[Sca-cooks] Divinity-like candy from Nostradamus

[Jennifer Carlson]

Stefan asked:> What is this "divinity-like candy from Nostradamus"? Is it actually a > period recipe?
 
This is seriously good stuff:
 
 
How to Make a Confection From Pine-nut Kernels
Take as many well-cleaned and carefully shelled pine-nut kernels as you will, dry them or toast them a little.  Or take them whole with their skins and shells and put them in a basket.  Hang this over the hearth near the fire and leave it there for three days.  Thus the heat from the fire will slowly penetrate them and dry them.  Then take them out and lean them thoroughly.  Next take two and a half pounds of nuts, being careful to keep them close at hand.  Then take some of the most beautiful and best Madeira sugar, dissolve sufficient of it in rose-water and boil it until it attains the consistency of a jelly.  If it is winter or a time when there is a lot of moisture in the air, boil it a bit longer, but if it is summer, then let it just simmer.  This is when it does not boil over or bubble when it boils, which is a sign that the moisture had been evaporated; but to be brief, when it has boiled to the consistency of a jelly, as I have said, take the preserving pan off the fire and put it somewhere where the liquid can dry off and become firm.  Then give it a good stir with a piece of wood and beat it continuously until it turns white.  When it begins to cool down a little, add the white of a whole or half an egg and beat well again.  Next place it over the coals, in order to allow the moisture form the egg-white to stiffen, and when you see that it is properly white and like the first lot you boiled, take the dried, well-cleaned pine-nut kernels and put them into the sugar.  Stir them with the wood so that they are thoroughly mixed with the sugar – this should still be done over the coal fire, so that the mixture does not cool too quickly.  Then take a wide wooden knife, like the ones used by shoemakers, and cut the mixture into pieces, each weighing about an ounce and a half, but not more than two, which would not be good, and spread them carefully on to some paper until they have properly cooled, at which stage put a little gold leaf on to them and your confection is ready.  If, however, it is not possible to obtain pine-nut kernels anywhere, use peeled almonds instead, dividing them either into two parts or three and mixing them with the sugar to make this confection.  And if there are too few pine-nut kernels, you can replace them with pieces of almonds, for the latter are not dissimilar to the former in taste and potency.  You can also use fennel which is flowering or in seed, which is kept in houses and used during the wine harvest.  When your sugar has almost completely boiled and is hot and white with everything mixed in it or scattered over it, it looks like manna or snow and is so beautiful and lovely.
 
Source:  The Elixirs of Nostradamus: Nostradamus’ Original Recipes for Elixirs, Scented Water, Beauty Potions and Sweetmeats.  Knut Boeser, editor.  London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., 1994
 
 
You can see that this recipe differs from modern divinity in that you introduce the egg whites into the beaten syrup rather than the other way around.  My results with this method have been a white, smooth, pourable paste that sets up but does not stiffen – you cannot make balls of it off a teaspoon as you do with divinity.  Since Nostradamus's instructions are to cut it into pieces rather than making it into balls or little cakes, it likely did not stiffen enough to do so.
 
 
To make it, I use a basic divinity recipe, substituting one tablespoon of rosewater for every teaspoon of vanilla, and pine nuts or almonds for the usual pecans. The confection tastes much the same as divinity - allowing for the difference in flavorings, of course.
 
There are three ways of making it:
 
1. Use marshamallow crème (aka marshmallow fluff) to make divinity, with the substitutions listed above.  You can get a recipe on the Kraft foods website.
 
2.  Use your favorite divinity recipe, with the substitutions listed above.
 
3.  To make it in something closer to the original fashion, start with a basic divinity recipe.  Beat the egg whites with a fork to break up them up and set aside before making the syrup.  Once you hit the firm ball stage, set the syrup aside to cool for ten minutes, then beat until it fills with enough bubbles that you can no longer see the bottom of the pan.  Stir a spoonful or two of hot syrup into the whites and beat briefly to temper them before adding them to the syrup.  This step is imperative:  otherwise, you get egg drop syrup.
 
Continue to beat until the mixture begins to swell a bit and just begins to lose some of its gloss (about 5-10 minutes).  Pour it out onto a Silpat or sheet of wax paper into a rectangle roughly 9 by 13 inches.  After it cools, cut it with the edge of a wooden spatula.  You can roll the cut edges in powdered sugar if they’re still sticky.
 
 
In servicio,
 
 
Talana
 
 
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