1562, translator, 'The Secretes of the
Reverende Maister Alexis of Piedmont')
"This recipe, given in the translation of the alchemist Alexis of Piedmont in
1562, required 'gum dragant', a pice the size of a bean, steeped in rosewater, a
walnut shell full of lemon juice & some egg white mixed with sugar in a mortar,
which was kneaded with more powdered fine sugar to make a paste.  This was
rolled out & moulded into tableware"

Later, she goes on to say that "the basic recipe stayed essentially the
unchanged, but the details were refined.  Sir Hugh Plat, in his instructions for
"the making of Sugarplate, and casting thereof in carved moulds,' demanded the
whitest refined sugar and a small proportion of the best starch, mixed with gum
dragant.  This, he said, 'must first bee well picked, leaving out the drosse,'
before it was steeped in rosewater and strained through canvas.  All ingredients
were mixed up with some egg white and then rolled out and shaped into wooden
moulds dusted with powdered sugar.  For making 'sawcers, dishes, boawls, &c' the
sheet of paste were pressed into the required vessels, trimmed and allowed to
dry partially, then unmoulded and the edges gilded with gold leaf stuck down
with white of egg". (Platt 1609 p.25)

NOW FOR THE BIT OF INTEREST FOR LAINIE:
Sugar plate could be coloured and scented with flowers.  By using the results
judiciously, it could be made to resemble fine marble as in the following recipe
by 'W.M' (1655)  'A Queens Delight', Facsimile 1984, Prospect Books, London.

"To make paste of flowers the colour of marble, tasting of the natural flowers:
Take every sort of pleasing Flowers, as Violets, Cowslips, Gily-flowers, Roses,
or Marigolds, and beat them in a Mortar, each flower by itself with sugar, till
the sugar become the colour of the flower, then put in a little Gum Dragon
steept in water into it, and beat into a perfect paste; and when you have half a
dozen colours, every flower will take of his nature, then rowl the paste
therein, and lay one piece upon another, in mingling sort, so rowl your Paste in
small rowls, as big and as long as your finger, then cut it off the bigness of a
small Nut, overthwart, and so rowl them thin, that you may see a knife through
them, so dry them before the fire till they be dry".

Nb: the author alos adds that in respect to the making of sugar pate or paste no
boiling of syrup is involved:  it is a simple mixture of powdered sugar kneaded
with soaked gum arabic or gum tragacanth (often mispelt as dragant or corrupted
to dragon)

Mason's Redaction of Sugar Plate:
- - 500g icing sugar
- - 15g powdered gum arabic or tragacanth
- - flavours & colours as desired
1.  Mix the icing sugar & gum together roughly & then seive into a large bowl so
that the two are well amalgamated.  Divide the dry mix into portions (keeping a
little back for working) depending on how many colours/flavours you want.

2.  Make each portion into a paste by adding a drop of colour & the desired
flavouring.  (To achieve the intended flavour or colour, you can experiment with
kneading the petals of edible flowers into the mixture, if the are available &
pesticide free, otherwise use rose water, flower water or oils from
lemon/orange/or lime peel.)  If you are using one of the flower waters, add this
in teaspoonfuls, mixing & kneading until you hve a pliable paste.  If using an
essence or oil, add a drop or two, and then make up the paste with tap water.

3.  Knead each portion until it is smooth and coherent, adding a little more
icing sugar/gum mixture or water as necessary to achieve a good consistency.
Wrap each batch in plastic film until you need it.

4.  Make up into little rolls, putting two or more flavours together in layers
as desired, and cut down into little nuggets.  Dust a board and rolling pin with
icing sugar, roll out the paste, cut into any shape desired & leave to dry.


As ever, YIS
Lorix