[Sca-cooks] spun sugar in subtleties (long)

[Johnna Holloway]

I had an injection in my knee today so I
can't really sit and tidy this all up. I am pulling
this from my sugarworks file from earlier postings that
I have made on this topic... Hope it all helps.

I am attempted to say welllll it all depends on your
definition of what spun sugar is....

Johnnae

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There was a Venetian collation given in honor
of Henri III of France where everything on the
table had been made of spun sugar: the bread, the
plates, the knives, even including and this is what
the author found interesting the forks... It was
created by Nicolo delle Cavalliera.
This is described in Toussaint-Samat's History of Food
on page 567. Back in 2002, I really thought this was probably
a good source to go with.

Unfortunately, Toussant-Samat got it wrong and these items
were sugarpaste and not "spun sugar." I wrote some time back
to Claudio Benporat in Italy and he went through the entire
mistranslation deal with me. 

I would now have to in all honesty say that Henri was treated
to various items of sugarpaste and cast sugar items and
NOT spun sugar. I would guess that the Medici Weddings
of both 1589 and 1600 are probably also sugarpaste and cast sugar.
As for what they served Christina in Rome in the 1650's, 
the prints survive and can
be viewed in various works.

For pulled sugar, one has to remember
that in order to have pulled sugar, they must have made the
transition from honey to sugar and figured out how to work with
boiling a sugar syrup. In any case you should start with
one of the best books on confections and sweets which is
Sugar-Plums and Sherbet by Laura Mason. Also see
her PPC 69 article which has the early English mss. candy recipes
in it. They date from the 15th century.
In Sugar-Plums and Sherbet she dates pulled
sugar to the year 1500 where in the York manuscript
there is a recipe "To make Penydes" where hot sugar
syrup is worked with the hands. See page 84.

The manuscript "Goud Kokery" which is section V
in Curye on Inglysch has the following:
13. To make suger plate
14. To mak penydes
15. To make ymages in suger.
This mss. is dated late 1300's.

The penydes recipe is interesting because penydes is
actually pulled and drawn out with the hands over a hook.
It was then cut with shears. See Laura Mason for description.
(Yes, this is the beginning of pulled candies.)



Johnnae

Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise wrote:

>Hey, does anyone have any information handy about spun sugar being used 
>or not used in period subtleties?
>
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