[Sca-cooks] Candied horseradish

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

This past Saturday at Emmaus Fair (an A&S display event), I brought in my redactions of 3 horseradish recipes.  One was the honey-horseradish sauce from de Nola, which I have made before, and is in the Florilegium.  One was a German horseradish sauce for Lent -- horseradish pounded with almonds and white wine.  Strong, but not very interesting.  The third was a recipe that has fascinated me ever since I first read it -- candied horseradish from the 14th c. Catalan confectionary manual.  Below is the original, my translation, and redaction with notes.  Disclaimer: I translated the recipe using a Catalan dictionary, plus my knowledge of French and Spanish cognates.  I believe I have gotten all the essential details right, but would appreciate correction from anyone who knows more than I.

CAPITOL .VIIJ.e PER CONFEGIR LO RAVE GUALESCH
Pendreu lo rave gualesch e reu lo e feu lo net be ab aygua.
E apres telar l eu menut tot, e apres metreu lo al foch ab aygua 
e metreu hi un bon puny de sall e bulla tant que sia ben mol. 
E apres treureu lo n e metreu lo en aygua freda .viiij.o jorns mudant 
tots jorns l aygua. E, com sia be deselat, aureu fussa vostra 
mell, e, ben escumada axi com dit es, metreu lo ab la mel o axerop 
e bulira ferm tro que lo axerop sia fet que fassa fills. E a mester 
en una llr. de rava galesch .j. llr. de mel. 

Chapter VIII -- To Conserve Horseradish
Take the horseradish and pare it and clean it very well with water.  And then cut it very small, and then set it on the fire with water and put there a good fistful of salt, and boil it until it is quite soft.  And then remove it and place it in cold water for 9 days, changing the water every day.  And when it is well de-salted, have your honey prepared, and well-skimmed as has been said, cast it [the horseradish] in the honey or syrup and boil it hard until a syrup is made which forms threads.  And for one pound of horseradish, one pound of honey is needed.

Libre de totes maneres de confits (Catalan, 14th c.)
http://staff-www.uni-marburg.de/~gloning/confits.htm

Notes: I took a horseradish root, peeled it, and cut it into 2/3 inch cubes.  I boiled it in salted water until it was fork-tender.  I drained and rinsed the horseradish cubes, and put them in a large jar of cold water in the refrigerator.  For 9 days I changed the water daily (though I forgot once or twice).  I drained the horseradish, and placed it in a saucepan with an equal weight of honey.  I simmered this mixture until the honey reached the thread stage on a candy thermometer (230-235° F).

The boiling and soaking process took almost all of the "bite" out of the horseradish.  I had expected something similar in intensity to candied ginger, bu the result was much milder.  It could well have been candied turnip, or some other such root vegetable, though there was a discernable horseradish taste.  The honey flavor was quite distinct, and I would like to try the recipe again with a sugar syrup.


Brighid ni Chiarain
Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom