Source: A Collection of Victorian (and earlier)
Traditional Christmas candy recipes by Jacqueline
Millicent Hayes
Preface
Many festive recipes, made for generations at Christmastime,
have been lost in recent years - casualties of our
modern search for speed and convenience. Some would
taste strange to our modern palate, while others have
a wonderful flavor that they are well l worth the
extra effort. These include Sugarplums and the other
dry-candied fruits. Marzipan and Snapdragon are so
easy and so great for family fun, you might wonder
why you have not been making them for years.
When I started writing the recipes down, I was remembering
past Christmases in England, filled with food and
traditions. It became increasingly difficult to describe
how to make the food, without mentioning some of the
lore and tradition that went along with them. I do
hope that this expands your insight into what makes
an English Christmas so very merry.
Some of the recipes are old family ones. Some are
drawn from my own collection of very old cookbooks,
or have been researched from other very old cookbooks.
All are taste tested and approved by my family and
friends. I hope you enjoy them.
Candied Whole Fruits
Sugarplums were a type of dry-candied whole fruit,
considered a very great treat at Christmastime, in
the days before canning and freezing made the eating
of seasonal summer fruits a possibility in the winter
months. They have a taste similar to expensive French
candied fruits and can be eaten as an elegant and
unusual after dinner treat, in place of those ubiquitous
after dinner mints. Many different fruits can be dry-candied,
and although they are a little fiddly to make, the
intense but delicate flavors far exceed ordinary non-candied
dried fruits. If you have a home drier, you can use
it for the drying process, although it is not necessary
for a good result.
Old recipes for candying fruit are rather inexact.
Once you start, you will soon see the syrup thickening
up around the fruit, and realize at what point to
remove it to the drying sheets. Firm, slightly under-ripe
fruit retains its shape best, but do not use unripe
or immature fruits that have not yet developed their
full flavor.
To store your Sugarplums, never put
them in airtight containers. They will go moldy. Good
candied fruits have a soft delectable chewy texture,
because they still retain a small amount of moisture.
For best results, pack them in a cardboard box, layered
with waxed paper, or in a pretty basket for gift-giving.
They will continue to dry very slowly, and will keep
as long as conventional dried fruits (if you can resist
eating them for that long!).
Sugarplums
Thin syrup
1 pound plums
1/2 pound granulated sugar
1 pint water
Thick syrup
2 pound granulated sugar
2 tablespoons water
Make a thin syrup of half a pound of sugar and a
pint of water. Slit a pound of plums down the seam
and put them into the syrup. Poach gently until only
just tender, taking care that they remain covered
with the syrup, or they will lose their color. Cool,
cover and refrigerate overnight.
The following day make a thick syrup of two pounds
of sugar and two tablespoons of water. Boil until
a little dropped in a bowl of cold water makes a thick
but soft ball.
Remove from heat and allow to become cold. Then carefully
drain the plums as completely as possible from the
first syrup and place them gently in the second thick
syrup.
Reheat and scald only until the plums look clear,
taking care that they are completely covered in the
syrup. Allow to cool again. Then empty them into a
shallow ceramic or glass bowl, cover tightly and allow
them to develop flavor in the refrigerator for a week.
Take them out and spread them apart on dishes or
plates. Cover loosely with baking paper, put them
in a warm, dry place and turn them every day until
dry. If you put them in a very low warming oven, turning
them every half hour, at first, then every hour, etc.,
they can be dried much more quickly. At this stage
a home fruit dryer can also be used if desired.
Do not discard the thin syrup. It makes a delicious
sauce on ice cream, either by itself or accompanied
by finely chopped Sugarplums. You can freeze it until
your Sugarplums are ready.
Alternatively it can be used as the liquid in a cake
recipe. You would have to reduce the sugar in the
cake recipe accordingly.
Sugar Apricots
Peel and stone the apricots, leaving them as whole
as possible. Put them in a large pan or preserving
pan, and to every pound of apricots, add a half a
pound of dry sugar. Stir gently, but well. Let them
stand for twenty four hours, turning them occasionally.
Then bring to the boil and cook quite rapidly, just
until the apricots are transparent.
Remove from heat and allow to become quite cold.
Carefully take the apricots out of the cold syrup
and place them separately on plates. Dry either in
the oven, as described for Sugarplums, or in a home
dryer.
Sugar Peaches
Always use firm, unblemished peaches. Peel and stone
them, and then simmer them gently in water until almost
tender. Drain well, cover them with their own weight
in dry sugar, and allow to stand for two or three
hours, turning them very gently from time to time.
Return them to the heat and cook quite rapidly until
they are transparent, and the syrup is pretty thick.
Cover and let them stand all night.
The next day re-boil them in the syrup and allow
to cool again. Repeat this several times over the
next couple of days, until the syrup reduces, and
the peaches absorb most of the syrup. When you think
they are ready, lay them on plates, and allow to dry,
turning them every day.
Sugar Pears
Sugar pears can be made the same way as Sugar Peaches.
Do not core the Pears. Simply peel very thinly, taking
care to leave the stalk on if possible, and process
them whole.
The intense flavor of a good, candied Comice pear
is a memorable experience, and was sometimes served
as an unusual accompaniment to a high quality English
Stilton Cheese. You can add a bowl of fresh walnuts
for your guests to shell as they munch. This combination
is especially good served with port after dinner,
or before dinner as an elegant aperitif.
I include the following recipe more as a curiosity
than a serious recipe. For a long
time I have searched for a recipe for candying oranges.
I have seen sliced candied orange, lemon and grapefruit
for sale in France, but the difficulties of extracting
the bitterness of the peel, while at the same time
preserving the fragile fruit from disintegrating,
has always eluded me.
To Preserve Orenges after the Portugall Fashion
"Take Orenges and core them on the side and
laye them in water. Then boile them in fair water
till they bee tender, shifte them in the boyling water
to take away their bitternesse.
Then take sugar and boile it to the height of sirop,
as much as will cover them. And so put your Orenges
into it, and that will make them take sugar. If you
have 24 Orenges, beate 8 of them till they come to
paste, with a pounde of fine sugar, then fill every
one of the other Orenges with the same.
And so boile them againe in your sirop: and there
will bee marmelade of Orenges within your Orenges,
and it will cut like an harde egge."
Recipe taken from: Delights for Ladies, to Adorne
their Persons, Tables, Closets, and Distillatories,
With Bewties, Banquets, Perfumes and Waters. By Sir
Hugh Plat (1600)
Some other fruits can be candied. Whole tiny, tiny
seedless mandarin oranges can be done, because their
skins are sweet. However, the skins must be pierced
with a skewer to allow the sugar syrup to penetrate.
Cherries work well but apples cannot be can died in
the usual way, because they turn into a pulp (however,
see the shortcut way, below).
Imitation Sugarplums and Fruits
If you want the elegance, but really do not have
the time to candy fruit in the traditional manner,
you can cheat. It doesn't taste the same, but still
an interesting improvement on plain old dried fruits.
Make a heavy syrup in the proportion of two pounds
of sugar to half a pint of water. (If you only want
to do a very small amount of fruit, reduce the amounts
in proportion.) Heat until the sugar is dissolved,
then boil rapidly until a little syrup dropped into
a bowl of iced water forms a soft ball. (Remove the
pan from the heat when you test it. Things can change
very fast at this stage!)
Dip an assortment of either home-dried, or store
bought dried fruits into the syrup, and then spread
them on wax-paper covered sheets to dry. Dry either
in a very cool oven, turning frequently, or in a warm,
dry place.
Enjoy!
