[Sca-cooks] period fruit pastes (long and whiny and with questions)

[Stefan li Rous]

Femke commented:
<<<<
> Anyway, the person on the herbal guild list pointed out what a big
> problem roses and rosemary are and how wrong it would be to have any
> rosemary there, and problematic if there are roses. I am not denying
> that some people are allergic to them, but i think that it's not a
> huge problem. Sure, huge for the individual who is allergic, but i
> don't think there's a huge number of sensitive people who'll be at
> the Ball. As with food at feasts, one cannot accommodate every
> possible allergy, and this is the Masked ROSE Ball, so i think roses
> are de rigueur.
>

I would  think so.  In floral, petal, oil or food form, or all of the  
above.
   Rose Balls in this neck of the woods have included all those things.
Molded butters, cookies, candies, marchpane, etc. >>>

Oh! You could make real rose balls.  :-)

rosaries-msg      (60K)  1/26/03    Period rosaries and their use.  
Making rose
                                        beads.

<<<
> Additional pectin may not be bad, but i dunno... anyone have any idea
> about that? I don't think i've ever made jam before. Or maybe i have,
> but if, so it was well over 30 years ago. I remember making Indian
> lime pickle and mango chutney in 1967, but i don't recall doing
> anything like it again.

Not a problem.  In fact, the recipe for Damsons in Quaking Jelly in  
Elinor
Fettiplace's receipt book directs the cook to start with "green apple
water."  Which is being used her for pectin.  I tend to make pectin  
stock
from green apples this time of year and can it for jam-making next year.
It's just a little insurance, and gives a bit more "snap" than  
commercial
pectin.  It won't do anything but maybe help the pastes set up  
better.  >>>

Ah, okay, thanks for the period reference to adding pectin. I was  
concerned that since the original fruit pastes were thickened with  
sugar that starting with a jelly with pectin already added to it,  
would mean less sugar would be used, and thus it would be less sweet  
than the period version.

Fettiplace specifies "green apple water" and you mention using green  
apples. Do green apples have more pectin in them than red (ripe?)  
apples?  Hmmm, does green in this case simply refer to a type of  
apple, or does it mean an unripe apple?

<<< Apple paste also goes quite well with cinnamon stick  
comfits.  ;-) >>>

I think of comfits as being candied seeds. This use of cinnamon  
sticks to make comfits sounds interesting, although perhaps a bit  
more difficult to eat because they will have to be sucked on, or  
chewed for awhile. Sounds like an interesting soteltie item.

Stefan
--------
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 ****