candied-peels-msg – 2/2/07
Candied fruit peels. A late period treat.
NOTE: See also the files: candied-peels-art, chocolate-msg, sugar-msg, honey-msg, Sugarplums-art, Roses-a-Sugar-art, desserts-msg, sugar-paste-msg, sotelties-msg, candy-msg, candied-fruit-msg.
KEYWORDS: sugar candy period candied fruit comfits banquet honey
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NOTICE -
This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.
This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org
I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.
The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.
Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).
Thank you,
Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous
Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: Gretchen Miller <grm+ at andrew.cmu.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Delicious Nuts
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1993 12:32:30 -0400
Organization: Computer Operations, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
sucket is apparently a boiled sweet that is basically candied fruit
peels (or bitter things turned sweet).
In Banquetting Stuffe, the fare and social background of the Tudor and
Stuart banquet, (A wonderful book, all about sweets. It's the papers
from the First Leeds Symposium on Food History and Traditions. Contains
articles both scholarly and experimental. Editor C. Anne Wilson,
publisher Edinburgh University Press, published 19912, ISBN
0-7486-0103-1), Peter Brears gives the the following recipe and
redaction:
To make sucade of peeles of Lemmons (John Partridge, The Treasurie of
Commodious Conceits, and Hidden Secrets, 1573)
First take off your peeles by quarters and seeth them in faire water,
from three quartes to three pintes, then take them out, and put to as
much more water, and seeth them likewise, and doo againe, till the water
wherein they are sodden have no bitterness at all of the peeles, then
you are ready, now prepare a Sirop [of] the same liquor...one pint of
rosewater, and for every quart of liquor one half pound of sugar; seethe
them again together on a soft fire of coles till the Sugar bee
incorporated with the liquor, then put in your peeles, let them seeth
softly till you perceive that your sirop is as thicke as lite hony. Put
them in a pot of stone.
Redation:
2 lemons
2 TBS (30ml) rosewater
14 oz (400 g) sugar
Halve the elmons, squeeze out the juice, cut the rinds into quarters and
scrape out any remaining membranes. Boil the rinds in 1 pt of water for
30 minutes, changing the water three times during this period so that no
bitter taste remains and they are very tender. Make a syrup with the
sugar, rosewater, and 3/4 pt (425 ml) water from the last boiling, and
simmer the peels in this until they are thrnaslucent and the syrup is as
thick as thin honey. Store in sterilised jars until required. Orange
peel may also be prepared in this way. Being in syrup, these were known
as wet suckets.
You can also make them dry or candied (described later in the same paper).
Banquetting stuff is definately the book to get if you want a decent
bibliography of primary sources, and a decent discussion of what they
contain.
toodles, margaret
From: dickeney at access1.digex.net (Dick Eney)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Help with Candymaking
Date: 1 Apr 1996 12:12:01 -0500
Organization: Express Access Online Communications, Greenbelt, MD USA
Laura Shumar <lshumar at iquest.net> wrote:
>I've been trying to make candied citrus peel for THE Spring Event
>(April 12-14, Lafayette, IN - don't miss it! :-) But I haven't had
>much luck so far. My directions say to cook the peel until it's
>translucent - so far it's been cooking for eight hours.
>
>I don't expect candymaking to be easy, but I can't imagine anyone
>going to this much trouble, even if oranges were a rare treat. Does
>anyone have any advice/recipes to share?
I have seen some candied orange peel that was very extremely thin, and
that I believe is the key to "translucent". If you use only the very
outmost part of the peel, it can be cooked to translucence. However, I
have made candied orange peel that was much thicker; I just cooked it
until I thought it was done enough, that is, soft, and rolled it in the
sugar. It came out okay. It was a long time ago and I don't have the
recipe to hand.
-- Tamar the Gypsy
From: David Corliss <CORLISD at aa.wl.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Help with Candymaking
Date: 2 Apr 1996 18:06:42 GMT
Organization: Parke-Davis Retrospective Validation
dickeney at access1.digex.net (Dick Eney) wrote:
>Laura Shumar <lshumar at iquest.net> wrote:
>>
>>I've been trying to make candied citrus peel for THE Spring Event
>>(April 12-14, Lafayette, IN - don't miss it! :-) But I haven't had
>>much luck so far. My directions say to cook the peel until it's
>>translucent - so far it's been cooking for eight hours.
My gentle Lady and I recently prepared some of this confection. We found
that it did not have to be heated *continuously* - when we had other
things to do, we simply left it until later. Over the course of three or
four days, I think we heated the stuff for somewhere between 12 and 16
hours. It came out just fine.
It might be worthwhile to recall that perceptions of time and labor were
not always as they are today. Anyone willing to attempt tapestry or
making riveted mail or walking to Palestine would not be likely to balk
at a matter of days to prepare a delicacy. Further, if your job is
working in a kitchen 12 to 14 hours a day, you would little regard the
effort required to watch over a pan now and then over the course of a
day.
Beorthwine
From: bsibly at chch.planet.org.nz (Belinda Sibly)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Help with Candymaking
Date: 3 Apr 1996 14:32:28 GMT
Organization: PlaNet(NZ) Canterbury
dickeney at access1.digex.net (Dick Eney) wrote:
> Laura Shumar <lshumar at iquest.net> wrote:
>>I've been trying to make candied citrus peel for THE Spring Event
>>(April 12-14, Lafayette, IN - don't miss it! :-) But I haven't had
>>much luck so far. My directions say to cook the peel until it's
>>translucent - so far it's been cooking for eight hours.
Don't be too literal about the transluscent thing. When I've done it the white
pithy bits have gone a deep saffron yellow to orange colour, and the orange
parts have gone really shiny. The translucence you are looking for is only
about as translucent as orange candle wax that's just started to melt on the
surface.
Use peel with a very thin pith or cut the surface of the peel off the orange
with a potato peeler, going as deep as you can. about an eighth of an inch
thick is good.
Oh, and keep the syrup you boiled the oranges in, add some orange juice and
boil it til it about as thick as maple syrup. It's great poured over
snow, crushed ice, or if you don't mind being OOP ice cream. If the orange
peel is a disaster, and doesn't set properly or something you can cut it up
small and throw it back into the syrup which makes the syrup even better.
But you think this is fiddly! I've seen recipes where you make the candy, add
nuts, let it set. Re boil it, let it set again, break it up and grind it to a
powder and then mix that into something else!!
Mistress Rowena Le Sarjent of Southron Gaard. (Caid's Baby Laurel)
From: alysk at ix.netcom.com(Elise Fleming )
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Help with Candymaking
Date: 1 Apr 1996 22:21:42 GMT
lshumar at iquest.net (Laura Shumar) writes:
>I've been trying to make candied citrus peel for THE Spring Event
>(April 12-14, Lafayette, IN - don't miss it! :-) But I haven't had
>much luck so far. My directions say to cook the peel until it's
>translucent - so far it's been cooking for eight hours.
Greetings! As Tamar noted, for translucency you'll need a thin peel.
One way to get the thinness more easily is to gently boil the peel for
20 min. once or twice, with cold water soakings of 4+ hours in between.
Use fresh water each time you boil and you soak. After a few
"boilings" you can more easily scrape away the white part under the
peel. Be careful, though, or the peel may break into smaller pieces
during the final cooking process.
There are recipes in modern cookbooks - _Joy of Cooking_ being one I
know of. Check with libraries for candymaking books with other
recipes. And, there is a very nice period recipe which I will send to
anyone via private e-mail since the description of the process is
somewhat lengthy. It makes a nice moist peel whereas modern recipes
make a harder, tougher peel (which some people like!). While the
period process can take 5-7 days, it is "user-friendly". You do the
"boilings-up" when you can. The final boiling with sugarwater is the
only place where you'll need a little time.
Alys Katharine
From: hwt at igs.net (Henry Troup)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Help with Candymaking
Date: 2 Apr 1996 17:38:59 -0500
Laura Shumar <lshumar at iquest.net> wrote:
>I've been trying to make candied citrus peel for THE Spring Event
>(April 12-14, Lafayette, IN - don't miss it! :-) But I haven't had
>much luck so far. My directions say to cook the peel until it's
>translucent - so far it's been cooking for eight hours.
I've made marmelade and the peel for that goes transparent in about an
hour. How thin did you pare it? Did you exclude all of the white? Did
you scrub the oranges to remove any wax - can be quite a scrub, although
the hot syrup should dissolve the wax.
You want a fairly thick-peeled orange - navels should be good.
--
Henry Troup hwt at igs.net I am responsible for these opinions.
From: lori.walters at rook.wa.com (Lori Walters)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Help with Candymaking
Date: Wed, 03 Apr 1996 03:54:00 GMT
L(>I've been trying to make candied citrus peel for THE Spring Event
L(>(April 12-14, Lafayette, IN - don't miss it! :-) But I haven't had
L(>much luck so far. My directions say to cook the peel until it's
L(>translucent - so far it's been cooking for eight hours.
Here's a good recipe. It's not quite in period, but it's fairly easy and
more palatable to the modern taste buds.
Candied Orange Peel
cut peel of each of 3 oranges into 4 sections with a sharp knife. remove
peel carefully with fingers. Scape white membrane from peel with
spoon(back of peel will appear porous when membrane is removed) Cut peel
lengthwise into strips 1/4 inch wide. Heat peel and 8 cups water to
boiling in 3 quart saucepan; reduce heat. simmer uncovered 30
minutes; drain. repeat simmering process.
Heat 2 cups sugar and 1 cup water to boiling in 2 quart saucepan,
stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved, 45 minutes. Drain in
strainer. Roll peel in 1 1/2 cups sugar; spread on waxed paper to dry.
Works with grapefruit peel too.
HL Shaughnessy O'Brennan
From: crownprnts at aol.com (CrownPrnts)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Help with Candymaking
Date: 15 Apr 1996 22:18:11 -0400
A note about grapefruit peel -- you must boil it at least three times or
your candy will be bitter.
Lemon peel tastes the best (IMHO) but lemons are hard to peel.
Renata Kestryl of Highynds
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
From: lshumar at iquest.net (Laura Shumar)
Subject: Candied Citrus Peel - thanks!!!
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 08:40:09 GMT
This is a very overdue thank-you to all the kind people who posted ane
e-mailed me regarding candied citrus peel.
One person warned me that "people won't eat it like chocolate," but this
certainly wasn't the case...it was far more popular than I expected! I
don't know if they would've chosen it *over* chocolate...but it was all
eaten.
To sum up what I learned: my cookbook (I used one titled "Chocolates and
Petit Fours", from that series of tall skinny white cookbooks) was wrong.
It has you boil your strips of orange peel (or whatever) WITHOUT removing
the pith....some of their recipes were good, but ignore this one!
Combining the advice I was given, I put the fruit (either big chunks of
peel or an entire half fruit, depending on what it was) into water and
boiled it for a few minutes, until the pith was easy to scrape away. For
some peels I boiled it several times, in changes of water, letting the water
cool between boilings.
After scraping away the white pith I cut the peel into bite-size pieces and
boiled it again. Then I cooked it in the sugar water (usually 1.5 c. sugar
to 2 c. water) - I'd bring it to a boil, let it cool, and boil it again -
repeating until the syrup was thick. Then the peel was ready to dry and
roll in sugar.
Following the cookbook's recipe I spent about 10 hours at the stove,
carmelized the sugar (and ruined an enamel pan!), and got ok peel. Following
the advice of SCA people I spent about an hour (total) on each batch,
didn't ruin any more pans, and got really nice looking peel (though I had
to add some food coloring to make my lime look green). Thanks again to
all of you!
now...does anyone know how to remove burned-on sugar from one of Mom's
enamel pans? :-/
-Laura
From: kathe1 at juno.com (Kathleen M Everitt)
Date: Sat, 19 Apr 1997 19:33:29 EDT
Subject: SC - Lemon peel - long
Okay, I give up! I never thought there would be this much interest!
:-D. Thanks to Dame Alys Katharine of Ashthorne Glen who first turned me
on to this stuff. I don't make it exactly the same way she did, but her's
was the first peel I tried that I actually liked. It looks a lot harder
than it is. It takes days to make, but only a few minutes per day.
Happy Eating!
Julleran (kathe1 at juno.com)
Candied Peel
"a goodlye secret for to condite or confite Orenges, citrons, and all
other fruites in sirrop", a recipe from Thomas Dawson, THE SECOND PART OF
THE GOOD HUS-WIVES JEWELL, 1597.
"Take Cytrons and cut them in peeces, taking out of them the juice or
substance, then boyle them in freshe water halfe an hower untilll they be
tender, and when you take them out, cast them into cold water, leave them
there a good while, then set them on the fire againe in other freshe
water, doo but heate it a little with a small fire, for it not seeth, but
let it simper a little, continue thus eight daies together heating them
every day inn hot water: some heat the watre but one day, to the end that
the citron be not too tender, but change the freshe water at night to
take out the bitternesse of the pilles, the which being taken away, you
must tkae suger or Honey clarified wherein you must the citrons put,
having first wel dried them from the water, & in winter you must keep
them from the frost, & in the Sommer you shal leave them there all night,
and a day and a night in HOnie, then boile the Honie or Sugar by it selfe
without the orenges or Citrons by the space of halfe an hower or lesse
with a little fire, and being colde set it agiane to the fire with the
space of halfe an hower or lesse with a litle fire, and being colde set
it againe to the fire with the Citrons, continuing so two mornings: if
you wil put Honnie in water and not suger, you must clarifie it tow
times, and straine it through a strayner: having thus warmed and
clarified it you shall straine and sett it againe to the fire, with
Citrons onely, making them to boyle with a soft fire the spae of a
quarter of an houre, then take it from the fire & let it rest at every
time you do it, a day & a night: the next morning you shall boyle it
again together the space of half an hower, and doo so two morninges, to
the end that the Honie or Suger may be well incorporated with the
Citrons. All the cumuing sonsisteth in the boyling of this sirrope
togetehr with teh Citrons, and also the Sirrope by it selfe, and heerein
heede must be takken that it take not the smoke, so that it savour not
the fire: In this manner may be drest the Peaches, or lemmons Orenges,
Apples, green Malnuts, and other liste being boile more or lesse,
according to the nature of the fruits."
Redaction:
Take the peels from citrus fruit, cover with water and simmer for about
20 minutes. Drain, cover with cold water and let sit for about 8 hours.
Drain, cover with cold water and simmer for about 20 minutes. Drain,
cover with cold water and let sit for about 8 hours. (Repeat until peel
is tender and water is relatively clear. Number of times varies depending
on type of fruit and thickness of peel.) Remove excess pith after second
or third simmering, depending on tenderness.
Cut peel into bite-sized pieces, simmer again and save the water. Add
sugar to the water and boil it to make a syrup. Add peels and remove from
heat. Let sit overnight. Simmer peel in syrup until syrup is almost gone
and peel is translucent. Spread peel on cookie sheets to dry. (May be
speeded up by placing cookie sheets into a hot oven *after* you turn it
off.)
From: "Ray Caughlin" <rayc at totcon.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 08:15:09 -0400
Subject: SC - Fw: Lemon peel
Julleran,
I didn't think you would mind if I posted this to the server. Your query at
the end made me think that you thought it was already an open post. I am
constantly getting them confused, and I am a programmer!
Lord Mandrigal of Mu-
> From: Kathleen M Everitt <kathe1 at juno.com>
> To: rayc at totcon.com
> Subject: Re: Lemon peel
> Date: Sunday, April 20, 1997 1:34 PM
>
> On Sun, 20 Apr 1997 11:59:22 -0400 "Ray Caughlin" <rayc at totcon.com> writes:
> >Thank you kind lady. I got the recipe when you sent it this last time.
> >
> >When they speak in the recipe of citron are they saying citrus or do they
> >really mean citron. There is a watermelon like melon that is called a
> >citron locally. Also there is a candied citron that is used in a jewish
> >recipe for mandel bread. Any ideas or do you think these are just
> >coincidences.
> >
> >Lord Mandrigal of Mu
> >
> >----------
> I'm not sure. Since the last line states that it works with apples and
> peaches, it might work on melon, but I've never tried it with anything
> other than grapefruit, orange, lemon and lime peel. I'm familiar with the
> candy citron from the grocery and it's a bit softer than some of the
> thicker skinned grapefruit I've tried. It might be a melon that is
> candied the same way. I just don't know. Maybe I'll try it this summer.
> I'll let you know if it works out. BTW, I've made an apple conserve from
> one of the period sources and it is very similar, except that the sugar
> water is not cooked down as much and it is jarred up to keep it moist
> rather than spreading the apples out to dry. I might try apples with this
> recipe. I think they would be great.
>
> Anyone out there know what Dawson means by "Cytrons"?
>
> Julleran
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 1997 19:45:45 -0500 (CDT)
From: alysk at ix.netcom.com (Elise Fleming )
Subject: SC - Re: Candied Fruit Peel
Stefan li Rous asked:
>Anyone else out there made candied fruit peel? How did yours taste?
Yes, I make a fair amount of it (orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit - only
the first two are "period"). I use Dawson's recipe and found that the
longer and slower I take to make it the better it is. Modern recipes
have the peel made in a day or less. Dawson's is a leisurely process
of simmering/boiling the peel, letting it soak in cold water,
re-boiling, etc. Counting up his processes, it can take 8 days. I've
taken longer when I've been too busy with work to oversee the final
candying process.
I've found that what I do during the final boiling of the sugar
syrup/peel combination affects the outcome of the peel. If I try to
rush the process I will usually end up with a "tougher", firmer peel,
sometimes with a sugar coating. If I do it slower I can end up with a
soft, tender peel that is a bit sticky to the touch. Since sticky peel
is harder to store I usually end up overcooking the peel.
Dawson says the peel will keep for a year or so. If the peel is "hard
boiled" to toughness it dries out within a few months and is too hard
on the teeth. If I've done it "softly" so I have a moist peel, while
it will dry, it won't dry out very fast. A few times I've had a
problem with too-moist peel spoiling.
Another factor is how strong a sugar syrup is used. Modern peels use a
fairly heavy syrup but the period recipe where a proportion is given
isn't very sugary. As to taste, I notice a flavor of the fruit as well
as a "bite."
Alys Katharine
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 07:54:10 EDT
From: kathe1 at juno.com (Kathleen M Everitt)
Subject: Re: SC - candied fruit peel
On 14 Jul 1997 16:35:40 -0500 "Mark Harris"
<mark_harris at quickmail.sps.mot.com> writes:
>Both mine and the commercial one remind me or the orange shaped and
>colored suger segment candy. Niether was like flavored rock candy.
>
>Anyone else out there made candied fruit peel? How did yours taste?
I make candied citrus peel a lot. How it turns out depends on a lot of
things. The thickness of the rind is one. Sunkist o