[Sca-cooks] period fruit pastes

lilinah@earthlink.net lilinah at earthlink.net
Thu Oct 12 13:43:46 PDT 2006


Well, i'm going to be rather busy making stuff for the banqueting 
table for the West Kingdom Twelfth Night Duchesses Masked Rose Ball. 
I've been snuggling up in bed with Spurling's version of Fettiplace, 
Digby's Closet Unlock'd, and the Martha Washington cookbook.

--- Aside ---
(minor rant)
I asked a local SCA herbalists guild - 12th Night is in their 
Principality this year - if any members would be willing to make 
something and donate it to the ball.

I keep being told, "Here's something *you* could buy." I mean, i've 
explained to them that this ball is for everyone not just duchesses 
(the duchesses just do PR), that there is no budget for anything we 
do, that anything i make is coming out of my own pocket.

Or else i get one person telling me how terrible it would be to put 
any herbs or flowers around as decorations because there are so many 
people with allergies or illnesses. Now i'm not insensitive - i've 
got some minor allergies myself, and occasional asthma - but this one 
person who posts more than anyone else is such a complete killjoy.
(rant off)
--- End Aside ---

So, first, i was wondering... would it be really terrible to purchase 
some fruit jams, then cook them down more to make fruit pastes? I 
just don't think i'm going to have the time or the room to make a 
butt load from fresh fruits? Or will the resulting product be so 
vastly inferior that the attendees will notice?

Next, if this is not a complete travesty, and i go along with this 
idea, do people think i will need to add more sugar to the fruit 
preserves to get a good result?

I know i went to one SCA feast where the dessert table featured an 
array of fruit preserves - when i asked, it turned out they'd just 
emptied commercial jars into nice bowls, and i felt a little cheated. 
But feasts have budgets - and i'll be doing more than just opening a 
bottle...

-- 
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita


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