[Sca-cooks] How old are sugared almonds?

[David Friedman]

Islamic cookbooks go further back than that. 
There are two translated ones from the 13th 
century, and an untranslated collection from the 
tenth century.

The 13th c. Andalusian cookbook, webbed on my 
site, has quite a lot of recipes that use almonds 
and sugar or honey, but I haven't found anything 
that I would describe as "sugared almonds." 
Generally the almonds are pounded or at least cut 
in pieces. For instance:

Sukkariyya, a Sugar Dish

Take a ratl and a half of sugar and throw in 
rosewater and water to cover. Stir it and pound 
it. Clarify it with a sieve in a ceramic [hantam] 
vessel and add an û qiya of honey for each ratl. 
Take a ratl of peeled white almonds and cut them 
into thirds and quarters. Return it to the fire, 
cook it until it coagulates, and take it to a 
platter which has been greased with almond oil 
and roll it out on a marble sheet. Cut it as you 
will. Dust it with sugar and do the same with 
pistachio, pine nuts and walnuts. And test it to 
see whether it takes them. And throw it on the 
salâ ya (stone work surface)...[some five words 
missing]...thin and it is very good. Then make 
with it what you may want. If you want it with 
camphor and aromatic spices, grind whatever of 
them you want and sprinkle them over it, if God 
wishes.


>By the time one gets to the early 14th or 13th centuries
>there aren't that many surviving recipe collections anyway.
>Recipes circa 1300 and earlier?
>It's dark for everyone. Regular recipes are hard to locate for those eras.
>Confectionary recipes are even harder to find. There are mentions in
>apothecary literature and in household accounts that such things were
>purchased or available for purchase, but recipes for them????
>
>Johnnae
>
>>That's what I thought. I can place them in the 
>>fifteenth century, and unless I'm much mistaken 
>>the 'epices de chambre' mentioned in the 
>>fourteenth use a similar process, but before 
>>that it gets dark for me. I haven't done much 
>>sugar cooking or related research, though. Giano
>>
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-- 
David/Cariadoc
www.daviddfriedman.com