[Sca-cooks] period fruit pastes

[Stefan li Rous]

Anne-Marie asked:
<<< so now I'm all inspired to take some of those pears I canned earlier
and cook them down into yummy fruit pastes.

do we know of any period recipes for doing this with things other
than quince? >>>

Yes. See this file in the FOOD-SWEETS section of the Florilegium:
marmalades-msg    (76K)  6/18/04    Period marmalades and fruit  
jellies and jams

Among the recipes and other period references given is this one:

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Since I have Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery in front of me, here
are some recipe's from it.

Bear

TO MAKE OF PLUMS PEARS OR APRICOCKS A PASTE Yt SHALL LOOK CLEAR AS AMBER

Take white pear plums of faire yellow Apricock[s].  pare & stone them,
then boyle them on a chafing dish of coles till they be tender.  then
streyne them and dry the pulpe in a dish.  then take as much sugar as ye
pulp dos weigh & boyle it to a candy height, with as much rose water as
will wet it.  then put your apricocks or pear plums in ye sugar, & let
them boyle together & keep it stirring.  then fashion it upon A leaf of
glass into halfe apricocks, & put ye stone into ye syde.  then put them
into a stove or warme oven, & ye next day turn them & close 2 of them
together, & then put ye stones into them betwixt ye hollows.  soe dry
them out, & box them.
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Stefan
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THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****