[Sca-cooks] pomegranate "candy"

[Lilinah]

Etain wrote:
>Help!  I made a candy using pomegranate juice, sugar and rice flour to
>thicken it.  then you add chopped almonds.  Can I find the  recipe? 
>of course not!
>Does anyone know where to find  it?

I don't know of a recipe using rice flour, but here's one using semolina.

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Original Recipe

13th C. Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook
Khabisa with Pomegranate

Take half a ratl of sugar and put it in a metal or earthenware pot 
and pour in three ratls of juice of sweet table pomegranates [rumman 
sufri; probably tart pomegranates were more common in cooking] and 
half an uqiya of rosewater, with a penetrating smell. Boil it gently 
and after two boilings, add half a mudd of semolina and boil it until 
the semolina is cooked. Throw in the weight of a quarter dirham of 
ground and sifted saffron, and three uqiyas of almonds. Put it in a 
dish and sprinkle over it the like of pounded sugar, and make balls 
[literally, hazelnuts] of this.

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Description of Weights and Measures

1 ratl (< the Greek litra < the Roman libra)=12 uqiyas; in 13th 
century Andalusia, 1 ratl=468.75 g, about a pound
1 uqiya=39 g, about 1 1/3 ounces or 7 teaspoons
1 mithqal=10/7 dirham; in Andalusia, 5.7 g
1 dirham (< the Greek drachme)=6 danaq; in 13th century Andalusia, 1 
dirham=3.9 g, or 3/4 teaspoon
1 mudd (< modius, the Roman peck); in the Maghrib=4.32 liters. Some 
recipes in this book refer to the "small mudd," which might have been 
1.08 liters.
NOTE: 1 lb = 3-3/4 cups icing/powdered sugar

-----
Original Recipe "broken out"

half ratl sugar
three ratls sweet pomegranate juice
half uqiya rosewater, with a penetrating smell
half mudd semolina
a quarter dirham ground and sifted saffron
three uqiyas of almonds
more ground sugar

1/2 lb. = 1-1/8 cups white sugar
3 pints (6 cups) pomegranates juice
1/2 oz. = 1 Tb. rosewater
1/2 liter = 2 cups semolina
1 gram = 1/4 tsp. ground and sifted saffron
4 ounces = 3/4 cup ground almonds
more powdered sugar

Put sugar in a pot and pour in pomegranate juice and rosewater.
Boil it gently
After two boilings, add semolina.
Simmer, stirring, until the semolina is cooked.
Add saffron and almonds.
Put it in a dish and sprinkle over it the like of pounded sugar, and 
make hazelnut-sized balls.

NOTE: Most modern powdered sugar has corn starch added. You can 
easily make your own powdered sugar by putting regular white sugar in 
a food processor or blender and giving it a whirl (on a day that's 
not too humid :-)

NOTE: Unless the modern sugar says "Pure Cane Sugar" or words to that 
effect, it not cane sugar. It is probably beet sugar or a blend of 
cane and beet sugar. I buy pure cane sugar for my SCA cooking.
-- 
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita

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