[Sca-cooks] Maraschini

[Stefan li Rous]

Giles asked:
> Earlier this week at the gourmet market in town I found a sweet called
> maraschini- a little ball of ground almond mixture (similar to the French
> bisket-bread in Fettiplace) wrapped around a cherry and covered in flaked
> almonds, then presumably baked.


> I was wondering seeing as
> the ingredients are simple and well-known in period, if there was a
> reference to these or something similar in period?


Was the ground almond mixture sweetened or moistened with something?
It's hard to imagine it sticking together otherwise.


There is the Heathen Peas which I happened to cook for the SCA-Cooks

Pot Luck at this past Pennsic. But no cherry inside.


I have pasted it below. This from this Florilegium file:
14C-Sweets-art    (17K)  9/14/00    "Sweets and Treats of the 14C"
                                        by Lady Hauviette d'Anjou.
--
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris            Austin, Texas          stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****

 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Sweets and Treats of the 14C
by Lady Hauviette d'Anjou

Nuts were used in combination with sweets such as sugar and honey in other ways
as well. In a German recipe in "Daz Buch von Guter Spise" (1345 to 1354) From an
original in the University Library of Munich, Translation by Alia Atlas. Found
in "A Collection of Medieval and Renaissance Cookbooks", 7th Edition, almonds
are ground and blended with honey to make a tasty treat.


Original Recipe
Heidenische erweiz (Heathen (Saracen)Peas)

Wilt du machen behemmische erweiz. so nim mandel kern und stoz die gar cleine.
und mengez mit dritteil als vil honiges. und mit guten wurtzen wol gemenget. so
ers aller beste hat. die koste git man kalt oder warm.

How you want to make heathen peas. So take almond kernels and pound them very
small. And mix it with a third as much honey. And with good spices well mixed.
So it has the very best. One hands this out greedily, cold or warm.

Heathen Peas

4 cups whole almonds*
1 cup honey
2-3 tsp. ground cinnamon

In a food processor, coarse grind 3 cups of almonds. On a baking sheet, place
the almonds into a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes**. Finely grind 1 cup of the
almonds and add to the roasted almonds. Mix in cinnamon.
Warm the honey and add to the almonds, stirring well.

Keeping a bowl of warm water near by (to rinse your hands occasionally), take a
generous pinch of the honey/nut mixture and roll into a 1 inch ball. Continue
until all of the mixture is used. Keeps well in a cool place, sealed container.
Makes approximately 90- 1 inch balls

* The original recipe calls for a 3 to 1 ratio of almonds to honey. In my trials
I have found that this results in a meal that is a little too loose to roll
properly. I have reduced the ratio to 4 to 1 and am much happier with the end
result. This effect could be accounted for in the original recipe as the cook
using approximations which might be off slightly.
**Although this recipe does not call for roasting the ground nuts at all, I have
found that this extra step eliminates the sometimes harsh taste of the oil in
the almonds. If you feel you would like to stick to the letter of the recipe, I
would simply suggest you avoid that step.
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