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Oranges
Preserved in the Elizabethan Manner
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Completed 6 March 2004, for Baronial Arts & Sciences Championship, Barony of Southron Gaard Background The recipes found in the 1596 book "The Good Housewife’s Jewel" describe a series of variations on a method of preserving oranges for later consumption. The basic method is repeated in the slightly out of period manual "The Gentle Woman’s Companion", which was published in 1675. These recipes may be to preserve oranges for later consumption as a sweet meat (along the lines of candied fruit) or it may simply be a method of storing oranges for use in cooking during the coming winter, which happens to use sugar as a preservative. Only one of the recipes gives any indication regarding this, and experimentation shows that both results are possible using the described methods. By comparing the period recipes, the just out of period recipe and current preserving knowledge (to check for health issues) it was possible to develop a conjecturally period, composite method for making candied fruit. The finer points of which were based on the results of my experiments and personal taste.
Ingredients
Method This recipe was developed based on results from the various experiments.
The fruit has been removed from the bottle for judging. (Ensure the bottle is well sterilized before adding the fruit)
Results As these orange slices were preserved in syrup, they were not the the standard candied peel type of thing usually seen at Christmas time. They were, however, very sweet, sticky, orangey, and very, very popular.
Oranges, thus preserved, have successfully survived 6 months storage. At which time they were eagerly devoured.
Other Notes of Interest The eating of sweetmeats was often the only occasion that forks were used in England during the Sixteenth Century (for example, Queen Elizabeth owned three dining forks, but apparantly never used them (The Genesis of the Dining Fork in European Dining; Renaissance Art and Article, The Two-Pronged Approach, Deborah Murray)). Fork were utilised due to the stickiness and of the sweetmeats (and their occasional tendency to stain the fingers (Forks, unknown author)). The sticky syrup embedded in these oranges, and the associated messiness necessitating the use of a fork, would appear to be period. All the recipes follow slightly different methods to bring the fruit to the same state before preserving with the sugar syrup. It strikes me as unimportant which exact method is used, as I am sure every housewife and cook would have had his or her own preference and variation on the common method, based upon their own preference and experience. Much like that which occurs today. The same can be said for the exact recipe for the syrup (illustrated by several recipes advice of as much as you think be enough and similar). Bibliography
Bugler,
Miriam Travel Diary Dawson,
Thomas The Good Huswifes
Jewell Murray,
Deborah The Genesis of the Dining Fork in
European Dining; Renaissance Art and Article, The Two Pronged
Approach Sims,
Alison The Tudor
Housewife Wolley,
Hannah The Gentlewoman's Companion or, a
Guide to the Female Sex Unknown Forks
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