Marzipan-msg 7/25/10

a fair searce; you may steep your almonds in cold water all night, & so

blanch them cold....

to every Iordan(Jordan) Almond blanched three spoonefuls of the whitest

sugar(refined)..." to indicate that the weght must be at least equal. In

testing this theory I weighed 3 almonds to 2 teaspoons of confectioners

sugar. Considering that the modern sugar would be denser I still found that

the weight was comparable at.5 gm for the almonds to .5 gm for the sugar. To

ensure accuracy, these weights were obtained on an electronic scale at my local

bulk food store Therefore 1 almond would weigh in at approximately 1.66 gm

and 1 tsp of sugar approximately 2.5 gm. This has lead me to the conclusion

that the 2 and 2/3 cups of sugar must be 2 and 2/3 POUNDS. This is the amount

of sugar that was used in the recipe presented today.
Colours: You may use artificial or natural food dyes, be creative

Grind the almonds to a thick paste using a food processor, Add small

amounts of rose -water 1/2 tsp at a time to prevent the almonds from becoming

to oily. Place almond paste in a bowl.

gradually beat in sugar.

knead mixture. Separate the marzipan into several sections, one for each

colour required. Place sections in a separate bowl and seal. Allow these to

age for 24 to 48 hours. Mix the colouring agents into the aged marzipan. It

will be easier to knead if allowed to warm. Sculpt the paste according to

your wildest fancy. Use fingers , cookie cutters, molds or knives

original call for only 22/3 CUPS of sugar was not nearly sufficient to

satisfy both the taste factor and the "sculpturability" of the paste. In

addition I have considered the instruction in the recipe reproduced from

"Delights for Ladies" , " Take to every Iordan(Jordan) Almond blanched three

spoonefuls of the whitest sugar(refined)..." to indicate that the weght must

be at least equal. In testing this theory I weighed 3 almonds to 2 teaspoons

of confectioners sugar. Considering that the modern sugar would be denser I

still found that the weight was comparable at.5 gm for the almonds to .5 gm

for the sugar. To ens

ure accuracy, these weights were obtained on an electronic scale at my local

bulk food store Therefore 1 almond would weigh in at approximately 1.66 gm

and 1 tsp of sugar approximately 2.5 gm. This has lead me to the conclusion

that the 2 and 2/3 cups of sugar must be 2 and 2/3 POUNDS. This is the amount

of sugar that was used in the recipe presented today.

Date: Sun, 7 Nov 1999 12:17:32 EST

From: RuddR at aol.com

Subject: Re: SC - Blown eggs, was Chocolate

"A dimly half-remembered idea from a period cookbook:

in the middle made from some thicker almond product with saffron. I think

these were roasted after being assembled."
Here is my version. I have chosen to use modern food coloring instead of

saffron and cinnamon, mostly for convenience, but using those spices would be

simple enough.
EYROUN IN LENTYN

Almond Paste "Eggs"

(th)e schulle clene in warme Water; (th)an take gode mylke of Almaundys, &

sette it on (th)e fyre; (th)an take a fayre canvas, & pore (th)e mylke

(th)er-on, & lat renne owt (th)e water; (th)en take it owt on (th)e clo(th)e,

& gader it to-gedere with a platere; (th)en putte sugre y-now (th)er-to;

(th)an take (th)e halvyndele, & colour it with Safroun, a lytil, & do

(th)er-to pouder Canelle; (th)an take & do of (th)e whyte in the ne(th)er

ende of (th)e schulle, & in (th)e myddel (th)e (y)olk, & fylle it vppe with

(th)e whyte; but no(gh)t to fulle, for goyng ouer; (th)an sette it in (th)e

fyre & roste it, & serue f[orth].

Harleian MS 279
1 C blanched almonds

2 1/2 C water

1 C sugar

1/4 tsp salt

6 large eggs

Yellow food coloring

adding about half a cup of water, a tablespoon at a time, during grinding.

You might want to grind the almonds in two or three batches.
2. In a saucepan, combine almond paste with the remaining two cups of water,

sugar, and salt, stirring to blend smooth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and

simmer, stirring frequently, for about ten minutes.
3. Pour and scrape the mixture onto a large, clean white cloth, such as a

dinner napkin or tea towel, laid on a large plate or cookie sheet. Spread

the mixture out and let it cool. Then gather up the cloth by the corners,

and gently wring it out over a cup or bowl. Tie the cloth up like a bag, and

hang up the mixture in the cloth over a cup or bowl for at least three hours.
4. Separate out one third of the almond cream, and put it into a separate

bowl. Stir in yellow food coloring a few drops at a time until it is the

color of egg yolk.
5. Carefully poke holes into both ends of the eggs, a large hole at the wide

end, and a pin hole at the narrow. Holding each egg over a bowl, blow

through the pin hole, blowing out the yolk and the white into the bowl. You

may refrigerate the yolks and whites for later use. Rinse out the empty egg

shells with warm water.
6. Using a pastry tube with a wide nozzle, pipe one third of the plain

almond cream into each egg shell. Using a clean chop stick, or other clean,

blunt stick, tamp the cream down and pack it against the sides of the shell.

Then pipe in yellow cream, and tamp it down. Pipe in the remaining cream and

tamp it down. Leave about a quarter of an inch space near the open end.
7. Preheat oven to 3508.
8. Place the filled egg shells on a rack in a roasting pan, and bake them

for ten minutes to dry out the almond cream a little. Remove them from the

oven, wipe off any drips that may have occurred, cool, and serve.
Serves six to twelve.
Rudd Rayfield

Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 23:41:58 -0500

From: harper at idt.net

Subject: Re: SC - Help! To the Queen's Taste

> There is, I hope, a recipe for marzipan in "To the Queen's Taste." If

> someone could PLEASE email me the original (I don't need the redaction)

> before Friday 2pm CST I would GREATLY appreciate it.

*any* period recipe for marzipan, or does it have to be from a

particular time and place? There are recipes in such varied

sources as:

"A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen" (English, 1617)

"The Medieval Kitchen" (from Martino, Italian, 15th cent.)

"Libro de Guisados" (Spanish, 1529)

"Libre de totes maneres de confits" (Catalan, 14th cent.)

Digbie (English, 1669)
And I'm sure there are others, especially if you're willing to go post-

period.
Lady Brighid ni Chiarain

Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)

Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000 00:15:48 -0500

From: harper at idt.net

Subject: Re: SC - Help! To the Queen's Taste

Just the language. One is the English name, the other is German.

The other European names sound pretty similar.
> The reason why I ask is there is an article in the

> Autumn 2000 Tournaments Illuminated titled Marchpane recipes. I noticed

> the bibliography has some references to Marzipan.
The TI article deals mostly with English recipes, and therefore uses

the period English name. I tend to use "marzipan" because it is

the modern term I am familiar with.
Lady Brighid ni Chiarain

Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)

Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000 19:31:41 +0100

From: "Cindy M. Renfrow"

Subject: Re: SC - Help! To the Queen's Taste
>There is, I hope, a recipe for marzipan in "To the Queen's Taste." If

>someone could PLEASE email me the original (I don't need the redaction)

>before Friday 2pm CST I would GREATLY appreciate it.

>

>Bogdan

cindy at thousandeggs.com

Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2000 12:46:46 +0100

From: "Cindy M. Renfrow"

Subject: Re: SC - Marzipan recipe -- Found it!
Hello! I checked several dozen refs last night & this morning & finally

found the one you're looking for in "John Evelyn, Cook", ed. by Christopher

Driver, pp. 159-160.
[This book contains a MS cookbook compiled by John Evelyn over the course

of many years. If I'm reading Driver's comments correctly, writing of the

book was begun by Evelyn's clerk, Richard Hoare, in 1649. He wrote up to

recipe 127, & was sacked in 1653(?). The writing was then continued by

Evelyn and others. Evelyn published "Acetaria" in 1699. Many of the recipes

in this book were included in "Acetaria". So, this recipe, #298, was

written down between 1653 and 1699. But, as the custom was to solicit

recipes from friends and relatives, this recipe may be older. Driver does

not give the dates of the specific recipes. ]
298. To make royall Marchpane in round rings.

Take 2 pound of sweet Almonds and one handfull of bitter ones blanch them

in cold water over night drie them in a cloth beat them very well then with

the whites of three Eggs beat up with Orenge flower water put to them a

p[ound] and halfe of fine sugar sifted set it over a chafing dish with

charcoale in a bason or preserving pan stirr it till it is very drie and

will work up in to a past then lay it on a cleane board till allmost cold

then role it out shape them round let them lye till they are all made then

beat 2 or 3 whites of eggs to a froth tosse and wett them all over then

tosse them in fine sifted sugar then sift sugar on papers to lay them on

set them in an oven that will just couler the paper a qr of an hour will

bake them the oven must be so quick they may rise.

- - qr (r is superscripted) = quarter

- - letters in brackets were added by Driver, recipes abbreviate pound with "p".

- - Driver cites a note by Karen Hess that this method of drying the

marchpanes over coals is French, & is used by Massialot.
Cindy Renfrow/Sincgiefu

cindy at thousandeggs.com

Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2001 16:52:38 -0600

From: "Elise Fleming"

Subject: SC - Re: Marzipan
Gwendolen wrote:

>Can anyone recommend a relatively quick and *easy* thing to do with

>Marzipan? Do you use it as an icing or do you mold it just as is? I

>brought some back from England and I'd like to do something with it for an

>event on Saturday. Any other tips (already read the Florilegium files)

>would be welcomed.

chocolate. Not period, however! If you're a sugar paste person, make some

period paste. Roll the marzipan into a "snake" and roll the sugarpaste

around the snake. Twist it into knots, letters, bows, etc. Place on

parchment paper. Bake in a very slow oven (300?) until the color just turns.

Remove. It's late period.

say for marchpanes.

Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2001 14:33:55 -0500

From: Elaine Koogler

Subject: Re: SC - Marzipan

What I found works really well to stop this is to dip your hands into orange

juice when they start getting sticky.
Kiri

Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 15:53:21 -0000

From: "Olwen the Odd"

Subject: Re: SC - Marzipan

>Marzipan? Do you use it as an icing or do you mold it just as is? I

>

>Gwendolen

be kept in mind. Due to the large sugar content in marzipan it dries very

quickly when exposed to the air. I should be covered at all times. If the

marzipan becomes dry you can add a little water to reconstitute it but this

will cut down on it's shelf life.
Using a stainless steel bowl to make or keep it covered in will prevent

discoloration. Also, when handling marzipan be sure every surface and your

hands are extremely clean. As the almond oil raises to the surface when

worked will pick up and absorb even small traces of dirt and can lead to

spoilage and discoloration.
When rolling out marzipan work on a surface (preferably marble)dust the

surface with powdered sugar (instead of flour like you would for pastry

dough). You can use cookie or butter cutters for shapes or free hand cut.

To top a cake or petits fours you can make a cardboard cutout of the size

and use that as your pattern.
If you color marzipan it is traditional to use soft pastel shades, but I

have gone beyond those boundries myself. You can use water-soluble food

coloring, cocoa powder, saunder, and for bright white (for display pieces

only-don't eat) add 4 to 6 drops of titanium dioxide per 1 ounce of untinted

marzipan. If you want to make small amounts of one color, place a drop of

food color on a piece of baking parchment and add the marzipan to it.

having fingerprints left on your marzipan piece, plastic food handlers

gloves are a welcome addition. Just be sure to change gloves between

colors.
To make a marzipan parfait:

(six cups)
8 ounces marzipan

2 tablespoons kirschwasser (kirsch, a clear uncoloured black cherry

brandy)

3 ounces granulated sugar

2.5 (2 1/2) cups heavy cream

yolks and place over simmering water. Whip until the mixture is light and

fluffy. Remove from heat, continue whipping until cool.
Whip the heavy cream to soft peaks. Fold the cream into the marzipan

mixture.
Place in the freeser for at least two hours or, preferably, overnight.

To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Marzipan

From: Kirrily Robert

Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 11:20:35 -0400
Brighid wrote:

>Last night I tried making peach pits with commercial almond paste. It

>looked just as good, and was easier to handle than my homemade, BUT the flavor

>was very different. The commercial paste has such a strong almond flavor

>that the cinnamon got lost.
Many people who don't like commercial marzipan do like my home-made

marzipan. I think the commercial stuff has heaps of almond essence in

it, and it's overwhelming.
Katherine

--

Lady Katherine Robillard (mka Kirrily "Skud" Robert)

Caldrithig, Skraeling Althing, Ealdormere

Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 10:14:46 -0500 (CDT)

From: "Pixel, Goddess and Queen"

To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Playing with Marzipan....
On Mon, 24 Sep 2001, Melody Mahanna wrote:

> The marzipan posts of late started the gears and cogs in my imagination

> ticking so I got a small bit of marzipan to play with. Now I have heard of

> wondrous creations made out of this stuff and mine still looks like uncooked

> sugar cookie dough and is about as agreeable to my sculpting efforts. Do

> you leave it out once sculpted to harden up or do you bake it? Any

> suggestions as to neato things I can try here? *looks at the poor lump of

> neglected marzipan*

grandfather used, and that it sounds like Olwen uses, is fairly stiff, not

really sticky, and sculpts a lot like well-handled Play-doh. Commercial

marzipan like the kind you buy in the tube is fairly soft (although still

tasty), and usually used inside baked goods, so the texture doesn't matter

nearly so much.

eat. If you want to be able to eat it after it's been formed, you have to

store it airtight or seal it in something (like chocolate).
You can bake it--shape it into little breads, glaze it with beaten egg

white, and bake it until it is brown on top. Looks like little

buns. Changes the taste, too.
If you freeze it, wrap it very well and don't store it for too long or it

will dry out.

it's not really period). Make balls, make little dents for eyes with the

wide end of a flat toothpick, and roll in cocoa powder. You can also tint

it with food colorings--just knead it in.

confectioner's sugar to those who haven't been reading English cake

decorating books lately) it will stiffen up the paste enough for good

sculpting. It may make it extremely sweet--use about a teaspoon at a time

until it's stiff as you want.
Olwen, do you use fondant in your marzipan, and if so, what proportions?
Margaret, who is missing the annual marzipan-making weekend with Grandpa

rather acutely this year

From: "Olwen the Odd"

To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Playing with Marzipan....

Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 17:14:20 +0000

>ticking so I got a small bit of marzipan to play with. Now I have heard of

>wondrous creations made out of this stuff and mine still looks like uncooked

>sugar cookie dough and is about as agreeable to my sculpting efforts. Do

>you leave it out once sculpted to harden up or do you bake it? Any

>suggestions as to neato things I can try here? *looks at the poor lump of

>neglected marzipan*

>~Melody
Oh goodie Melody is going to play with marzipan!! So much fun. Well, to

begin with, if you want to colour marzipan and don't mind if it's not some

period tinture then use the gel or paste rather than the water based stuff.

Make sure your hands and surfaces are very clean and don't smell funny cuz

that is the one thing marzipan is finicky about (trust me, fish smelling

marzipan is not a good choice). After that it's just a matter of play. I

leave my marzipan sit out and get to room temp. before I play with it. The

more you handle it the softer it will become. Sometimes it gets so soft

it's sticky and it should go back in the fridge till it cools down. You can

mold it, use cookie cutters, "paste" pieces together using rose water (or

plain water ~ I use rose water), put it between wax paper and roll it or use

your finger to squish it (that's how I form the petals for the roses), you

can sclupt it, stuff it, boil it, bake it, give bits to your cat....well,

get the idea? Depending on what you are going to do with it. I usually

just leave mine sit out and harden up then put it in containers or ziplock.

Mind, if you let it sit out way long it will get hard as a rock. Mix a

little in some simmering cream and it makes a wonderful sauce to pour over

poundcake, pasteries, fruit and icecream. (Remember the "stuff" in the

bottle Chirhart?) Yum. Well, sorry for going on, but it is my favorite toy.

Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 13:23:44 -0400

From: Elaine Koogler

To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Playing with Marzipan....
I have also found that a hint that I found somewhere (don't remember where....)

works really well....I keep a dish of orange juice (without pulp works best)

that I use to rinse my fingers when they get too sticky.
Kiri

From: "Olwen the Odd"

To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Playing with Marzipan....

Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 18:52:31 +0000
>So what *are* the proportions you use? Grandpa used 16 oz almond paste, 12

>oz fondant, 4 oz icing sugar, and about a 1/2 tsp rosewater for a 2-lb

>lump. It started out sticky but after everything was blended nicely it was

>smooth and slightly dry to the touch. It would dry out very quickly,

>though, so we always kept it covered when we weren't working with it.

>

>Margaret

needed or a little more sugar to stiffen it.

Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 15:50:04 -0500 (CDT)

From: "Pixel, Goddess and Queen"

To: SCA-Cooks maillist

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Playing with Marzipan....